ARCADIA — Intrepido’s race could have been over a few times Saturday. Instead, it just may be the start of a championship run.
Forced to steady in the first turn, stuck behind the leaders on the far turn and boxed in entering the stretch, Intrepido and jockey Hector Berrios found running room in time to burst past two tiring horses and win at 8-1 odds in the American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita.
The win in the $300,000, Grade I race earned Intrepido free entry in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the race that annually crowns 2-year-old champions and early Kentucky Derby favorites.
“He got out in the clear, and man, what a run,” trainer Jeff Mullins said after posing in the winner’s circle with owners Ruben Islas and Michele Arthur.
The win was the second in three starts for Intrepido, a ridgling by Maximus Mischief out of the Pleasantly Perfect-sired mare Overly Indulgent, who was purchased for the owners by bloodstock agent Mike Pender at an auction in Florida in April.
It continued a strong couple of years for the 62-year-old Mullins, who saddled his first Grade I winner since River Boyne in the Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita in 2020.
There has to be a little extra satisfaction for a trainer in upsetting a field that included four horses saddled by Bob Baffert, perennial winner of the American Pharoah.
Intrepido (who paid $19.60) won by three-quarters of a length, covering 1-1/16 miles in 1:43.67, faster than average for the American Pharoah. Favored Desert Gate and 8-1 Plutarch gave Baffert second and third. Then came Doug O’Neill-trained Civil Liberty, followed by Baffert’s Balboa and Kristofferson.
Mullins earned the win over those multiple Kentucky Derby-winning trainers. Everything Intrepido overcame, Mullins had tried to prepare him for in morning training sessions.
“We’ve done just about everything we can do with him. He just don’t care,” Mullins said. “We’ve put him behind (horses), we’ve put him in front, we’ve put him on the inside, we’ve had him sit behind and come through on the rail. No matter what you ask him, he does it.”
In the American Pharoah, run on a clear fall afternoon, Intrepido came out of the No. 2 starting gate first but soon sat behind Desert Gate and Kristofferson and eventually dropped back to fourth, still within couple of lengths of the lead.
Intrepido and Berrios never had a clear path until they got outside Desert Gate and Kristofferson turning for home. As Kristofferson faded, Plutarch produced a threat along the rail. It seemed to be down to Desert Gate and Plutarch with one-sixteenth of a mile to go.
Then: “On the outside, Intrepido erupts!” track announcer Frank Mirahmadi shouted.
Berrios described a “complicated” race from the start.
“I tried to go the front, but I saw Juan (Hernandez, on Desert Gate) break first, so I settled into second,” said Berrios, who rode three winners Saturday. “(In) the first turn, I had to ease back a little. And again around 600 meters (from the finish), I had to hold. When I made my move to the outside, he responded, although not very strongly at first. But when I asked him again, he responded and produced an impressive change of pace and flew (late).
“He’s an amazing horse. I’m very proud of the effort he showed today.”
Mullins’ and Berrios’ strategy assumed the risk of traffic trouble.
“We knew if we went to the lead today we were going to get into a dogfight, and that was one thing I was trying hard to avoid,” Mullins said. “It wasn’t (a great trip), but it was better than getting in a dogfight.”
Now attention turns to the $2 million, Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on the first day of the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup festival at Del Mar. It can be a nervous time for a trainer, worrying about a health issue he can’t prepare for.
“Tomorrow I might be a little sick walking to the barn,” Mullins said. “You just never know what you’re going to find. You just pray to God he’s all in one piece. They run like that, anything can happen.”
At least two other horses earned spots in Breeders’ Cup races with wins at Santa Anita.
Baffert-trained Explora ($2.80) and Hernandez ran away with the $200,000, Grade II Oak Leaf Stakes, a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies qualifier. It was a relief for Baffert after the American Pharoah and two other stakes-level defeats earlier Saturday.
“I salvaged one!” Baffert joked, the defeats in the American Pharoah and two other stakes earlier Saturday had constituted a slump by his standards.
Jockey Umberto Rispoli, who had four winners, and trainer Phil D’Amato, who had three, teamed up on two upsets. Five-year-old Mission of Joy ($25.80) finished fast in the $200,000, Grade II Rodeo Drive Stakes, qualifying for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Two-year-old Later Than Planned ($22.60) shortened up to a sprint and took the $100,000 Speakeasy on turf.
Tamara ($2.80) began her latest comeback by cruising to victory with Mike Smith in the Chillingworth Stakes, a $100,000, Grade III sprint for fillies and mares. The 4-year-old daughter of the four-time Eclipse Award mare Beholder was racing for only the second time since 2023, when she looked like a star in the making in winning the Grade I Del Mar Debutante.