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Mucho Macho Man stars on Florida Sunshine Millions Day
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| Mucho Macho Man returns to action on Saturday in the FSM Classic
(Adam Coglianese Photography) |
Since early December, a month after his thrilling victory
in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Mucho Macho Man has been steadily preparing
for his return to the races. Come Saturday, the wait is over.
In what could turn out to be a huge day for the Mucho Macho
Man camp, the Florida-bred fan favorite will make his six-year-old debut in the
$400,000
Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park.
Later in the evening, the track will host the 43rd annual
Eclipse Awards dinner and ceremony, where the son of Macho Uno is up for both
champion older male and Horse of the Year honors.
The 1 1/8-mile Classic caps the 12th annual Florida Sunshine
Millions program, offering six races worth $1.3 million to showcase horses bred
in Florida.
"It's going to be fun," said Kathy Ritvo, who trains Mucho
Macho Man for owners Dean and Patti Reeves. "I know I appreciate good horses
myself, so it's nice for the people to get a chance to see him. He's just so
happy where he is right now.
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"I'm honored for him to be nominated. I hope they
recognized the biggest race of the year. He had a great year. They can't take
that away from him. One way or another, we'll be happy. And the other horses had
great years, too, so congratulations to them, also. It is what it is. We know
how good he is. We could have a really good day."
About an hour after a heavy rainstorm hit Gulfstream Park
on Wednesday morning, Mucho Macho Man visited the starting gate to continue
preparation for his 2014 debut.
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| Mucho Macho Man has taken his owners, Dean and Patti Reeves, on quite a ride
(Adam Coglianese Photography) |
Since early December, a month after his thrilling victory
in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Mucho Macho Man has been steadily preparing
for his return to the races. Come Saturday, the wait is over.
In what could turn out to be a huge day for the Mucho Macho
Man camp, the Florida-bred fan favorite will make his six-year-old debut in the
$400,000
Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park.
Later in the evening, the track will host the 43rd annual
Eclipse Awards dinner and ceremony, where the son of Macho Uno is up for both
champion older male and Horse of the Year honors.
The 1 1/8-mile Classic caps the 12th annual Florida Sunshine
Millions program, offering six races worth $1.3 million to showcase horses bred
in Florida.
"It's going to be fun," said Kathy Ritvo, who trains Mucho
Macho Man for owners Dean and Patti Reeves. "I know I appreciate good horses
myself, so it's nice for the people to get a chance to see him. He's just so
happy where he is right now.
"It was raining really hard this morning, but it stopped by
the time he went out," Ritvo said, adding that her charge went to the track
around 7:30 a.m. (EST). "We do it for every race. He went good. He's very
professional. He went up there, galloped and then stood in the gate, backed out
and came home. He walked most of the way home. It was all very good."
Ritvo also plans to school Mucho Macho Man in the
Gulfstream Park paddock during the opener of Thursday's 10-race card, which has
a first post of 12:40 p.m.
"We don't school in the paddock every time because we watch
the weather, but since everything is going very well we'll take him over," Ritvo
said. "He'll just take a walk. It's good for him to get out.
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"When we get a chance and it works out fine, we will school
him. He doesn't have to be there, but it tells him -- the gate and the paddock
--
that it's time to run. He's very professional. It's just good for him."
Favored at 2-5 on the morning-line, Mucho Macho Man will
break from post four in the six-horse field under Hall of Fame jockey Gary
Stevens, who flies in from California for the mount.
Mucho Macho Man has had six works since the Breeders' Cup,
his second straight Grade 1 victory, including a pair of sharp half-mile moves this month over Gulfstream's main track.
"He was doing great before going to Santa Anita, and going
into the Breeders' Cup he was doing really well," Ritvo stated. "He came out of
the race well, and I can't ask him to be looking any better. It sounds silly
because I say it every time, but he's just doing very, very good. He knows what
to do. Gary's coming in, and he's excited to be here. It'll be great."
This will be the third straight year that Mucho Macho Man
opened his campaign in the Sunshine Millions Classic. He won the race in 2012,
but was pulled up last year after struggling on a sloppy, sealed main track.
He didn't return until mid-June in the Criminal Type at
Belmont Park, running third, then was third again in the Whitney Handicap in August at Saratoga, where he was rained out of a scheduled start in the
Woodward prior to leaving for California and a victory in the Awesome Again on
September 28. Next up was the bay horse's gutsy nose score in the Breeders' Cup
Classic.
"I think it's a great race for him to start out in. It's a
perfect place for him to start," declared Finn Green, racing manager for Reeves
Thoroughbred Racing. "We really started in June of last year, so we're kind of
in mid-campaign right now. We're in a good place. The horse is in great shape.
