Malibu Glow

Malibu Glow

PROFILE

By Dave Liftin

STRENGTHS

His overall pattern of development is good, beginning with a close second fi rst out behind Meistersinger, who subsequently won a fi rstlevel allowance, ran third in the Barbaro Stakes, and won a second-level allowance by 10 lengths. Following a sharp maiden score in the mud, Malibu Glow stumbled at the start of the Spend a Buck behind Rush Now, who got loose on an easy lead and returned two starts later to run a close second in the West Virginia Derby.

Malibu Glow wore blinkers for the Dwyer, but he was again compromised by a slow pace. However, Malibu Glow earned a new Beyer top of 90 for that race, and then continued to progress by winning a fi rst-level allowance from the outside post with a fi gure of 93.

WEAKNESSES

The opening fractions of Malibu Glow’s allowance win, 23.37, 47.09 and 1:11.55, are comparable to the Jim Dandy’s splits of 24.00, 47.66 and 1:11.39 later the same day. But Malibu Glow’s come-home times were 1:36.95 for the mile and 1:50.18 at the fi nish, while the Jim Dandy fi nished up in 1:35.81 and 1:48.78. Put another way, after nearly identical six-furlong times, the last three-eighths of Malibu Glow’s race went in 38.63 seconds, but the same real estate in the Jim Dandy was covered in 37.39 seconds. That’s a big difference.

VALUE

He’ll have to improve again, while stretching out against the toughest group he has yet faced, but his allowance fi gure – on this track – isn’t far off what Coil and Shackleford earned in the Haskell (96), and it tops the best fast-track fi gure of Belmont Stakes winner Ruler On Ice (92). Not the most impossible proposition to land somewhere on the board at 20-1 or so.