On Saturday at Santa Anita, the featured race is the $300,000 Malibu Stakes. A Grade 1 event for three-year-olds, the seven-furlong contest has drawn a field of seven colts and geldings.
Runhappy, fresh off of a victory against older rivals in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) has been tabbed as the morning line favorite at odds of 4-5 and will be making his first start back in the care of trainer Laura Wohlers. A bay son of Super Saver, he has won six of his seven starts and is undefeated since returning off of a layoff this summer. Gary Stevens will be aboard replacing Edgar Prado who is sidelined with an injury and they will break from post position four.
Second choice at morning line odds of 5-2 is Marking, one of two horses in the race for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. A bay son of Bernardini, the colt will carry the familiar blue silks of Godolphin Racing as he makes his stakes debut. He is undefeated from two starts – he broke his maiden in September and followed that up with an allowance win at Aqueduct. Jose Lezcano will be aboard from post position two.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 8-1 is El Kabeir for trainer John Terranova, II. Owned by Zayat Stables, the gray son of Scat Daddy has been on the board in nine of his eleven starts and is a five-time winner. After returning off of a six-month layoff with a fifth-place finish, he came back to win the City of Laurel Stakes last time out. Mike Smith will be in the irons and they are scheduled to break from post five.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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