Malibu Moon

In an event billed almost as a match race between California star fillies Kinza (Carpe Diem), a MGSW and 'TDN Rising Star' for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, and Kopion (Omaha Beach), a GSW for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, it was Baffert's other entrant, Nothing Like You (f, 3, Malibu Moon--Miss Derek, by Brother Derek) who upended the GII Santa Anita Oaks in Arcadia and reported home an eased-up 7 1/2-length victress. Kinza was second, giving Baffert the exacta but suffering her first career loss, and last-out maiden winner...

4th-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:38 p.m. ET. Bred by Stonehaven Steadings & Leah O'Meara, LESLIE'S HUMOR (Kantharos) makes the races for LSU Stables. Initially sold for $125,000 at the Keeneland September Sale, the chestnut RNA'd for $110,000 at OBS April before going for $500,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale in June. The second to race for La Titina (Distorted Humor), the 3-year-old filly's younger half-brother by Not This Time was purchased for $310,000 last September at Keeneland by Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds. Granddam and MGISW Ask the Moon (Malibu...

Nothing Like You (Malibu Moon) gave Hall of Famer Bob Baffert a seventh straight victory in the GII Starlet S. at Los Alamitos Saturday evening. Drawn on the rail in the field of six, the last-out Desi Arnaz S. winner was sent to the front by Juan Hernandez and was pressed through an opening quarter in :23.24. She gained some separation through a half mile in :47.40, let it out a notch on the far turn and ran up the score in the stretch to win by 5 1/4 lengths...

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will have two opportunities to win his seventh straight GII Starlet S. at Los Alamitos Saturday. The 1 1/16-mile feature has attracted a field of six. The rail-drawn, 9-5 morning-line favorite Nothing Like You (Malibu Moon) enters for Baffert riding a two-race winning streak, including a nose victory in the seven-furlong Desi Arnaz S. at Del Mar last time out Nov. 18. She previously graduated by 6 1/2 lengths over next-out winner Great Forty Eight (Constitution) going a two-turn mile at Santa Anita Oct....

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Sunday running at Kyoto and Tokyo Racecourses. The weekend feature takes place at the former venue, which hosts the final leg of the colts' Triple Crown, the G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger). Click here for our preview: Sunday, October 22, 2023 4th-TOK,...

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Locked (c, 2, Gun Runner--Luna Rosa, by Malibu Moon), a flashy Saratoga maiden winner at second asking Sept. 1, showed his class as the 3-5 favorite while overcoming a wide trip in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. at Keeneland. Drawn widest of all in post eight, the chestnut didn't get off to the sharpest of beginnings and raced five to three wide around the clubhouse turn. He was out in the clear and one from the...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Hanshin and Nakayama Racecourses. Being a three-day weekend on the JRA, Japanese results will appear in next Wednesday's TDN: Saturday, September 16, 2023 4th-NKY, ¥13,720,000 ($93k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800m SORREL BULLET (c, 2, Malibu Moon--Curluck, by Curlin), a $310,000 purchase...

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. Against the flow of the race from the outset, Locked (c, 2, Gun Runner--Luna Rosa, by Malibu Moon) rallied smartly from last after some trouble at the start to finish a very encouraging third sprinting on debut at Saratoga Aug. 5. Chilly on the board at 12-1 for trainer Todd Pletcher, the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm colorbearer was forced to take up sharply shortly after...

One of only two French-trained juveniles in Sunday's G1 Sumbe Prix Morny at Deauville, Infinity Nine Horses' TDN Rising Star Ramatuelle (Justify) will need to draw on a significant amount of her abundant talent to maintain her sequence in one of the best renewals of the six-furlong feature in recent years. Out on her own at the end of Chantilly's G3 Prix du Bois and G2 Prix Robert Papin, the Christopher Head trainee now has to stand up to a collective of the best sprinting colts from Britain and Ireland...

Amo Racing's longshot G2 Norfolk S. winner Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) will target the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, trainer Adrian Murray revealed. The colt has already secured a spot in the starting gate at Santa Anita Park in California on Nov. 3 as the race was a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series qualifier for the Future Stars Friday card. "He's probably going to be aimed at the Breeders' Cup now in November," Murray said. "He will more than likely run before then but having talked to the owner he...

He's the first one to admit he's a "little guy," a small breeder who owns two mares, two breeding rights, and all the good and bad luck that comes along with any such small operation. Losing his farm in the economic crisis of 2009 was just about as bad as it gets. Winning a race as a breeder at Royal Ascot? Just about as good. Ramon (R. J.) Rangel says he never would have had the opportunity he experienced Thursday--when Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) whom he co-bred with Spendthrift Farm...

All the talk before Thursday's G2 Norfolk S. centred around American Rascal (Curlin) and Elite Status (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), but it was the 150-1 shot Valiant Force (Malibu Moon--Vigui's Heart, by Quality Road) who held sway to provide Amo Racing with a breakthrough first Royal Ascot winner. Runner-up to His Majesty (Ire) (No Nay Never) on debut in the Listed First Flier S., the Adrian Murray-trained $100,000 Keeneland September yearling was discounted by the betting public due to his latest fifth despite having excuses in the G3 Marble Hill...