ARCADIA — When Bob Baffert said something about “baby steps” after watching Hughes run in the American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday, the trainer clearly wasn’t talking about the athletic strides that kept the 2-year-old colt unbeaten in four starts.
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He was talking about how Hughes continued to check boxes on his way to Breeders’ Cup contention.
The winner of the 7-furlong Del Mar Debutante in August stretched out to 1¹⁄₁₆ miles, showed the ability to relax after some anxious early moments, and rallied from behind other horses for the first time before cruising to a six-length victory with jockey Juan Hernandez in the Grade I American Pharoah.
Antonio Garcia-trained Net Par ran second at 18-1, and it was a long way back to Baffert’s Imperial Honor, Domus and Emancipate and Doug O’Neill’s Dang Son.
Hughes, a son of Into Mischief, paid $2.60. His clocking, 1:43.22, was the third fastest in the dozen runnings of the race now called the American Pharoah since American Pharoah himself won the then-FrontRunner Stakes in 1:41.95 in 2014.
“It was good schooling for him,” Baffert said of Hughes. “He fits well in the Breeders’ Cup.”
The American Pharoah, which rewarded Hughes with a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, was one of three stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday that rewarded winners with places in some of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races Oct. 30-31 at Keeneland, in Lexington, Ky.
Domain Expansion and jockey Adrian Escobedo sprang the upset of the 100-degree-plus afternoon in the Grade II Oak Leaf Stakes, a qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and Thought Process and Hector Berrios dominated the Grade II Rodeo Drive Stakes, moving on to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
Leonard Powell-trained Domain Expansion, a maiden sent off at 14-1 odds, laid the kind of beating on Baffert’s trio of fillies that Baffert’s young horses usually lay on other people’s. It was 39-year-old jockey Adrian Escobedo’s first graded stakes victory and Powell’s first at Grade II or better since Anisette’s run of success in 2023-24.
After tracking Baffert’s Deluge early, Domain Expansion (who paid $31) took the lead in upper stretch and pulled away to win by seven lengths over Baffert’s Holmby, with Baffert’s Quattro Passi third and Deluge fading to fifth. The winner covered 1¹⁄₁₆ miles in 1:44.44, third-fastest of the past 11 Oak Leafs.
Powell had watched the daughter of Speaker’s Corner run second, with excuses, in her debut at 1 mile on turf at Del Mar, and was confident sending her up against stakes winners Saturday.
“As soon as we started breezing her at Del Mar, she showed things that your usual 2-year-old doesn’t show,” Powell said of the daughter of Speaker’s Corner. “Baffert had three horses in there. You never know how good they are. For a smaller outfit like me, it’s hard to go against him, but we did that today and (we) came out on top.”
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Four-year-old Thought Process (who paid $3.60) won the Rodeo Drive by 4¼ lengths over Vronti after leading from the start in her first test at 1¼ miles and opening up on the field of 11 on the turn for home. The last part is what trainer Phil D’Amato complained about Berrios not doing when Medoro handed Thought Process her first loss of 2026 in the John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar.
“I think last time I got beat because I fought her too much,” Berrios said. “This time, I let her break, she settled, and I dropped my hands. She liked it. When it was time to run, she showed her power. I think I learned something last time.”
The day’s five stakes began with Our Moonlight ($17.40) and jockey Tiago Pereira winning when Paradise City and Kazushi Kimura were disqualified after finishing first by a neck in the Grade III Chillingworth Stakes.
Pereira objected, and the stewards reviewed video for a long time before voting 2-1 that Paradise City crossed in front of Our Moonlight and forced Pereira to check near the rail on the backstretch of the 6½-furlong sprint for fillies and mares. Kimura walked away saying he was surprised by the DQ.
“He (Pereira) tried to force (his way) in there,” Kimura said. “I was already clear. I had position.”
It was Our Moonlight trainer Dean Pederson’s first graded stakes victory since a 2007 race at Bay Meadows. It was Paradise City trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.’s first bad luck in a while at Santa Anita, where Forged Steel’s victory in the Goodwood Stakes last weekend was the eastern barn’s third at the Grade I or II level in 2026.
Emisael Jaramillo leads Hernandez in wins at Santa Anita, 7-6, after each rode two winners Saturday.
Jaramillo’s first winner was Arctic Wolf, who shipped in from Kentucky for trainer Jack Sisterson to pay $5.40 in the Speakeasy Stakes for 2-year-old turf sprinters after pulling away from 40-1 Fumano’s Fire. Favorite Omaha Spirit ran third.
Sunday’s card wraps up two weekends packed with stakes for Breeders’ Cup hopefuls.
Umberto Rispoli should continue a lucrative start to the Santa Anita autumn season and book more Breeders’ Cup mounts when he rides favorites Repo Man in the Zuma Beach Stakes for 2-year-olds on turf and Vanta in the Surfer Girl Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on grass.
Rispoli won last weekend with Atitlan in the Grade II John Henry Turf Championship and Sorrento Sky in the Grade II Eddie D. Stakes.
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