The Life & Times of Malibu Moon

Editor's Note: In the wake of news of Malibu Moon's May 18 death due to an apparent heart attack at the age of 24, BloodHorse Daily is republishing Moon Glow: The Life and Times of Derby Winner's Sire Malibu Moon. This story first appeared in the May 18, 2013, edition of BloodHorse Magazine. The ascent from aspiring actor to leading man has been relatively swift for Malibu Moon. The well-bred, precocious son of top sire A.P. Indy had to start his stallion career "Off Broadway" in Maryland at 3 but quickly made his way to Kentucky where he instantly became a name, and now is the star of the show as the sire of Orb, winner of the May 4 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1). The B. Wayne Hughes-bred Malibu Moon's racing career was essentially a single day of brilliance, but the strength of his pedigree (A.P. Indy—Macoumba, by Mr. Prospector) led him to the Pons family's Country Life Farm in Maryland. A stallion barn full of leading regional sires gave Malibu Moon the exposure to breeders he needed to show off his good looks and commanding presence. His first crop hit, which drew plenty of interest from Kentucky stallion operators, and after a four-year run at Castleton Lyons farm near Lexington, he took his spot as the "main man" at Hughes' renovated Spendthrift Farm. One-time home of the last two Triple Crown winners—Seattle Slew and Affirmed—Spendthrift now is home to the sire of the latest Derby winner and 68 additional stakes winners. "Malibu Moon has carried his own water the whole way at every station. At every level he's stepped up and delivered the goods," said Spendthrift Farm's stallion director Ken Wilkins. Hughes reportedly paid a lot of money for Macoumba, in foal to A.P. Indy. The resulting bay foal was a big, beautiful colt…but Macoumba stepped on her baby's left hind leg early in life and Malibu Moon was confined to his stall at Walmac Farm. Told horses with that type of injury generally don't have racing careers, Hughes had the colt turned out and allowed to be just a horse, and the young Malibu Moon came around. He was sent to California to trainer Mel Stute, who brought him along quickly to the races. Malibu Moon debuted April 30, 1999, at Hollywood Park, and ran second. He returned May 31 and whistled, going five furlongs in :57.41. He was considered the best 2-year-old in California…for about 24 hours, as he came out of the race with a slab fracture in a knee that ended his racing career. Hughes wanted to find a good spot for Malibu Moon—Kentucky is a tough stage to support a one-win juvenile at stud—and, like most other bloodstock agents and horsemen, Kentuckian John Stuart and Marylanders Michael and Josh Pons were on the lookout for the right prospect for their Midlantic marketplace. "They called around to some places in California, but it's June of the horse's 2-year-old year and people aren't thinking about the following year and they certainly aren't looking at 2-year-olds," said Josh Pons. "John Stuart called and said, 'Go out to California and meet Mr. Hughes and his adviser (trainer) Ron Ellis. Just see what you think because this horse did something most A.P. Indy horses can't do.' These lightly raced horses we've put to stud and have hit have sort of that one day of brilliance. If they showed more than once, we wouldn't get them in Maryland; we're 'Off Broadway.'" At the time Maryland was home to some 2,000 mares, and the Pons family had built a strong stallion roster at their Country Life Farm that included market leaders Allen's Prospect, Carnivalay, and Citidancer. Pons met with Hughes, Ellis, and Hughes' farm manager Seth Semkin in California. As Pons described it, his heart loved Malibu Moon, though his head was on business. "This 2-year-old looked at me like he was a giraffe at the zoo and just zinged," he said. "There was a presence, but I thought to myself, 'What are we doing? How are we ever going to get mares to a horse that won one race in California?' But I liked the look he gave me." Pons and the Hughes team agreed on a price, with the Pons brothers buying half of the horse and Hughes retaining half. Pons told Hughes he would work hard to hustle mares to make the partnership work, and Hughes told Pons to make Malibu Moon a success so he could be brought back to Kentucky. Malibu Moon's initial fee was set at $3,000 for 2000. In marketing the colt, the Ponses "wanted some precedent that we could hang our hat on" for standing a 3-year-old. After doing some research at the Maryland Horse library, they discovered two other stallions—Hail to Reason and Raise a Native—had started their stud careers as sophomores. They went to work. "A Maryland horseman works hard for his dollar," Stuart said. "It used to be the mares in Maryland were the right type for those Malibu Moon-types. We always felt like we should get these well-bred stallions and breed them to those hard-knocking Maryland allowance-types and see if we could put a little pedigree into their soundness and toughness." At a busy stallion station with lots of traffic, Malibu Moon got lots of exposure. "I would get everybody's third-string mare," Pons said. "They would come here to breed a mare to Carnivalay; they would come to breed a mare to Citidancer or Allen's Prospect, and I'd say, 'Gimme your third mare. Just try this horse.'" Malibu Moon got respectable numbers, and as his foals hit the