ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) \u2013 Plutarch secured a victory over Intrepid by three-quarters of a length in Saturday\u2019s Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita, marking trainer Bob Baffert\u2019s eighth consecutive win in races for 3-year-olds and his 14th overall in this category.<\/p>\n
Jockey Florent Geroux guided Plutarch to complete the mile in 1:37.02, earning the horse his first stakes win and dirt track victory, with bettors receiving $10.20 for a win. <\/p>\n
\u201cI felt he broke very smoothly and positioned me well,\u201d Geroux said. \u201cWhen I urged him in the stretch, he responded strongly but waited a bit behind the other horse. Once he moved alongside, he really accelerated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Intrepid finished second, followed by Secured Freedom in third. <\/p>\n
Baffert compared Plutarch to Authentic, the 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic winner. \u201cHe keeps improving every week, and I don\u2019t think distance will be a problem. This is very promising\u2014he\u2019s the real deal,\u201d Baffert said.<\/p>\n
With this win, Plutarch earned 23 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, tying with Intrepid, which helps determine the 20 horses that will compete in the race on May 2.<\/p>\n
Another Baffert-trained horse, Desert Gate, was the well-backed 6-5 favorite but finished fourth, while The Cherokee Nation, Baffert\u2019s third contender in the race, came in fifth. \u201cDesert Gate got a poor start, and I knew we were in trouble because he\u2019s very one-dimensional,\u201d Baffert admitted.<\/p>\n
Plutarch holds two wins in six career starts and has accumulated over $190,000 in earnings. Two of his races have been on turf, including his first victory on November 30 at Del Mar.<\/p>\n
___
\nAP Horse Racing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/horse-racing<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Fan Take: This win solidifies Plutarch as a serious contender heading into the Kentucky Derby, highlighting Bob Baffert\u2019s remarkable dominance in 3-year-old races. For horse racing enthusiasts, this adds exciting drama to the upcoming Triple Crown season and showcases new talent that could shape the sport\u2019s future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) \u2013 Plutarch secured a victory over Intrepid by three-quarters of a length in Saturday\u2019s Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita, marking trainer Bob Baffert\u2019s eighth consecutive win in races for 3-year-olds and his 14th overall in this category. Jockey Florent Geroux guided Plutarch to complete the mile in 1:37.02, earning the horse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2443],"tags":[2955],"class_list":{"0":"post-42062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fighting","8":"tag-horse-racing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}