Malibu Saint registers first stakes win

Malibu Saint became Malibu Moon’s latest stakes winner on Saturday with a come-from-behind victory in the $75,000 Wait a While S. for 2-year-old fillies over the Gulfstream Park turf course.

Prior to the Wait a While, Malibu Saint had made three starts on the grass, hitting the board each time. Saturday’s Wait a While drew a full field of 13 juveniles. Malibu Saint had to check off heels going into the first turn and was near the back of the pack as she hit the backstretch.

Guided to the outside by jockey Luis Saez, Malibu Saint began passing horses with a half-mile to run and was closing in on the lead at the top of the stretch. Going very wide down the stretch, she hit the front inside the furlong pole, holding off longshot Gift of Glory to win by a half-length.

“(Malibu Saint) has been training great and has settled in quite nicely down here. Obviously with the rain we were a little concerned, but I figured she’d handle the ground. We just hoped for a safe trip and Luis Saez gave it to us and she did the rest,” Mike Maker’s assistant trainer Nolan Ramsey said, “It was a tough run, gutsy filly and we’re just real happy.”

Owned by Treadway Racing Stable, the winner earned $42,780 and is now 2-1-1 in five starts. She was bred in Kentucky by Jim Wells and Candy Meadows LLC out of the three-time stakes winner Mykindasaint.

Malibu Moon has enjoyed arguably his best year at stud in his illustrious career in 2017, with four Grade 1 winners and seven graded winners and $10.8 million in progeny earnings to date.