Malibu S. | Horse Racing Free Tips

Speed Boat Beach Takes The Malibu For the Three Amigos

Favored Speed Boat Beach (Bayern) led home a one-two finish for Bob Baffert in the GI Malibu S. at Santa Anita Tuesday, putting away stablemate Hejazi (Bernardini) down the lane to give the trainer his record-tying sixth win in the race–and third in the last four years–and longtime owners Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman and Karl Watson their first victory in the Arcadia track's traditional opening-day feature.

“Turning for home I knew I was going to win it,” Baffert said. “I wasn't sure which one it was going to be, I would have liked to run one, two, three. Speed Boat Beach has always shown since his first out that he was something special, hopefully he can build from this.”

Hejazi, who topped the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale on Gary Young's bid of $3.55 million on behalf of Amr Zedan, won the break and had the lead in the early strides, but Speed Boat Beach, last seen finishing fourth after setting a quick tempo in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, rushed up to prompt his stablemate through fractions of :22.21 and :44.42. He took a narrow lead into the far turn, but Hejazi came right back and looked to be traveling with authority only to have Speed Boat Beach cut the corner into the lane and scamper clear, leaving Hejazi to chase in vain.

“He was really sharp early,” said winning jockey Flavien Prat, who rode Flightline to victory in last year's Malibu. “I got him to relax and we took a little breather. Around the turn, he really went well. He didn't mind being on the inside. He was really in a good rhythm today.”

Speed Boat Beach stretched out to a mile to win the GIII Cecil B. DeMille S. over the Del Mar lawn last December, but was sidelined nearly 10 months after that effort. He returned with a gallant runner-up effort in the six-furlong GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship Sept. 30, earning a berth in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint where he settled for fourth after setting the pace.

“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. I was worried about my other horses they were going to be in there with him.”

Of the runner-up, Baffert added, “Hejazi is a serious horse. He was a little bit keen today. We weren't able to train this last week. Juan [Hernandez] was telling me he couldn't get him to relax very well so he used himself up a little bit. I see big things for him down the road.”

Pedigree Notes:

Speed Boat Beach is one of four graded winners–and the first top-level victor–for GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern, who now stands in South Korea. The winner is the first foal out of the unraced Sophia Mia, who has a yearling filly by Volatile–who sold for $140,000 at the Keeneland September sale–and a weanling filly by Army Mule. The mare, a daughter of multiple graded placed Amie's Dini, RNA'd for $390,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton November sale and was bred to Not This Time this year. Her 2-year-old daughter Midnight Snack (Distorted Humor) sold to Alistair Roden on behalf of MKW Racing and Breeding for $485,000 at this year's OBS April sale.

Tuesday, Santa Anita
MALIBU S.-GI, $301,000, Santa Anita, 12-26, 3yo, 7f, 1:21.70, ft.
1–SPEED BOAT BEACH, 120, c, 3, by Bayern
                1st Dam: Sophia Mia, by Pioneerof the Nile
                2nd Dam: Amie's Dini, by Bandini
                3rd Dam: Run Kate Run, by Cherokee Run
   1ST GRADE I WIN. ($12,000 Ylg '21 OBSOCT; $200,000 2yo
'22 OBSMAR). O-Michael E. Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul
Weitman; B-Caperlane Farm (FL); T-Bob Baffert; J-Flavien
Prat. $180,000. Lifetime Record: 7-4-1-0, $498,000.
Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the free
   Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Hejazi, 120, c, 3, Bernardini–G Note, by Medaglia d'Oro.
($3,550,000 2yo '22 EASMAY). O-Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.;
B-Chester Broman & Mary R. Broman (NY); T-Bob Baffert.
$60,000.
3–Giant Mischief, 120, c, 3, Into Mischief–Vertical Oak, by
Giant Oak. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE.
($475,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Bakster Farm LLC, Big Easy
Racing LLC, Kueber Racing LLC, Spendthrift Farm LLC, Steve
Landers Racing LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Ten Strike
Racing, Titletown Racing Stables, Winners Win, M. Caruso,
Dubb, and M. Schwartz; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred

Holdings LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. 'TDN Rising Star' $36,000.
Margins: 1HF, 3, 2 1/4. Odds: 1.60, 2.10, 10.90.
Also Ran: Damon's Mound, Raise Cain, Fort Bragg, Sharp Aza Tack. Scratched: Matanzas Creek.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Rock Hard Ten Dies In Korea

Rock Hard Ten (Kris S.–Tersa, by Mr. Prospector), a Classic-placed Grade I winner at seven and 10 furlongs, passed away Nov. 12 in South Korea, according to the Korean Stud Book. The news was first reported by the Paulick Report.

Rock Hard Ten, whose dam was a half-sister to GI Kentucky Derby winner Gato Del Soul (Cougar II), was bred by Madeleine Paulson and carried her colors to a debut victory in February 2004 before Mercedes Stables bought into the colt. Second, but demoted to third in the GI Santa Anita Derby in just his third career start, the dark bay was the distant runner-up to Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality) in the GI Preakness S. and was unplaced in the GI Belmont S. before bouncing back in the GII Swaps Breeders' Cup S. Transferred from trainer Jason Orman to Richard Mandella at the end of his sophomore season, Rock Hard Ten defeated Lava Man (Slew City Slew) in the GI Malibu S. at seven furlongs before adding the 2005 GII Strub S. and GI Santa Anita H. He returned from a seven-month absence to add the GI Goodwood Breeders' Cup H.

