As Time Goes By works for Clement Hirsch
DEL MAR, Calif. – As Time Goes By, winner of two Grade 2 stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita in spring, worked a half-mile in 48.20 seconds on Wednesday at Del Mar for a potential start in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes on Aug. 1.
Owned by the Coolmore syndicate and trained by Bob Baffert, As Time Goes By won the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on May 22 by a nose over This Tea, who has since been retired because of injury.
Earlier this year, As Time Goes By was second in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile in March and won the first stakes of her career in the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes at 1 1/8 miles by 9 1/4 lengths on April 24.
The $300,000 Hirsch Stakes at 1 1/16 miles is the top race for fillies and mares on dirt at the Del Mar summer meeting. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.