Opening day at Santa Anita may have been pushed back a few days by Mother Nature, but even she would envy the 6 stakes on the card drawing 57 entries. The Grade 1 $300,000 Malibu at 7 furlongs matches 10 top 3-year-olds in a final season showcase for the sport’s most well-known division of horses.
Horseplayers with 1/ST BET and Xpressbet be sure to take part in the $10,000 Exacta-Thon promotion Sunday for Santa Anita’s card.
Let’s meet the contenders for the Malibu Stakes (Race 10):
#1-MODUS BESTIA: Since starting 0-5, this Maclean’s Music colt has started to show his $500,000 purchase price promise with back-to-back wins. The Richard Baltas trainee was 0-2 last season at Santa Anita and looks to parlay his Del Mar success to The Great Race Place. Edwin Maldonado rides for the first time as Flavien Prat opts for Cornucopian on Sunday.
#2-SPENARD: Son of Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Spun to Run makes a massive hike in class after back-to-back losses in New Mexico. His 2-for-10 mark includes wins at Turf Paradise and Prairie Meadows, while 3: 0-0-0 in stakes tries. Tyler Baze rides for Dan McFarlane.
#3-MADAKET ROAD: Grade 1 Woody Stephens runner-up remains eligible for a first-level allowance, a year after breaking his maiden on opening day of the 2024-’25 Santa Anita Classic Meet. He’s the first of 5 Bob Baffert trainees in the field, and comes in off an August freshening while picking up superstar jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Those two teamed to run second in the Rebel and Pat Day Mile this spring. Baffert’s 6 wins in the Malibu are tied with Richard Mandella for the most all-time.
#4-SPEEDY WILSON: Multiple California-bred stakes winner for Phil D’Amato gets a class test Sunday. He rallied to collar Del Mar allowance sprint rivals in open company November 29, and will see if he can do it against stakes-class foes this time. Armando Ayuso rides the late runner who is 3-for-3 at the Malibu’s 7-furlong distance.
#5-MIDLAND MONEY: Bob Baffert trains this $650,000 colt by Shancelot, who was runner-up in his racing heyday in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and the Santa Anita Sprint Championship while under the San Gabriel Mountains. Midland Money also has a touch of second-it is, runner-up in a pair of allowances at Del Mar and Santa Anita as the favorite this fall. Blinkers go on colt who has lost 3 straight since opening his stop-and-start career 2-for-2. Regular rider Juan Hernandez is up.
#6-BERLIN WALL: California-bred allowance winner November 16 tries to parlay that 7-3/4 length score into a major upset. Steve Knapp and Tiago Pereira once again team up with this son of Practical Joke, who will be making his stakes debut in lifetime start #6.
#7-SMOOTH CRUISEIN: Sophomore has faced California’s best older sprinters this year in the Triple Bend, Bing Crosby and Santa Anita Sprint Championship. Those efforts put him in the hunt against fellow 3-year-olds as regular rider Kyle Frey returns for trainer Karen Headley. The barn has just 2 wins in all of 2025, including this colt’s April 26 allowance win at Santa Anita.
#8-CORNUCOPIAN: Smashing February 23 debut winner at Oaklawn Park had the Triple Crown trail buzzing with a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure. But this $1.1 million Into Mischief colt failed to negotiate 3 additional furlongs a month later in the Arkansas Derby and then disappointed in late April at Aqueduct before the plug was pulled by Bob Baffert. Blinkers come off for the return from that seven-month layoff and Baffert has gone to his typical series of 6-furlong workouts to make up for lost time. Flavien Prat takes the mount for the first time, while Irad Ortiz Jr. ends up on Baffert’s Madaket Road. Prat won the Malibu aboard Flightline (2021) and Speed Boat Beach (2023), the latter for Baffert.
#9-BARNES: After winning the San Vicente on January 4 at Santa Anita to improve to 2-for-2, many considered this the Kentucky Derby winter favorite. The $3.2 million colt by Into Mischief failed to stretch out, losing the San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby before some time off. Barnes disappointed in his return bids, third in the H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga and fourth at odds-on in the Gallant Bob at Parx. His smashing win at Keeneland in October’s Perryville looked more like what was expected. Jose Ortiz rode at Keeneland and will again Sunday for Bob Baffert. The two best performances of his career have come at this 7-furlong trip.
#10-GOAL ORIENTED: The last of 5 Bob Baffert trainees in the mix, Goal Oriented cuts back in distance for the first time since an April sprint debut win at Santa Anita. The Preakness fourth-place finisher added placings in the Haskell and Pennsylvania Derby at a quarter-mile farther than the Malibu. Blinkers come off this Not This Time colt, who will be ridden for the first time by 2-time Malibu winner Joel Rosario. He’s one of 3 Grade 1-placed runners in the field – joining stablemates Madaket Road and Barnes.
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