In a stretch battle befitting its status as Santa Anita's Classic Meet opening day headliner, Tuesday's Grade 1, $300,000 Malibu Stakes showcased Speed Boat Beach and stablemate Hejazi as they “threw down” from the quarter pole home. With favored Speed Boat Beach prevailing by 1 ½ lengths while getting seven furlongs in 1:21.70, Bob Baffert collected the exacta as well as his record-tying sixth Malibu win, putting him atop the prestigious Malibu heap with fellow Hall of Famer Richard Mandella.
Ridden by Juan Hernandez, Hejazi broke sharply to take the lead from his number six post position, but he was headed by Speed Boat Beach and Flavien Prat to his inside a half mile out. Racing as a team into and around the far turn, it appeared Hejazi put a head in front at the quarter pole, but when they straightened for home, Speed Boat Beach was all business, opening up a length and from there, he was able to repel a resolute challenge from Hejazi to register his first Grade 1 win.
“His issue is that he has always been very aggressive,” Baffert said of Speed Boat Beach. “He's aggressive in the mornings and aggressive in his races. We have been working on getting him relaxed, a lot of schooling. I've got a great team, my riders and my assistants they have been working him a lot. Prat worked him for me today and he actually worked really well with Prat. He got along with him really well, got him to come off the bit a little bit.”
Prat, who hadn't ridden Speed Boat Beach since Dec. 4, 2022, rang up his third win on the opening day card and his second win in the Malibu, following up on his opening day score two years ago aboard undefeated super horse Flightline.
A Florida-bred 3-year-old colt by 2014 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Sophia Mia, Speed Boat Beach was making his third start of the year. Coming off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 4, he was off as the 8-5 favorite in a field seven sophomores and paid $5.20, $3.20 and $2.60.
Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, Speed Boat Beach, a Grade 3 one mile turf winner, notched his third overall stakes win and his fourth win from seven starts. With the winner's share of $180,000, Speed Boach Beach hiked his earnings to $498,000.
Off as the second choice at 2-1, Hejazi finished three lengths clear of Giant Mischief and paid $4.00 and $2.60.
Off at 10-1 with Kazushi Kimura, Giant Mischief, who broke from the rail, rallied for third money, finishing 2 ¼ lengths in front of Damon's Mound while returning $4.00 to show.
Fractions on the race were 22.21, 44.42 and 1:08.65.
The Malibu trophy was presented by Santa Anita's all-time leading rider and a six-time winner of the Malibu, the great Laffit Pincay, Jr. A 14-time Winter Meet leading jockey, Pincay will turn 77 on Friday.
“It means a lot to be here and see all the fans and all the excitement in racing,” Pincay said. “It brings back some good memories, too. I won this race six times and in fact I forgot all about it. It's a lot of fun to come to the track and see all the people here, I really enjoy being here. It's exciting to see two good horses going head and head. I look forward to seeing who the next contenders are for the Kentucky Derby. I watch the jockeys and there are some really top jockeys here and I hope they keep competing with each other. It's nice to see competition between good jockeys.”
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