Independence Hall will be pointed to Malibu following weekend win

Independence Hall is on schedule for his California stakes debut in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita after winning his first start in the state in an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Sunday at Del Mar.

Independence Hall closed from fifth in a field of eight to win by 1 1/2 lengths in the shortest trip of his six-race career.

“I don’t know if we need to try any shorter,” trainer Michael McCarthy said Wednesday.

The Malibu Stakes is run at seven furlongs for 3-year-olds. Independence Hall won two stakes at a mile at Aqueduct in late 2019 and earlier this year when trained by Michael Trombetta. The allowance race on Sunday was Independence Hall’s first start since a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Florida Derby in March.

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McCarthy is planning 2021 campaigns for Rushie, who was seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile last Saturday at Keeneland, and Ce Ce, who was fifth in the BC Distaff.

Ce Ce, a two-time Grade 1 winner in the spring, will be a 5-year-old mare in 2021.