ARCADIA — It may have been a disappointing opening day for fans in the crowd of 41,562 who showed up at Santa Anita hoping to see Mystik Dan display his Kentucky Derby-winning class.
It was thrilling, though, for fans who came with their minds on picking winners and made Raging Torrent the post-time favorite over Mystik Dan in the Malibu Stakes.
While Mystik Dan and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. never got closer than fifth and finished last in the six-horse race, Raging Torrent and Frankie Dettori stayed close to the lead and powered away to win the $300,000, Grade I Malibu on Thursday.
Raging Torrent, sent off at 5-2 odds, rewarded his many backers with a $7.20 payoff for each $2 bet in beating Stronghold by 1¼ lengths, with Imagination another half-length back in third. Mystik Dan, a 5-2 favorite on the morning line but 3-1 on the tote board, finished more than 11 lengths behind the winner.
Dettori said he’d been wary of what the Derby winner might be able to do in 2024’s last North American Grade I stakes restricted to 3-year-olds.
“Of course, I was afraid of Mystik Dan,” said Dettori, who celebrated Raging Torrent’s victory with a flying dismount, “but I thought the day to beat him was today. At seven-eighths (of a mile), my horse was very sharp, and he proved it.”
Winning trainer Doug O’Neill had been so confident before the race that, from the sound of it, he was not among those in the stands watching out for a surge by Mystik Dan.
“We really thought, going into it, we were the best horse at that distance,” O’Neill said of Raging Torrent after the colt won for the fourth time in five starts at 7 furlongs (he’s 1 for 7 at other trips). “He was training out of this world. He ran great.”
There was nothing great to say about Mystik Dan’s performance except that the colt seemed healthy after the race.
Most likely, the poor effort was the result of the fact Mystik Dan was racing for the first time in six months since his second-place finish in the Preakness and eighth in the Belmont Stakes, and the fact he was racing at an unfamiliar track and distance.
“He broke good, but it just seemed like we were always chasing,” Hernandez said. “I think shortening him up (to a sprint) took away from him. After running a mile and a quarter (in his Derby win), it’s tough to go back to seven-eighths.”
Raging Torrent was clocked in 1:21.54, better than most recent winners of the Malibu.
The habitual front-runner’s chances had improved early in the day when early speedster Bentornato, runner-up to Straight No Chaser in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar, was scratched from the Malibu with what was reported to be a sore foot. Senior Officer also was scratched.
That took some heat out of the early pace, which went in 22.19 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 44.29 for the half-mile as Dettori placed Raging Torrent second behind 7-2 Pilot Commander and Juan Hernandez.
Challenging Pilot Commander from the outside on the turn for home, Raging Torrent got the lead and was clear when he drifted toward the inner rail in mid-stretch. A stewards’ inquiry into the stretch run was initially announced to involve Raging Torrent, but it turned out to be about Imagination lugging out and bumping Pilot Commander as they fought for third. The stewards ruled the incident didn’t affect the order of finish and made no change.
The Malibu was one of six graded stakes on opening day of Santa Anita’s Classic Meet, which runs through April 6. The track’s Hollywood Meet begins April 18.
Amid worrying signs for the California racing industry, this was a sunny, comfortable afternoon to enjoy.
Fans saw star turns by Johannes ($2.60) and Umberto Rispoli in the $200,000, Grade II San Gabriel Stakes, making the 4-year-old 7 for 7 on the Santa Anita turf course; King of Gosford ($3.40) and Flavien Prat in the $200,000, Grade II Mathis Mile, Prat’s record-setting 56th graded stakes win of the year; and Kentucky-based She Feels Pretty ($3.20) and John Velazquez in the $300,000, Grade I American Oaks.
Some long-shot players enjoyed upsets by Kopion ($77.40) and Kazushi Kimura in the $300,000, Grade I La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, and O’Neill-trained J B Strikes Back ($34.80) and Antonio Fresu in the $200,000, Grade II Laffit PIncay Jr. Stakes (formerly the San Antonio).
On a day when the announced on-site crowd was up 3% from opening day in 2023, there was plenty to enjoy even for fans who didn’t see the version of the Kentucky Derby winner they expected.