Mubtaahij got his first Grade 1 win in the $300,000 Awesome Again S. (G1) at Santa Anita in his first start for Bob Baffert.
The well-traveled 5-year-old has been to Dubai and back several times in his racing career, winning the 2015 UAE Derby (G2), running second in the 2016 Dubai World Cup (G1) and Woodward S. (G1) before Saturday's breakthrough win, which was a guaranteed “Win and You're In” race for next month's Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).
Mubtaahij had been off since running fourth in this year's Dubai World Cup in late March, and was second choice in the Awesome Again, behind stablemate Cupid. Going into the first turn, Mubtaahij got pinched back between horses and settled into sixth, about a half-dozen lengths off the lead going into the backstretch.
Drayden Van Dyke got Mubtaahij into gear with three furlongs to run, coming around horses into the stretch, eventually wearing down pacesetter Midnight Storm and holding off the late rush of Win the Space to win by 1 1/2-lengths in 1:51.32 for the nine furlongs.
"I think the blinkers kept (him) more focused today," Baffert said of the equipment change. "I didn't want to change too much, though. He's a classy horse. ... This horse—his last two works really impressed us. I just threw him in here and he has the class. He's proven."
Mubtaahij, owned by by Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, is one of the leading active earners in racing, with $4,529,332 to date. Baffert has won the Awesome Again a record five times, previously with Game On Dude (in 2012 and 2011), Richard's Kid (2010), and Silver Charm (1998).