Malibu Secret back on grass

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After knocking heads with the mighty Pink Lloyd on the Tapeta, Malibu Secret goes back to the Woodbine turf in Thursday’s featured open allowance, a sixfurlong sprint worth $112,500 including bonuses.

Trainer Marty Drexler, on behalf of owners Bruno Schickedanz and Jim Ensom, claimed the well-bred gelding Malibu Secret for $40,000 last Sept. 2. He went on to win two straight allowances in the fall under Eurico Da Silva, and then completed his campaign with a troubled third behind Pink Lloyd and Extravagant Kid in the Grade 2 Kennedy Road.

Off a seven-month layoff

June 25 in the Grade 3 Jacques Cartier, Malibu Secret checked in second to Pink Lloyd after saving ground in the four-horse event.

“I love this horse,” Drexler said. “When I claimed him, Da Silva said to me quietly the next morning in the barn that he’s the best horse I’ve ever claimed. He’s a little bit of a stressed-out type of horse. You have to chill him out, train him early. He’s the real deal.”

Malibu Secret is winless in nine starts on turf, but he finished either second or third in five of those outings. EmmaJayne Wilson retains the mount on the 6-year-old by Malibu Moon.

“When we got him, [the owners] kept telling me I should be running him on the turf,” Drexler said. “He shouldn’t take a huge step backwards. He’s doing well. I think Real Money looks good. The way Mark Casse’s horses are running, I think he’ll be tough. It’s a tough spot. If it ever came off the turf, I wouldn’t mind. It would be a huge advantage.”

Real Money graduated on the inner turf here last year, and eventually cleared the first allowance condition at Gulfstream in April. After coming up empty May 22 at Churchill, he came back here June 25 to land a second-level optional claimer going six furlongs on the main track after helping to set a slow pace.

City Boy, last year’s upset winner of the Grade 2 Nearctic, looks live in his second race off the bench. Trainer Mike Keogh said beforehand that the sevenfurlong distance was a little too far for him in his comeback in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup, but he needed to get a race into him to get his campaign started. Over soft ground, he stalked three wide on the turn before fading to fifth.

Boreal Spirit could link up on the lead with Real Money in his first appearance in nine months. He peaked last August with back-to-back allowance victories, but then went over the top in the fall while failing to show his customary early foot.

Rounding out the field are Eskiminzin and Final Jeopardy.