Retired to Lane's End Farm, Rock Hard Ten was responsible for 25 black-type winners, 15 at the graded level, including Nereid, winner of the 2011 GI American Oaks. Among his other graded winners are Doubles Partner, Capital Plan and Puerto Rican champion Tonito M., who took the 2014 GIII Oklahoma Derby once repatriated.

Exported to Korea in late 2012, he has been represented by 77 winners and was a top-10 sire by progeny earnings in 2019. He has been by a dozen winners this season. In total, Rock Hard Ten is the sire of 387 worldwide winners to date.

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Santa Anita Releases Winter/Spring Stakes Schedule

Starting with three prestigious Grade I stakes on opening day, Saturday, Dec. 26, Santa Anita’s 2020-21 Winter/Spring stakes schedule will offer fans and horsemen a total of 95 stakes through closing day, June 20. This will include 10 Grade I events and 60 graded stakes.

Santa Anita’s traditional Winter/Spring opener will be highlighted by the seven furlong GI Runhappy Malibu S. for 3-year-olds, the seven furlong GI La Brea S. for 3-year-old fillies, and the GI American Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies at a mile and one quarter on turf, all of which will carry purses of $300,000.

The $400,000 GI Santa Anita H. and the $400,000 GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. will be run Mar. 6 and the $750,000 GI Santa Anita Derby, which has produced 18 GI Kentucky Derby winners, will be run Apr. 3. The $300,000 GI Hollywood Gold Cup will be run May 31, along with the $300,000 GI Shoemaker Mile S. and $300,000 GI Gamely S. over turf.

For the full stakes schedule on the Santa Anita website, click here.

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McKinzie’s Journey from Juvenile Star to the Gainesway Roster

Since his maiden-breaking ‘TDN Rising Star’-worthy juvenile debut, McKinzie had caught the eye of Gainesway Farm.

But according to Gainesway’s Director of Stallion Sales and Recruitment Sean Tugel, the son of Street Sense had the attention of nearly every top stud farm in the country.

“He was on everybody’s radar from the very beginning,” he said. “Any time you see one win first time out from Bob Baffert’s barn, you have to recognize it.”

McKinzie’s resume only improved from there over the next three years before he retired in October of this year, cementing his place on the Gainesway stallion roster.

A $170,000 Keeneland September purchase by Karl Watson, Michael Pegram and Paul Weitman, McKinzie was named in honor of Brad McKinzie, an executive at Los Alamitos and longtime friend of Baffert.

Following his maiden victory, a disqualification elevated the colt as the winner of the GI Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity S., leaving him undefeated as a juvenile.

While he continued the winning streak in his next start in the GIII Sham S. at three, the bay was later shelved and forced off the Classic trail, but then returned with a vengeance for the second half of his sophomore season in the GI Pennsylvania Derby, and later a near five-length win in the GI Malibu S.

“He showed his extreme ability when he won the Pennsylvania Derby at a mile and an eighth, and then came back and won the Malibu at seven furlongs, showing that versatility,” Tugel said. “The Malibu was certainly one of his marquee victories. He exploded down the lane at the eighth pole and separated himself from a deep group of horses. You see very few horses able to separate themselves from a field going seven furlongs like that, and it just showed his brilliance.”

McKinzie got his signature win as an older horse last year in the GI Whitney, earning a 111 Beyer Figure and defeating the likes of eventual Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Vino Rosso (Curlin) and Grade I winner Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}).

“He ran 11 triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, but his Whitney victory was his career best. He defeated multiple Grade I winners, and he did it easily,” Tugel said.

With Grade I wins at two through four, McKinzie came back this year at five and added the GII Triple Bend S. to his resume. He retired with earnings of well over $3 million, running either first or second in all but two of his 10 Grade I starts and retiring as a seven-time graded stakes winner.

“I think in today’s world, we’re so quick to put horses up on a pedestal,” Tugel observed. “This is a great opportunity for our industry to breed to a horse that maintained the highest level of performance over three full racing years.”

Bred by Jane Lyon’s Summer Wind Farm, McKinzie is out of Runway Model (Petionville), a dual Grade II winner and $2.7 million Keeneland November purchase.

Tugel said he believes McKinzie’s pedigree will give the new sire every chance at success.

“He is the fastest son of Street Sense, and to be the best of a sire line is something special,” he said. “He has the bottom side to make us believe that he’s going to have fast, precocious 2-year-olds. He brings that soundness, that size, that scope and versatility. And that’s something we need in this breed. I think it sets him up for a big chance to be a very successful stallion in the future. He’s certainly one of the most exciting stallion prospects we’ve had at Gainesway in a long time, and we’re very excited to see what he can produce for us.”

Breeders are now getting their first looks at the new stallion, and Tugel said he’s been well received.

“He’s an elegant horse. He comes out and shows all the class he showed on the racetrack. He stands there like an absolute picture. You can see in his movement when he walks across the ground, it’s the same movement he had to make him a multiple Grade I winner. Even though he is a big-framed horse, that athleticism and lightness of his feet is a great attribute. He’s extremely popular and we’re very excited for the book of mares he’s going to get this year.”

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