American Pharoah 2025
While we’ve got the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, we have a Road to the Kentucky Derby and Win & In qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita with the American Pharoah Stakes. It is a huge weekend for stakes races with 2-year-olds and this one is no different.
We’ve got a $300,000 purse for this 1 1/16-mile trip around the Sant Anita dirt track. But, even though four of the six entries are Bob Baffert horses, Brant, his top 2-year-old prospect, is not in the field. The California-based trainer is looking for another contender in the upcoming Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Oct. 31 since he knows he has one of the favorites, if not the favorite.
This one will be Race 3 in your Saturday Santa Anita program with post time expected to be 5:00 p.m. ET on October 4.
American Pharoah 2025 Entries, Horses, Jockeys, and Trainers:
| Post | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | Desert Gate | J.J. Hernandez | B. Baffert | 3/2 |
| 2 | Intrepido | H. Berrios | J. Mullins | 6-1 |
| 3 | Plutarch | K. Kimura | B. Baffert | 10-1 |
| 4 | Civil Liberty | A. Fresu | D. O’Neill | 5-1 |
| 5 | Balboa | U. Rispoli | B. Baffert | 8-1 |
| 6 | Kristofferson | M. Smith | B. Baffert | 9/5 |
Juan Hernandez gets the ride here on the second favorite, while Mike Smith draws the assignment on Kristofferson. It sure seems like we could rate the horses based on that, as Kazushi Kimura and Umberto Rispoli get the other two rides. Doug O’Neill has a legitimate contender with Civil Liberty and longtime trainer Jeff Mullins has the other.
Spice Runner and Ted Noffey stand out in this field, but there are a lot of questions about any horse at this age.
Here are some thoughts on each horse at the odds at time of publish:
1. Desert Gate (3/2; Hernandez/Baffert): The son of Omaha Beach, whose half-brother Nevada Beach won last weekend’s Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita, is the second favorite in the race and the second favorite of the Baffert entries. He has a great chance here after finishing second to Brant over seven furlongs in the Del Mar Futurity and he won the G3 Best Pal Stakes with his regular rider Juan Hernandez. This is a step up in distance, but Omaha Beach won at 1 ⅛ and 1 1/16 in his career and dam Theogony won at a mile and a half.
2. Intrepido (6-1; Berrios/Mullins): After some down years, Mullins has a win rate north of 20% in back-to-back years for the first time since 2008-09 per Equibase. Intrepido is not a bad prospect, as Hector Berrios gets the ride on the son of Maximus Mischief and Overly Indulgent. To have Into Mischief and Pleasantly Perfect as grandfathers makes for a pretty good bloodline, especially for a California runner. Pleasantly Perfect was the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Classic champion and a five-time winner at Santa Anita.
As far as Intrepido’s results, he’s on the right trend line with a nice speed jump from his fourth-place ride for Julien Leparoux in his debut and a win for Berrios in his second. He’ll probably need a similar bump here to be a factor, but that seems plausible.
3. Plutarch (10-1; Kimura/Baffert): Into Mischief sure is busy in retirement. He’s also the father of Plutarch, but dam Stellar Wind was also an accomplished racehorse herself. Even though she was a big winner on dirt, Baffert made the decision to try Plutarch on turf last time out. He ran a really good second to Irish-bred Hey Nay Nay, which truly is a standout effort on the grass.
He’s gone a mile twice and did see a nice bump in speed figures going from dirt to turf, so you wonder what happens here going back to dirt with a different rider in Kimura. Hernandez had the turf mount last time out, but he’s on a different Baffert entry here.
4. Civil Liberty (5-1; Fresu/O’Neill): This looks like a horse that will earn some money throughout his career, but maybe not much here. The Doug O’Neill barn sends out Civil Liberty here after finishing behind Balboa, Desert Gate, and Brant in his other starts. Brant isn’t here, but Balboa and Desert Gate are. It wasn’t a clean trip for Antonio Fresu in the Del Mar Futurity, as Civil Liberty got bumped, but did finish strong to hit the board. He’s a quality horse and has a chance here, but not enough of one to warrant this price in all likelihood.
5. Balboa (8-1; Rispoli/Baffert): Another example of Baffert using this race as a test. Much like with Plutarch going from the turf back to the dirt, Balboa will run without blinkers here for Umberto Rispoli, who has had quite the year riding Journalism. It was clear that Balboa was in the third tier in the Del Mar Futurity. This race isn’t quite as strong without Brant, but he finished behind two horses in this field and Litmus Test, who was shipped to Keeneland for the Breeders’ Futurity. Maybe removing the blinkers makes a difference. Sure seems like Baffert would like to know.
6. Kristofferson (9/5; Smith/Baffert): Oh, look, another Baffert entry. The son of Nyquist and Impasse starts on the outside here, as Baffert’s top rider stays on Desert Gate and Baffert’s reliable running mate Mike Smith gets the ride here. Kristofferson rode to a maiden win on Aug. 31 for Hernandez, as Smith rode show finisher Falcon Jet for Baffert. The speed figures were good, as evidenced by the price here, even though we have two data points and even a stakes data point for most of the rest of the field.
There is added distance here and this race will have more pace than his six-furlong maiden did.
American Pharoah Predictions
A race of 2-year-olds like this in Baffert’s sandbox is going to be a training ground with some stakes on the line. But, ultimately, I think he knows what he has in Desert Gate and that’s why Hernandez gets the ride in hopes of sending that horse to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile as an automatic qualifier. Also, the Road to the Kentucky Derby points are a nice head start for next year, too.
I think it’s Desert Gate’s race to lose. I like that Intrepido had a nice bump with the added distance and think he can absolutely finish second. Kristofferson lands third for me in a fight with Plutarch.
Prediction: 1-2-6
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