Favored Speed Boat Beach (Bayern) led home a one-two finish for Bob Baffert in the GI Malibu S. at Santa Anita Tuesday, putting away stablemate Hejazi (Bernardini) down the lane to give the trainer his record-tying sixth win in the race–and third in the last four years–and longtime owners Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman and Karl Watson their first victory in the Arcadia track’s traditional opening-day feature.
“Turning for home I knew I was going to win it,” Baffert said. “I wasn’t sure which one it was going to be, I would have liked to run one, two, three. Speed Boat Beach has always shown since his first out that he was something special, hopefully he can build from this.”