Mr. A.P. spurts away in the stretch to earn 1st stakes win in the Tokyo City Cup going one mile Saturday at Santa Anita

MR. A.P. SPURTS AWAY IN THE STRETCH TO EARN 1ST STAKES WIN IN THE TOKYO CITY CUP GOING ONE MILE SATURDAY AT SANTA ANITA

ARCADIA, CA (Oct. 24, 2026)— Mr. A.P., best known for finishing second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, picked up his first stakes win Saturday at Santa Anita in the $85,000 Tokyo City Cup going one mile.

Ridden by Emisael Jaramillo for the first time, Mr. A.P. settled just off the pace while saving ground along the rail as multiple horses battled on the front-end. Entering the stretch, after having moved multiple paths off the rail on the second turn, Jaramillo guided Mr. A.P. back to the inside and his mount responded. He spurted past both Lyell’s Song (8-1) on the lead and Arrowthegreat (9-2) to win comfortably by 1 ¾ lengths. Lyell’s Song finished second by one length over Arrowthegreat.

“This is a nice horse,” Jaramillo said. “He had no problem being behind the leaders. Very classy. When I asked him and went inside (at the top of the stretch), he took off.”

Trained by Vladimir Cerin, Mr. A.P. won in a time of 1:36.87 following fractions of 23.47, 47.48, 1:11.72 and 1:24.72.

Mr. A.P., a 3-year-old ridgling by American Pharoah, previously finished fourth in the GI Goodwood Stakes going 1 1/8 miles when facing older horses for the first time on Sept. 26 at Santa Anita. That effort followed three straight races on turf, which included a pair of stakes tries and an allowance win in August at Del Mar.

“I was pretty impressed by the way he worked his way out of the traffic,” Cerin said. He also touched on Mr. A.P.’s string of turf starts.

“He is by a turf sire, his dam won two out of four on the grass and had a second and a third, so I thought for sure he’ll like the grass. He didn’t. Even when he won, he didn’t look comfortable, so I mismanaged him a bit. Hopefully now we are on the right track.”

Last year, Mr. A.P. broke his maiden going one mile at Santa Anita in his third start when stretched out around two turns for the first time. He subsequently finished second by one length to Ted Noffey in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at odds of 20-1.

Mr. A.P. paid $3.80, $2.40 and $2.10. Lyell’s Song, ridden by Abel Lezcano for trainer Mark Glatt, returned $5.00 and $3.60. Arrowthegreat, ridden by Armando Ayuso and trained by Dan Blacker, paid $3.60.

TOKYO CITY CUP STAKES QUOTES

JOCKEY QUOTES

EMISAEL JARAMILLO, MR. A.P., WINNER: “This is a nice horse. He had no problem being behind the leaders. Very classy. When I asked him and went inside (in the stretch), he took off.”

TRAINER QUOTES

VLADIMIR CERIN, MR. A.P., WINNER: “The plan was to let the three horse (Arrowthegreat) go to the front. Unfortunately, there was a little more traffic, but I was pretty impressed by the way he worked his way out of the traffic. “He is by a turf sire, his dam won two out of four on the grass and had a second and a third, so I thought for sure he’ll like the grass. He didn’t. Even when he won, he didn’t look comfortable, so I mismanaged him a bit but hopefully now we are on the right track.”

NOTES: The winning owners are Holly Wilson and David Wilson.