Ben Colebrook planned to give Raise Cain a break after winning the Oct. 21 Perryville Stakes at Keeneland, but the trainer said the 3-year-old Violence colt in follow-up weeks “didn’t really act like he wanted one.”
So Raise Cain is headed west to compete in the $300,000 Malibu Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park Dec. 26, opening day of the track’s winter/spring meet. The seven-furlong race is expected to lure multiple horses trained by Bob Baffert, whose nominees include Fort Bragg , Hejazi , National Treasure , Speed Boat Beach , and others.
“We’re going back to the well one more time,” Colebrook said of Raise Cain. “He’s training great. His last race was kind of his best race on numbers that he has run. I think the cutback (to sprints) is really what he wants to do.”
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Winner of the one-mile Gotham Stakes (G3) and the seven-furlong Perryville, Raise Cain has also run respectably in two-turn races. He was eighth in the Kentucky Derby (G1).
“There’s one more grade 1 for (male) 3-year-olds, so we might as well swing at it,” Colebrook said.
Owing to difficulty in securing a flight to California, Raise Cain and other Kentucky-based horses pointed to upcoming stakes in California will depart Dec. 17 for a two-day van ride, Colebrook said.
The $577,066 earner for owners Andrew and Rania Warren breezed a half-mile in a bullet :46 3/5 at Keeneland Nov. 15.