ground, Pons got more than respectable comments from local breeders about the young stallion's foals. And when the Malibu Moon runners hit the races, there was even more respect. From his first crop came Perfect Moon. Stute paid $4,700 for Perfect Moon as a yearling in Maryland in 2002, and by August of his 2-year-old year the gelding had won the Best Pal Stakes (G2) at Del Mar for Annabelle Stute and The Hat Ranch. By year's end A.P. Indy was the leading sire, and his son was among the leading first-crop sires. Kentucky stallion operators came courting. As the Pons brothers fielded offers, they thought, "What if he is Bold Ruler?" "We likened it to a poker game," Pons said. "We had a good hand; we wanted to take some chips off the table but stay in the game." Gabriel "Spider" Duignan of Castleton Lyons, after inspecting the stallion and driving all over Maryland to look at his foals, insisted to farm owner Dr. Tony Ryan that Malibu Moon was the real deal. "I was blown away," Duignan said of Malibu Moon. "He had an aura about him that made him special. He was quite feisty—I wrote in my notes, 'I think he's correct. I saw a couple of steps on the ground.' "Looking at his foals…they were all big, strong horses. You have to remember they were out of ordinary mares." It was a gamble with the horse only having one crop at the races, and Hughes and Pons had some apprehension they might be moving Malibu Moon to Kentucky too soon, but Duignan went out on a limb on the horse and Dr. Ryan wound up purchasing half of the Ponses' 50% stake and moved the stallion to Kentucky. A key element in the transaction was the care of the horse. A playful horse, Pons was concerned in the wrong hands he could be over-disciplined into a mean horse. "He likes to rear up and play," Pons said. "He was like one of those dogs that jumps up on the sofa. You hit him with the newspaper and he jumps back up on the sofa. "We were happy with the horsemanship at Castleton Lyons," he said. "It was superb. Stallion manager Wayne Howard deserves a lot of credit for Malibu Moon's condition, because like any good athlete, you have to take care of your body." His fee was set at $10,000 for 2004, and Kentucky breeders liked what they saw. "We had a big open house and the weather was beautiful, and by the end of the day, I think we had over 50% of his first seasons sold," Duignan remembered. Declan's Moon came in Malibu Moon's second crop. Bred by Brice Ridgely in Maryland and raced by Jay Em Ess Stable with Ellis training, Declan's Moon was unbeaten at 2, culminating with a win in the Hollywood Futurity (G1), and was named champion 2-year-old male. The interest in Malibu Moon surged along with his stud fee. It jumped to $30,000 for 2005. The fate of Malibu Moon twisted again in 2007 with the death of Ryan and Hughes' purchase of venerable Spendthrift Farm. Wanting to rebuild the one-time leading stallion operation, Hughes was in the process of renovating the farm and was ready to re-stock the famed stallion barn. Malibu Moon moved to Spendthrift for the 2008 season. The sire has remained there since. Orb gives Malibu Moon nine grade 1 winners from 10 crops to race. Castleton Lyons' general manager Stuart Fitzgibbon is quick to note five were conceived from his time there, but there figures to be plenty more from his six seasons at Spendthrift. "The Pons boys did the hard work to get the numbers up there," Fitzgibbon said. "When he got here, he was a runaway train. The support from the breeders confirmed that. It may have been a risk to stand him at $10,000 but anybody that came to see him was blown away by his physical presence. He got 149 mares his first year here. "He has produced big, strong foals that have been commercial from day one. You go out and go around the sales and ask any agent, any trainer, any owner, and he's the one they all agree on." Malibu Moon remains a tightly held horse with just Hughes, the Ponses, and Castleton Lyons as owners. All breed to the stallion for their homebred operations and to sell some commercially. "Most of our better mares have gone to Malibu Moon once, if not twice or three times," said Fitzgibbon. "Every female that comes onto the land here at Castleton Lyons we'd like to think at some point would suit Malibu Moon." The 16-year-old stallion's commercial viability remains strong and may get stronger based on the Run for the Roses. "We sold Prospective at Saratoga to John Oxley," said Wilkins of last year's Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner. "We sold (grade 2 winner) Kauai Katie; some we'll protect with some pretty good reserves because we're proud of them." Spendthrift sold Freedom Child, winner of the May 11 Peter Pan Stakes (G2), for $350,000 as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, and retain partial ownership with West Point Thoroughbreds and St. Elias Stable. Bookended by 2004 juvenile male champion Declan's Moon and now 2013 classic winner Orb, seven of Malibu Moon's nine grade 1 winners have been females. The so-called "filly sire" moniker may be tagged here, but it remains too early for it stick. "You go back and see who is buying the offspring at the yearling sales and the 2-year-old sales and there are some pretty strong players buying his colts," Wilkins said. "I think you'll see more colts coming along." And, just as with any other hit show, you know someone's already working on the sequel.