Mind Your Biscuits wins Malibu Stakes, Mor Spirit is fourth on Santa Anita’s opening day

The late afternoon sun shone brilliantly as the popular attraction of opening day made its way down the dirt path to the entrance of Santa Anita.

The crowd was two deep in some spots and a man alerted his friend to come over and get a glimpse. Another man in a red, green and yellow Rastafarian hat gave a thumbs-up as the horse strode by.

Mor Spirit was the center of attention Monday for a packed crowd of 46,514 to start the season, but that story line soon faded like the setting sun as Mind Your Biscuits won the Grade I, $300,000 Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs.

It was a finish of favorites. Mind Your Biscuits, at 7-2, prevailed by a half-length over runner-up Sharp Az-teca (4-1), followed by Ten Blessings, who went out at 8-5. The Bob Baffert-trained Mor Spirit, in his first race since the Kentucky Derby, needed a late charge to finish fourth.

Fittingly, it was sunny long enough for the winning horse and jockey Joel Rosario to soak up the light on the track, with shadows already set over the winner’s circle.

“Not a bad afternoon,” Rosario said. “It is always fun coming out here. I was a little concerned in the stretch. We were closer than we have ever been before. They were smoking up front. We got a little late kick and he took off.”

The victory was well earned, considering that Sharp Azteca jockey Edgard Zayas said that “my horse ran his eyeballs out.”

The 2-7-4 trifecta paid $49.80 on a crisp winter day for a crowd that might be a good sign for the upcoming racing season. The on-track attendance was the most on opening day since 1994, perhaps a carryover from the nearly 73,000 on hand for a session of November’s Breeder’s Cup that represented the highest single-day attendance since that event switched to a two-day format.

Sweaters and jackets were in evidence amid day-after-Christmas temperatures of about 62 degrees, but for a few hours the sun was out with the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains looming in the distance and announcer Mi-chael Wrona’s voice echoing through the speakers.

Many expected Wrona to call Mor Spirit’s name, at least to show, but that never came to fruition after the horse’s bumpy start. The fourth-place finish came after a disappointing 10th place in May’s Kentucky Derby.

“He got knocked around a little bit leaving the chute, then after that it was hard to catch them,” jockey Mike Smith said. “He kept coming, but they didn’t stop. He’ll get a lot out of that.”

It also was a triumph for Mind Your Biscuits trainer Robert Falcone Jr., after the horse’s third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and it headlined the last race of the year for 3-year-olds.

“This is great for him,” Falcone said.

“He bounced out of the Breeders’ Cup great, and he gets over the track so well. He just proved today, again, that he’s a great horse. He’s a real nice horse. It feels great.”

In other graded stakes, Constellation used a homestretch rally to edge Finley’sluckycharm by a half-length and win the Grade I, $300,000 La Brea Stakes. Finley’sluckycharm went out at 8-5 and led most of the race before 12-1 Constellation caught her to achieve the upset.

Conquest Enforcer won the Grade II, $200,000 Mathis Brothers Mile by 11/4 lengths over Mittersill. Bettys Bambino won the Grade III, $100,000 San Simeon Stakes by 21/4 lengths, his sixth victory on a hillside course after a long layoff. Monday’s race was his first start since February 2015.

Those who showed up early saw a photo finish in the first race when Cioppino Pasadino edged Fallout. It wasn’t the marquee race,but it set a fun tone as Santa Anita began its search for the next star on the rise.

sports@latimes.com