Shared Belief wins Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita

ARCADIA, Calif. — Shared Belief won the $300,000 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds by a neck Friday on opening day of Santa Anita's winter meet.

Ridden by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, Shared Belief ran seven furlongs in 1:20.69 and paid $3, $2.40 and $2.10 for co-owner and sports talk host Jim Rome.

With his third Grade 1 victory this year and fourth overall, Shared Belief reinserted himself into Eclipse Award consideration for divisional and Horse of the Year honors. The gelding was coming off a fourth-place finish in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 1 on the same track, snapping his seven-race winning streak.

"He broke extremely well today which I was really, really happy with," said Smith, who was aboard Shared Belief for the fifth consecutive time. "He didn't go real quick the first quarter mile, but we really picked it up (and) from then on, it was a horse race. I don't know if people really understand how difficult it is to go from a mile and a quarter back to seven eighths. It's really hard to do. It takes a special kind of horse—he's that and maybe more.

"I truly believe he would be undefeated right now if you take the start of the Breeders' Cup Classic out of it. I got beat three lengths and I lost at least seven or eight leaving the gate and on down the track…I certainly would have liked to have seen us undefeated right now and then there wouldn't be a question about Horse of the Year."

Conquest Two Step returned $21.80 and $6.80, while Chitu was another half-length back in third and paid $2.80 to show.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert saddled three of the nine starters, having two of the previous three Malibu runnings. Besides third-place Chitu, Indianapolis finished fourth, while Midnight Hawk was last. Baffert's other horse, Pimpernel, was scratched.