2023 Malibu Stakes odds, horses, field: California-based insider offers best bets for Tuesday's race

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert can tie the record for most wins by a trainer when he sends out the top three favorites in the 2023 Malibu Stakes on Tuesday at Santa Anita Park. The 70-year-old Baffert has won the Malibu Stakes five times. That's one shy of the record held by Richard Mandella. Baffert goes for No. 6 with Speed Boat Beach, Fort Bragg and Hejazi. Speed Boat Beach is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the 2023 Malibu Stakes odds, while Fort Bragg and Hejazi are 3-1. Post time is 5:30 p.m. ET.

With several accomplished horses set to enter the starting gate on Tuesday, you'll want to see what Santa Anita-based racing reporter and analyst Michelle Yu has to say before making any Malibu Stakes picks. Join SportsLine here to see who she's picking!

Few people in racing are as well-connected as Yu. An on-air host and reporter who has provided racing analysis for TVG, HRTV and the Breeders' Cup, Yu has spent a lifetime in racing. Prior to her television career, she worked for trainers Steve Asmussen and Ron Moquett. She also is married to Santa Anita-based trainer Ryan Hanson.

Yu also has tremendous handicapping chops. In a wide-open Kentucky Derby in 2021, she gave out Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first, as the winner at 12-1. In Pool 5 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager last year, she suggested a play on All Other 3-Year-Olds, which cashed at a whopping 18-1 when Rich Strike won the Derby.

Since the end of February, she has crushed the Saudi Cup, riding a 15-1 winner, nailed Derma Sotogake to win the UAE Derby and hit the exacta in the Santa Anita Derby. She has hit the exacta in the Preakness Stakes and Hollywood Gold Cup and had both the winner and exacta in the Summertime Oaks and the Prince of Wales's Stakes. And in July, she smashed the Haskell Stakes for a $663 score, hitting 12-1 winner Geaux Rocket Ride as well as the exacta.

Now, Yu has handicapped the 2023 Malibu Stakes horses, made her picks and constructed her bets. Join SportsLine here to see them!

One surprise: Yu is completely tossing Fort Bragg, even though he's one of the top favorites at 3-1! "This allowance winner (versus three foes) in his last owns a graded stake at the one-turn mile, but his overall record doesn't sparkle," Yu told SportsLine. Fort Bragg does not appear in any of Yu's wagers.

Moreover, Yu's top pick is a horse who has "the class to compete." She also is high on a "nifty horse" who is not among the favorites. She is including these horses in her 2023 Malibu Stakes bets, and so should you. You ABSOLUTELY need to see her picks before locking in any of your own.

So who wins the 2023 Malibu Stakes? What nifty horse is a must-back? What does Yu think of every horse in the race? And how has she constructed her wagers? ... Join SportsLine right now to get Michelle Yu's 2023 Malibu Stakes picks and horse-by-horse analysis, all from the Santa Anita-based insider who has been red-hot all year!