As Time Goes By brings fading form into La Canada
ARCADIA, Calif. – Perhaps the resurrection of As Time Goes By will continue Saturday at Santa Anita. Or maybe her fading excellence is merely a natural reflection of her name.
Either way, the future of As Time Goes By should crystallize in the Grade 3 La Canada Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race she once would have steamrolled. But seven months and five races have come and gone since her last meaningful performance. She might not be the same filly she was a year ago, despite what her lip tattoo indicates.
As Time Goes By makes her first start as a 5-year-old in the La Canada, and her 2021 form – four successive upper-90s Beyers and a pair of Grade 2 wins – is one reason she will be solidly backed in the $200,000 route for fillies and mares that is race 9 of 10.
The other reason is her five rivals are slower and less accomplished. But unlike As Time Goes By, the best races are still ahead for lightly raced Velvet Slippers and Park Avenue, improving 4-year-olds by Quality Road moving up after entry-level allowance wins.
Velvet Slippers, a Bob Baffert-trained stablemate of As Time Goes By, won by a neck last out. Park Avenue enters off five-length maiden and allowance wins. Other entrants include Grade 3 winner Moonlight d’Oro and former claiming filly Cowboys Daughter, who has won four in a row. Fi Fi Pharoah also is entered.
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As Time Goes By emerged as a Santa Anita star last winter. She romped by nine lengths in an allowance mile, finished second in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile, and won a pair of Grade 2s. But her summertime regression was as distinct as her winter ascension.
As Time Goes By stumbled and finished fourth in a Grade 1 at Del Mar, then sixth in a Grade 1 at Saratoga. She hinted at a form reversal by finishing second in a Grade 2 at Santa Anita in autumn, then went backward again finishing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff when she was gunned inside to chase a blazing pace on an outside-biased surface.
The Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes on Dec. 5 at Los Alamitos provided As Time Goes By a golden opportunity to turn things around. Although she won by 1 1/4 lengths, her 89 Beyer fell eight points short of the 97 Beyer standard she established a year ago.
The facts do not disparage As Time Goes By, a five-time winner of $535,600 from 12 starts. Flavien Prat rides As Time Goes By, whose year-old form would crush. Even now, she might be good enough to squeeze out a win by reproducing her month-old form.
Park Avenue, trained by John Sadler, scored her second straight five-length victory last out at Los Alamitos, earning an 85 Beyer that does not take into consideration ground loss. She raced wide throughout under Juan Hernandez, who rides her back.
Velvet Slippers earned an 89 Beyer winning a Del Mar allowance mile by a neck last out. Her rider is John Velazquez.