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HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Mr Pug and JPG 2’s Naughty Rascal, a three-time juvenile winner including stakes on both the turf and dirt, looks to carry that momentum into 2025 in Saturday’s $165,000 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park.
The 14th running of the Mucho Macho Man for newly turned 3-year-olds going one mile is the co-headliner on an 11-race program along with the $165,000 Ginger Brew for 3-year-old fillies scheduled for one mile on the grass.
Named for the Florida-bred earner of more than $5.6 million lifetime that made Gulfstream-based trainer Kathy Ritvo the first woman to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) in 2013, the Mucho Macho Man is the first step for sophomores on the road to the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) March 29.
Based at Tampa Bay Downs with trainer Gerald Bennett, a career winner of more than 4,100 races, Naughty Rascal made four of his five 2-year-old starts at Gulfstream, three of them wins, including the six-furlong Proud Man in August and one-mile Armed Forces Nov 2 on the turf.
Naughty Rascal also broke his maiden in debut against fellow Florida-breds July 21 and was third after a troubled start in September’s one-mile Aventura breaking from post eight, the same position he drew in the Mucho Macho Man.
“The last time we were in the eight hole that’s when the six horse bumped the seven and the seven hit [Naughty Rascal] and he lost all chance of winning that stake. He finished third only beaten a couple of lengths,” Bennett said. “He’s doing great. So far on the dirt track other than that one race where he got bumped, he’s won every time. [There’s] a couple of tough ones in there so we’ll just see when we get there.”
Miguel Vasquez, up for the last two starts including a second by less than a length in the six-furlong Inaugural Dec 7 at Tampa, gets the return call.
“He’s been doing everything right, right from the get-go, and he’s got great mind. Nothing bothers him. He doesn’t care about anything, paddock-wise and all that,” Bennett said. “We’re looking forward to stretching him out farther. He’s doing really good. Hopefully I can get a couple of them races and get some points and go on from there.”
Trainer Jose D’Angelo entered the pair of Guns Loaded and McKellen. Morplay Racing, Joey Platts and Lady Sheila Stable’s Guns Loaded will be making his third start and first in a stakes after finishing second in his Aug 31 unveiling sprinting seven furlongs at Saratoga and registering a front-running two-and-three-quarter lengths maiden triumph Nov 16 at Churchill Downs going six furlongs.
“We have big expectations of him and he’s doing very well,” D’Angelo said. “This is a good horse. He ran very impressive at Saratoga first time out. We took time with him to run back. He got sick after he ran so we had to start again with him. That’s why I cut the distance. I knew he was ready to go but he impressed me with the way he ran. He had a nice gallop out, so that’s why we’re looking to run him a mile in this race.”
Leon King Stable Corp.’s McKellen has also raced twice, both at one mile at Gulfstream, notching a half-length maiden special weight victory Oct 19 and following up to be second to undefeated Brad Cox-trained Disco Time in a Nov 30 optional claiming allowance.
“Since day one he’s been a nice horse, but for sure a two-turn horse. That’s why first time out we ran him the one mile and he responded very well. At Churchill he ran second in the allowance in a tough field. He ran very well,” D’Angelo said. “He broke sharp and he was closer to the lead horses, but he was green. He was trying to go inside all the way, so we worked with him. We changed the bit and he responded very well. He worked amazing last week. I’m pretty sure that if everything goes well, we can be 1-2 in the race.”
Luis Saez rides Guns Loaded from the rail, while Irad Ortiz Jr. is named on McKellen from post three.
Also with two horses in the Mucho Macho Man is trainer Chad Brown, with Treaty of Rome and undefeated Septarian. Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith’s Treaty of Rome was third in debut Oct 26 and a popular half-length maiden winner Dec 7, both at Aqueduct, the latter going one mile.
Septarian was purchased privately by John Stewart’s Resolute Racing and moved to Brown after winning each of his first starts for trainer Javier Contreras, both by a length-and-three-quarters. Following his four-and-one-half furlongs graduation, he rolled in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance Nov 8 at Laurel Park, neither as the favorite.
Trainer and co-owner Rohan Crichton supplemented Florida-bred Macho Music to the Mucho Macho Man following a four-race campaign that began with a second-place finish at Gulfstream Park on Aug 10 and a nine-and-a-half length maiden victory there Aug 31. The Bridlewood Farm–bred colt by Maclean’s Music out of the Tapit mare Southern Girl was purchased for $60,000 at OBS March after selling for $50,000 at Keeneland September.
Racing for Crichton, Mark Fletcher Taylor, and Daniel L. Walters, Macho Music progressed to win an allowance optional claiming race at Keeneland on October 5 before finishing fourth in the six-furlong Bowman Mill Stakes there Oct 26. Through four starts he has earned $92,207 while compiling a record of two wins and one second.
“We didn’t plan on running him in the Mucho Macho Man. We were looking at an allowance race that didn’t go,” Crichton said. “We took the blinkers off him a couple mornings and asked him to sit and he actually did quite well. So when that race didn’t go, we said we’re going to have to find out sooner or later. I guess we’re going to find out sooner than later.” The colt will race without blinkers for the first time in the Mucho Macho Man.
Cool Intentions, a winner of back-to-back starts at Gulfstream including a one-mile maiden event Nov 16; Rolando, a debut winner Oct 19 sprinting six furlongs on Gulfstream’s main track; and Sonic Skidaddle, exiting a troubled ninth in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) Nov 30, complete the field.
