Zipse: Spectacular Bid, the greatest Malibu Stakes winner

As Flightline and Dr. Schivel get set to do battle in a most intriguing edition of the Malibu Stakes, it got me thinking about all the great horses that have run over the years in the Grade 1 race at Santa Anita.

Round Table, Native Diver and Damascus were among the notables who won the 7-furlong feature in the early years, and more recently horses such as Shared Belief, Runhappy and Omaha Beach have carried on its grand tradition. The Malibu certainly has withstood the test of time. For me, though, the one year that  will always stand out is the 1980 edition won by the great Spectacular Bid.

A dominant 2-year-old champion in 1978 and a dominant 3-year-old champion the year after, Spectacular Bid was sent west by his connections to compete in Santa Anita’s Strub Series. Owned by Hawksworth Farm and trained by the brash Buddy Delp, he would be sent off as the heavy 3-10 favorite in the field of five, but this edition was not without questions for the champion from Maryland.

Run on Jan. 5 in 1980, the Malibu was his first race back since ending his sophomore season with a win in the Meadowlands Cup nearly three months earlier. It was also his first time running in California. The highweight at 126 pounds, Spectacular Bid would need to come out running at a tricky distance that he had not seen since winning the Hutcheson to begin his 3-year-old campaign.

Complicating matters was the presence of California’s best. Flying Paster was a serious California-bred who finally would get to face the champion on his home turf. He too, though, was coming off a layoff. In fact, it was a much longer one than Spectacular Bid, having not raced since finishing fourth in the Preakness.

The 1980 edition also came one year after a shocking upset in the Malibu. The year before, Triple Crown winner Affirmed returned from a layoff only to run third at odds of 3-10. And unlike Spectacular Bid, he already had plenty of experience in Southern California and had no one the likes of Flying Paster to worry about.

The questions were asked, and Spectacular Bid responded with supremacy. Last early, the son of Bold Bidder made it look easy from there. In winning by five lengths, he broke the track record in a final time of 1:20 flat. It was a record that would stand for more than 30 years.

Second-place finisher Flying Paster was an excellent racehorse. Without Spectacular Bid in the starting gate, he won 12 stakes races, but as we had seen in the 1979 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and as we would see three more times after the Malibu, he was just no match for his great rival.

For Spectacular Bid, the Malibu was the first of four overwhelming performances in an eight-week span at Santa Anita. With Bill Shoemaker in the saddle each time, he completed a sweep of the Strub Series with wins in the San Fernando and Strub Stakes. He then completed his Santa Anita swing by splashing to victory in the Big Cap under 130 pounds. Each time, Flying Paster would be second.

Purchased for $37,000 as a yearling, Spectacular Bid would go on to turn in one of the greatest seasons in history with wins in the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap and Californian at Hollywood Park, the Washington Park Stakes at Arlington Park, the Haskell Handicap at Monmouth Park, and the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park.

All told, Spectacular Bid set four track records at three tracks in 1980, including a remarkable 1:57 4/5 in winning the Strub. That performance at Santa Anita shattered the world record on dirt, and it is a record that stands more than four decades later.

The Woodward would be the final race of his career and was run in the strangest of conditions. Unopposed after Winter’s Tale, Dr. Patches and Temperence Hill were scratched, the great horse won the important race in a walkover. Still, all alone, he finished the 1 1/4 miles in 2:02 3/5, faster than numerous editions over the years.

The 1980 Horse of the Year retired with 26 victories in 30 starts and earnings of $2,781,607. The walkover in the Woodward completed a perfect season of 9-for-9, which had begun with a spectacular win in that memorable 1980 edition of the Malibu.