As Time Goes By dominates Santa Margarita

ARCADIA, Calif. - As Time Goes By was being closely tracked by Harvest Moon entering the turn of Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita when a margin rapidly developed between the two 4-year-olds.

As Time Goes By, ridden by Mike Smith, quickened noticeably and left Harvest Moon and three other runners hopelessly beaten.

“She sensed that other mare coming,” Smith said. “She jumped right into the bridle. I didn’t get in the way.”

Sent off favored, As Time Goes By ($3.60) drew clear to win by 9 1/4 lengths, finishing 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.95 for her first stakes win. As Time Goes By earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 97.

This Tea, the 31-1 longest price in the field, closed from last to finish second 2 1/4 lengths clear of Harvest Moon, the winner of two graded stakes last year and the fourth-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland last November.

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Pharoah’s Heart and Clockstrikestwelve completed the order of finish, but were well beaten in a race dominated by the well-bred As Time Goes By.

Owned by the Coolmore syndicate and trained by Bob Baffert, As Time Goes By took the lead shortly after the start, holding an advantage of at least a half-length through early fractions of 23.17 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 46.98 for a half-mile.

Harvest Moon was well positioned on the turn when As Time Goes By pulled away.

“She got right into stride so nice,” Smith said of As Time Goes By. “That was very impressive. She did that in hand.”

By American Pharoah, Baffert’s 2015 Triple Crown winner, As Time Goes By has won 3 of 6 starts and earned $260,600. She won a maiden special weight race at six furlongs in her third career start, at Los Alamitos in December, and began her 2021 season with a nine-length win over This Tea in an allowance race at a mile on Jan. 17.

As Time Goes By was second in her stakes debut in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile for fillies and mares on March 13, finishing 2 3/4 lengths behind Swiss Skydiver, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2020. As Time Goes By was five-wide in the first turn of the Beholder Mile and closed well through the stretch. Smith considered the race to be a learning experience.

“I wasn’t going to beat that mare the other day,” Smith said. “I had an outside trip. I got forced out. I tried to ease her back and tuck in. I thought, Let’s make a good run and fight another day.”

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