Mucho Mas Macho to get in turf work for Pan American

Trainer Henry Collazo is scheduled to ship Mucho Mas Macho from Calder to

Gulfstream Park Sunday for a workout over the turf course in preparation for a

start in the Grade 2 Pan American on March 23.

Mucho Mas Macho hasn't run since January 12, when he closed from far off the

pace at odds of 41-1 to win the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale by a neck at Gulfstream.

Collazo opted to skip the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida February 16 in favor of waiting

for the Pan American.

"I'd rather concentrate on spacing my races out, so I can get to the

end-of-the-year goal," said Collazo, superstitiously avoiding the words:

Breeders' Cup Turf. "I just want to take everything one race at a time."

Collazo shipped the gray gelding to Gulfstream on February 17 for a

five-furlong workout over the turf course.

"I like to work him on the grass because I think he gets more out of the

works when I do work him on the grass. I can maintain him over the track at

Calder," he said.

Mucho Mas Macho has won four of nine starts on grass and finished a strong

second in the Grade 2 W.L. McKnight over 1 1/2 miles at Calder on November 24

before cutting back to 1 1/16 miles for the Fort Lauderdale, in which he closed

from ninth in midstretch to capture his first graded stakes.

"He's a push-button horse and the rapport (jockey) Juan Leyva has with him

makes him a lot more versatile. He's the kind of horse who could probably go two

miles and then give you a quarter-mile or go a mile and give you a

quarter-mile," Collazo said. "He always has something in the tank when you ask

him to give it to you."

Collazo expects the four-year-old son of Macho Uno to continue to improve.

"I've been doing this for a long time and I've been around a lot of nice

horses, and he's special," Collazo said.

Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com