Kentucky-bred Intrepido and jockey Hector Berrios surged past odds-favorite Desert Gate in the final strides to win the $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita. With the win, Intrepido earned a fees-paid berth to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) Oct. 31 at Del Mar.
Trained by Jeff Mullins, Intrepido broke right with the field but then took a position stalking the pace while saving ground along the rail. He steadied behind Desert Gate on the first turn and lacked room early on the far turn. After being boxed in at the quarter pole, he angled out in the lane and dug in late to overhaul Desert Gate in the final strides. Intrepido won by a three-quarters of a length at the finish, covering the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.67.
Intrepido Overcomes Traffic Trouble
“It was a bit of a complicated race,” said winning rider Hector Berrios. “I tried to go to the front, but I saw Juan (on favorite Desert Gate) break first, so I settled into second. When I made my move to the outside he responded, although not very strongly at first. When I asked him again, he responded and produced an impressive change of pace. He flew down the stretch. He’s an amazing horse.”
Intrepido is owned by Dutch Girl Holdings LLC and Irving Ventures LLC. A ridgling by Maximus Mischief, Intrepido was purchased for $385,000 at the OBS Spring Sale. He was bred in Kentucky by Sierra Fria Farm LLC.
“Well, we weren’t quite sure what was in his head this time around,” Jeff Mullins said. “(In his last start), he broke, took the lead by himself and Hector just went with him. Everything worked out fine. But 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. I just asked Hector, ‘Do you think this horse can rate?’ He said, ‘No problem.’ He’s a nice horse, a really nice horse.”