Mucho Macho Man, Awesome Feather well following seasonal debut wins

Sunshine Millions Classic winner Mucho Macho Man had plenty of visitors on Sunday (Adam Coglianese Photography)

by Brisnet.com

Florida Sunshine Millions winners Mucho Macho Man, Awesome Feather
and Little Mike all came out of Saturday’s races at Gulfstream Park in
good order, according to their trainers Sunday morning.

Mucho Macho Man, impressive winning the $400,000 Classic by 1 1/2
lengths over Ron the Greek, was grazing early Sunday morning outside his
barn while a large group of fans, including owners from Reeves
Thoroughbred Racing and Dream Team One Racing Stable, admired the tall
four-year-old bay son of Macho Uno.

“Everything is fine,” trainer Kathy Ritvo said. “We’re all very happy
with his performance. He’ll give him a couple days and we’ll think about
what we’re going to do next. We have some good options. With the Classic
being his first race since November 9, it’s nice to see you can give him
that kind of time between races and he can run the way he did.”

Awesome Feather exited her Distaff win in good condition (Adam Coglianese Photography)

“The race was real impressive,” said Brown, who watched the Awesome of Course
four-year-old filly stalk a :46 3/5 and 1:10 4/5 pace before drawing away down
the stretch and covering nine furlongs in 1:49. “I don’t have anything picked
out right now for her next start. We’ll get her back on the track in the next
couple days, see how she’s doing, and then pick something out.”

Also coming out of a Florida Sunshine Millions win in good condition was
Priscilla Vaccarezza’s five-year-old Florida homebred gelding Little Mike, who
ran his Gulfstream Park turf course record to five wins from six starts in the
$150,000 Turf with a stunning wire-to-wire score by three-quarters of a length
under regular jockey Joe Bravo as the 8-5 favorite.

“He came out of it just fine,” trainer Dale Romans said Sunday morning of the
son of Spanish Steps who was making his second start back here after spending
nearly nine months on the sidelines because of a cracked shin. “He’s a better
horse this year and I always thought he would go the mile-and-an-eighth because
he can relax on the lead.”

No decision has been made for Little Mike’s next appearance. Winner of three
Grade 3 events last year — the Fort Lauderdale, Canadian Turf and Appleton —
Little Mike’s only defeat over the course came in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Turf
Handicap going 1 1/8 miles last year as Teaks North pulled off a 25-1 upset,
although beaten only 2 1/2 lengths. Teaks North finished fifth in Saturday’s
race.