El Kabeir heads west for Malibu

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After braving the harshest of harsh winters here in 2015, El Kabeir will be heading west for winter 2016 – at least, for part of it.

El Kabeir, who won the Grade 3 Jerome and Grade 3 Gotham over Aqueduct’s inner track last winter, was scheduled to ship Wednesday to Southern California, where he will be pointed to the Grade 1, $300,000 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. Depending how he fares, his stay in California could be extended to include other graded opportunities.

El Kabeir is trained by John Terranova and will run in Terranova’s name in the Malibu. He will be shipping to Bob Baffert’s barn.

“We’re really playing it race by race,” said Justin Zayat, racing manager for his family’s Zayat Stables. “We’ll see. There are races out there.”

Zayat was at Belmont Park Monday morning to watch El Kabeir put in a five-furlong workout which Daily Racing Form timed in 1:00.68 over the training track. El Kabeir went his final three furlongs in 36.39 seconds and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.83.

“I thought he looked great,” said Tonja Terranova, assistant to her husband, John. “He couldn’t have looked any better.”

Following a third-place finish in the Wood Memorial in April, El Kabeir was entered but ultimately scratched out of the Kentucky Derby due to a foot issue. He was given the summer off and didn’t start again until Oct. 31 at Aqueduct, where he finished last of five in the Bold Ruler the same day the Zayats’ American Pharoah won the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland. El Kabeir wheeled back in two weeks and won the City of Laurel Stakes, a seven-furlong stakes restricted to 3-year-olds at Laurel, by a nose over Roxbury N Overton.

“We were a little disappointed after the Bold Ruler,” said Zayat. “He didn’t seem like he really ran that day, so we decided to wheel him back at Laurel, and he ran a good race there. We looked at the Cigar Mile and thought that was too soon back, so we decided to give him the extra time.”

Zayat said Mike Smith is expected to ride El Kabeir in the Malibu.

Tonja Terranova thinks California could be a good spot for El Kabeir to spend the winter. While the Terranovas often oversee Baffert’s New York horses, Baffert will do the same for them with El Kabeir. The Terranovas won the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet in 2008 with Laragh and ran second in the Grade 2 Santa Ynez at Santa Anita in 2010 with Franny Freud.