Not originally on his schedule, the Grade 1, $500,000 Donn Handicap is, at
least, a possible next start for Mucho Macho Man. The five-year-old son of Macho
Uno is on the list of 17 names nominated for the 57th running of the 1 1/8-mile
race on February 9 at Gulfstream Park.
“We nominated him so we could have the option to consider it,” said Finn
Green, stable manager for Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, whose multiple Grade 2
winner has earned $2.3 million. “We won’t make that call until next Wednesday.”
The Kathy Ritvo-trained Mucho Macho Man, who closed out a successful 2012
campaign with a close second-place finish behind Fort Larned in the Grade 1
Breeders’ Cup Classic, turned in an uncharacteristic off-the-board finish in the
$400,000 Florida Sunshine Millions Classic on January 19.
After stalking the early pace over the sloppy track, Mucho Macho Man stopped
extending himself on the turn into the homestretch and was taken in hand by
jockey Mike Smith.
“Between him and the racetrack the chemistry wasn’t good enough for a
concert,” Green said.
Mucho Macho Man, whose only other poor performance in his 19-race career came
over a sloppy track in a seventh-place finish in the 2011 Grade 1 Belmont, came
out of his 2013 debut in good order.
“It’s probably somewhere between a six and seven-furlong work,” said Green,
estimating the exertion-output in Mucho Macho Man’s performance in the Florida
Sunshine Millions Classic. “That’s what we’ve considered it to be. It did not
deplete him at all.”
Golden Ticket was also nominated for the Donn after his sharp 2013 debut at
Gulfstream last weekend, but the Ken McPeek-trained four-year-old isn’t expected
to be asked to run back with only two weeks rest.
The son of Speightstown, though, looked like he could be a force in the
handicap division this year while winning a stakes-caliber allowance race last
Saturday by more than five lengths. Golden Ticket, whose only previous wins in
13 starts came in a maiden test at Gulfstream last February and a dead-heat
victory with Alpha in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga, was followed to the wire
by O’Prado Again and Rightfully So.
“He’s back. He’s a good horse. The Travers isn’t a fluke,” McPeek said.
Golden Ticket had previously finished 11th in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on
turf in his three-year-old finale on November 25.
“It was a test running him on the grass in his last one. We felt like we need
to run him in more three-year-old graded types of stakes,” McPeek said. “Now
he’s back on the surface he belongs on. I think it’s going to be a big year for
him.”
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