Malibu Prayer makes the grade in Chilukki S. (G2)

Leading Sire Malibu Moon picked up his seventh graded stakes winner of 2009 on Nov. 7th when his 3-year-old daughter Malibu Prayer broke through with a win against older fillies and mares in the $150,000 Chilukki S. (G2) at Churchill Downs.

Malibu Prayer has been knocking on the proverbial door for quite some time, finishing a second in graded stakes to such Grade 1 winners as Rachel Alexandra and Careless Jewel. Saturday, she claimed her well-earned first graded triumph in the Chilukki, which marked her second consecutive stakes win. In September, the attractive bay filly won the listed Cat Chat S. by 6 ¾ lengths at Belmont. The Chilukki was her first try against her elders aside from her maiden win by 13 lengths over older fillies and mares at Aqueduct in April.

In the Chilukki, Malibu Prayer overcame being bumped as she was heading into the far turn. She recovered professionally and rallied three-wide to prove best down the long Churchill stretch. Malibu Prayer hit the wire in the one-turn-mile event a length on top, stopping the clock in 1:36.24 over a fast local main track.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Malibu Prayer has still never been off the board in nine starts, improving her record to 4-3-2 with earnings of $348,526 for owner and breeder Edward Evans. She is a Virginia-bred hailing from the stakes-winning Grand Slam mare Grand Prayer.

Aside from having seven graded stakes winners, Malibu Moon is A.P. Indy’s leading son at stud by stakes winners again in 2009 for the fourth consecutive year. To date, he has 15 stakes winners and 14 black-type winners, including Grade 1 winners Funny Moon and Devil May Care.