ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 Malibu Stakes will have a distinct East Coast-Midwest flavor when it is run Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, opening day of the California winter racing season.
Favorable Outcome from New York, C Z Rocket from Kentucky, and Game Over from Florida are among the leading contenders.
Favorable Outcome, a Grade 2 winner at the seven-furlong distance of the Malibu, arrived at Santa Anita this week and could start favored following a second-level allowance win at Aqueduct.
“I’m optimistic he has circled back to where he was when he won the Swale early in the year,” trainer Chad Brown said Wednesday.
:: Save on PPs, digital subscriptions, and more!
Favorable Outcome was off from February to September due to a knee chip. His Nov. 26 allowance was his second start back.
“It was a hard-fought win, but the number came back fast,” Brown said, referring to the 104 Beyer. “And since then, he has trained even better.”
Favorable Outcome has won 3 of 6 races.
C Z Rocket, 3 for 3 after maiden and allowance wins at Saratoga, Keeneland and Churchill Downs, posted a bullet workout Dec. 13 at Santa Anita and will be among the top contenders in his first stakes race. Al Stall trains C Z Rocket.
Game Over was scheduled to ship Thursday from Florida. Trainer Jorge Navarro plans to add blinkers to Game Over, a Grade 3-placed colt whose most recent start was a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 23 at Parx Racing. Navarro said Game Over has been shying from horses in his races. He has worked well in blinkers.
Navarro finished second in last year’s Malibu with Sharp Azteca, who recently romped in the Cigar Mile. Sharp Azteca’s status for the Pegasus World Cup is undetermined.
“Right now, he’s in light training,” Navarro said Wednesday. “The Pegasus is up in the air. Right now, we’re going day by day.”
First Premio will not ship from Florida for the Malibu, according to a tweet from a Team Valor spokesperson.
Others expected to enter the Malibu Stakes include locally based stakes winners Edwards Going Left and Pavel, along with Dabster, Heartwood, and Irish Freedom.
The opening-day card at Santa Anita will be drawn on Thursday.
