2023 Malibu Stakes predictions, odds, post time, top contenders: Picks from Santa Anita-based insider
Horse racing insider Michelle Yu offers her best bets for Tuesday's Malibu Stakes at her home track, Santa Anita Park
By
CBS Sports Staff
•
3 min read
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert can tie the record for most wins by a trainer when he sends out the top three choices in the 2023 Malibu Stakes on Tuesday at Santa Anita Park. The 70-year-old Baffert has won the Malibu five times, including last year with Taiba. That's one shy of the record held by Richard Mandella. Baffert goes for No. 6 with Speed Boat Beach, Fort Bragg and Hejazi. Speed Boat Beach has been installed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Malibu Stakes odds, while Fort Bragg and Hejazi are the co-second choices on the morning line, at 3-1. Giant Mischief and Raise Cain (both 5-1) round out the top five choices in the eight-horse field.
Post time for the seven-furlong race is 5:30 p.m. ET. With several accomplished horses set to enter the starting gate on Tuesday, you'll want to see what Santa Anita-based racing reporter and analyst Michelle Yu has to say before making any Malibu Stakes picks.
Few people in racing are as well-connected as Yu. An on-air host and reporter who has provided racing analysis for TVG, HRTV and the Breeders' Cup, Yu has spent a lifetime in racing. Prior to her television career, she worked for trainers Steve Asmussen and Ron Moquett. She also is married to Santa Anita-based trainer Ryan Hanson.
Yu also has tremendous handicapping chops. In a wide-open Kentucky Derby in 2021, she gave out Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first, as the winner at 12-1. In Pool 5 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager last year, she suggested a play on All Other 3-Year-Olds, which cashed at a whopping 18-1 when Rich Strike won the Derby.
Since the end of February, she has crushed the Saudi Cup, riding a 15-1 winner, nailed Derma Sotogake to win the UAE Derby and hit the exacta in the Santa Anita Derby. She has hit the exacta in the Preakness Stakes and Hollywood Gold Cup and had both the winner and exacta in the Summertime Oaks and the Prince of Wales's Stakes. And in July, she smashed the Haskell Stakes for a $663 score, hitting 12-1 winner Geaux Rocket Ride as well as the exacta.
For Saturday, Yu has handicapped the 2023 Malibu Stakes lineup, made her picks and constructed her best bets. You can head to SportsLine now to see them.
Top 2023 Malibu Stakes predictions
One surprise: Yu is completely tossing Fort Bragg, the co-second choice on the morning line at 3-1. A $700,000 purchase two years ago, Fort Bragg has earned more than $414,000 in his career. He has three wins, two seconds and three thirds in 11 career starts.
But Yu doesn't like that Fort Bragg has only one win in seven graded stakes starts. "This allowance winner (versus three foes) in his last owns a graded stake at the one-turn mile, but his overall record doesn't sparkle," Yu told SportsLine. Fort Bragg does not appear in any of Yu's wagers. You can see all of Yu's 2023 Malibu Stakes bets here.
How to make 2023 Malibu Stakes picks
Moreover, Yu's top pick is a horse who has "the class to compete." She also is high on a "nifty horse" who is not among the favorites. She is including these horses in her 2023 Malibu Stakes bets, and so should you. She's sharing which horses to back at SportsLine.
So who wins the 2023 Malibu Stakes? What nifty horse is a must-back? What does Yu think of every horse in the race? And how has she constructed her wagers? Visit SportsLine to see Yu's picks for the Malibu Stakes, and find out.
2023 Malibu Stakes odds, contenders, post positions
| Prg # | Horse | Odds | Projection |
| 1 | Giant Mischief | 5-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 2 | Fort Bragg | 3-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 3 | Speed Boat Beach | 5-2 | SEE PICKS |
| 4 | Sharp Aza Tack | 20-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 5 | Damon's Mound | 6-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 6 | Matanzas Creek | 15-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 7 | Hejazi | 3-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 8 | Raise Cain | 5-1 | SEE PICKS |
