Malibu Beauty displayed an indomitable will to win in Sunday’s Caesar’s Wish Stakes for fillies and mares racing 1 1/16 miles at Laurel Park. The Caesar’s Wish was one of three $100,000 stakes on the Sunday program. Malibu Beauty broke sharp from the inside post under jockey J G Torrealba and set rated fractions of 25.00 and 49.05 seconds while prompted by Saddle Up Jessie. Jockey Sheldon Russell and Saddle Up Jessie turned up the heat on the second turn, and they put a head in front after a six-furlong clocking of 1:13.06. Malibu Beauty is one tough mare, however. She looked Saddle Up Jessie straight in the eye at the three-sixteenths, then drew away to prevail by 2 3/4 lengths in 1:45.00 over the fast track. Multiple stakes-winner Saddle Up Jessie, sent away the odds-on favorite after finishing second in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap on July 7, was easily second, five lengths ahead of a non-threatening Evidencias. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Lexa, Intrepid Dream and Affirmative Lady completed the order of finish. Majestic Creed, Continentalcongress and Foggy Night scratched. Malibu Beauty returned $20.20 to win as the fifth choice in the betting. The Caesar’s Wish was Torrealba’s third consecutive winner on the card. Trained by Gary Capuano, Malibu Beauty is a 6-year-old homebred by Buffum owned by Z W P Stable and Non Stop Stable. Foaled in Maryland, Malibu Beauty was a $45,000 RNA as a yearling, and is the sixth blacktype earner produced by her dam, the Malibu Moon mare Slow and Steady. A multiple stakes-winner, Malibu Beauty now boasts 11 wins from 37 starts. She has earned $693,699. *** Searching Heavy rains late Saturday afternoon forced turf racing to be abandoned, and the Searching for 3-year-old fillies was moved from 1 1/16 miles on the grass to a one-turn mile on dirt. That suited Roanan Goddess just fine, and she rallied from last to defeat pacesetting race favorite Call Another Play by 6 1/4 lengths in 1:39.53. Roanan Goddess settled outside at the back of the compact field as Call Another Play set slow fractions of 25.66 and 50.22 seconds. Torrealba moved Roanan Goddess in between horses entering the turn, eased to the outside turning into the long straight, and ran by the leader without much fuss. Call Another Play, a Laurel stakes-winner on dirt, was dropping in class after finishing fourth in last month’s Grade 3 Delaware Oaks. She barely held second, a nose ahead of rail-skimming Distorted d’Oro. Madame Mischief, off slow before advancing to push the pace, was a well-beaten fourth. Play Good Pay Good, Belle of Rights and Juniper Juice scratched Roanan Goddess, the second choice in the betting, returned $5 to win for owner Mens Grille Racing and trainer Hamilton Smith. “She’s a tough little nut,” Smith said after Roanan Goddess won Laurel’s Xtra Heat Stakes racing six furlongs over muddy dirt on Jan. 27. “She always tries. She’s a very small filly, but she gives you all she’s got.” Roanan Goddess has won 4 of 11 starts for earnings of $218,240. *** Bald Eagle Derby Give It a Whirl faced some toughies on dirt last year, and he benefited from a wonderful ride by Jose Batista to nab the off-turf Bald Eagle Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles. Batista settled Give It a Whirl into a nice rhythm on the first turn, and they stepped the opening quarter in a relaxed 25.77 seconds while lightly prompted from the inside by Wine Collector. Give It a Whirl moved closer to the rail on the backstretch while not exerting much energy. He completed the half-mile in 51.77, ran the opening three-quarters in 1:15.97, and turned into the straight in front of favored Mugatu. Under the wire, it was Give It a Whirl by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:54.29. Mugatu was four lengths better than third-finisher Cinder Block. Then came Wine Collector and slow-starting Trevesso. Elevated Game and Desvio scratched. Trained by Cal Lynch, Give It a Whirl returned $8.80 as the third betting choice. A homebred gelding owned by Greg and Caroline Bentley’s Runnymoore Racing, Give It a Whirl was foaled in Kentucky, and is by Hard Spun out of stakes-placed Chic Thrill, by Smart Strike. Give It a Whirl won his first two starts last year by a combined 11 1/2 lengths. He then finished fourth in his stakes debut, the Sapling at Monmouth on Aug. 26. The Sapling runner-up, Dornoch, is now the leading 3-year-old in the country after winning this year’s Belmont and Haskell Stakes. In his final two races of 2023, Give It a Whirl couldn’t go with Copper Tax, arguably the best 2-year-old in the region. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.