As Time Goes By looks too fast for Santa Maria rivals

In her last two starts, As Time Goes By finished a good second to the 2020 champion Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita on March 13 and won the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes by 9 1/4 lengths on April 24.

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith rode her in both races. Understandably, he has become a big fan.

“She’s a mare with a lot of promise,” Smith said Thursday.

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Those results will make As Time Goes By a short-priced favorite to win her second stakes in Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita.

As Time Goes By, trained by Bob Baffert for the Coolmore syndicate, drew the outside post in a field of five, which may be reduced to four. Ce Ce, the winner of two Grade 1 races in 2020, also is under consideration for the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes on June 5 at Belmont Park, trainer Michael McCarthy said.

As Time Goes By has won 3 of 6 starts. She beat maidens in her third start, at Los Alamitos last December, and has improved remarkably in the early months of 2021. By American Pharoah, As Time Goes By is out of Take Charge Lady, a nine-time stakes winner who earned $2,480,377 and is the dam of the Grade 1 winners Take Charge Indy and Will Take Charge.

“She’s beautifully bred, and I knew the older she gets, the better’s she’s gonna get,” Baffert said after the Santa Margarita.

As Time Goes By set the pace in the Santa Margarita at 1 1/8 miles, but Smith said the filly is not reliant on that style in the slightly shorter Santa Maria.

“She’s naturally quick,” he said. “She’s got a big, beautiful stride and a high cruising speed.

“The way she ran last time, if she repeats that performance she’ll be tough to beat.”

Ce Ce was the convincing winner of an allowance race at seven furlongs by 3 1/4 lengths on April 17 in her first start since a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland last November.

“She’s been very straightforward and bigger and stronger this year,” McCarthy said.

In the spring of 2020, Ce Ce won consecutive Grade 1 races in the Beholder Mile and Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park.

McCarthy has until Saturday to decide whether to start Ce Ce in the $200,000 Santa Maria.

“We’re looking forward to a big year,” he said.

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The other entrants in the Santa Maria – Last First Kiss, Miss Stormy D, and This Tea – will be longshots. This Tea was fifth in the Beholder Mile in March and second in the Santa Margarita at 31-1.

Miss Stormy D, who is quick enough to set the pace, was second to Ce Ce on April 17. In January, Miss Stormy D was second in the Grade 3 La Canada Stakes, but was last of seven in the Beholder Mile.