He's clued in to what's happening the next couple of days. He knows
what's going on. He's ready."
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| Bernie the Maestro will attempt to carry the Ramsey silks to victory in the FSM Classic
(Keeneland/Coady Photography) |
Among Mucho Macho Man's rivals on Saturday are Bernie the
Maestro, second on the program at 4-1, and Gourmet Dinner, who is listed at 6-1.
Trained by Mike Maker, Bernie the Maestro was last seen running sixth as the
favorite in the December 7 Claiming Crown Jewel at Gulfstream.
"Last time, I wish he was in the race a little more and he
wasn't," Maker explained. "We just kind of drew a line through it. He'll be into it
on Saturday. He's doing well. Obviously, I don't have any false illusions but it
is horse racing and second, third and fourth pay pretty good."
Gourmet Dinner, a six-year-old son of Trippi, has run up
against Mucho Macho Man before. The two made their debut together on July 17,
2010, at Calder, where Gourmet Dinner finished first, a length ahead of Mucho
Macho Man.
They met the following year in the Holy Bull at Gulfstream,
where Gourmet Dinner got the best of him again, finishing third while three lengths in
front of the favored Mucho Macho Man. The race was won by Dialed In, who would
go on to take the Florida Derby.
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"It's a tough task, but how lucky both of us are to have
two horses running that ran together in July of 2010 in their first start,
because you know how tough it is to keep them together," said Bill Terrill, who
co-bred Gourmet Dinner along with Ocala Stud. "Mucho Macho Man really improved
and became a great horse, there's no doubt. We're here and I can tell you this,
it's no embarrassment to be second to a horse like that."
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| Gourmet Dinner has a history with Mucho Macho Man
(Bill Denver/Equi-Photo) |
Gourmet Dinner finished third in each of his last two
starts, an allowance at Parx Racing in November and the December 7 Broad Brush at
Laurel Park, which was run over a muddy, sealed track.
"We know we're shooting for the moon, but you've got to be
in it to win it," Terrill noted. "I think (Mucho Macho Man) should be Horse of
the Year, or at least older horse to be honest with you. We're just very happy
to have the opportunity to run along with him. Other than him being such a
standout, I think we have a heck of a chance to run good in the race."
The Sunshine Millions Classic will share the card with five other stakes,
including the $300,000
Florida Sunshine Millions Distaff. Toasting, the 9-5 morning-line favorite, is expected to have a new look when she runs in
the nine-furlong affair against six rivals.
"To me, she looks a little stronger this season. Last year,
she didn't look as strappy," trainer Tom Albertrani said. "She just seems to be
a lot strong, looking at her. I think she's going to improve this year."
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Toasting may be a more
physically imposing filly than she was last year, but she's likely to keep a
lower profile than usual during the early going of the race. The four-year-old daughter of Congrats has showed good early
speed in her most of her races before winning from well off the pace in the
seven-furlong Dream Rush and then finishing a sharp, off-the-pace head-second
in the 1 1/8-mile Comely last fall in New York.
"We noticed that in her races, she was showing early speed
and she came up short. She was getting caught up in some pretty fast paces,"
Albertrani explained. "When we ran her short at seven-eighths, she came from way
back that day. So in her next race, we decided to do the same thing."
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| Toasting has really grown up, according to her trainer
(NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) |
Toasting had come up just a little short against some top
company, finishing third in the Black-Eyed Susan and fourth in the Mother
Goose while employing her old style of running. It wasn't until she trailed
the field during the early and middle stages of the Dream Rush at Belmont that
she became a stakes winner with a late surge to score by 2 1/4 lengths.
Back in graded company in the Comely at Aqueduct, she again dropped far off
the early pace before making a strong late run that was barely turned back.
Jose Ortiz, the New York-based rider who was on Toasting
for her two most recent starts, is scheduled to have the return mount aboard the
West Point Thoroughbreds' runner.
"He hasn't done anything wrong on her. He was real patient
on her the first time he rode her. The last time, we were really excited with
her race, she just got beat by a really nice filly that day," Albertrani said.
"He fits her well."
Albertrani added that Toasting has been training well for her
2014 debut.
"She's been doing really well since she's come down, and
I'm looking forward to getting her back. She's coming off a couple of nice
races," he said. "I think she should be on the improve, so I'm looking forward
to this weekend."
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The Distaff field also includes a pair of cross-entries to the $150,000
Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Sprint in My Pal Chrisy and Sweet N Discreet.
Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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