Mucho Macho Man Wins First Stakes in Risen Star
BY BROCK SHERIDAN
2011 – Florida-bred Mucho Macho Man won the first of his six career stakes with a length-and-a-half score against nine other 3-year-olds in the Grade 3 Risen Star at Fair Grounds, setting himself on the road to that year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands.
With jockey Rajiv Maragh picking up the mount the previous night after regular rider Eibar Coa was injured in a spill at Gulfstream Park, Mucho Macho Man was the third choice at 7-2 behind 2-1 favorite Rogue Romance in the mile-and-a-sixteenth test.
Florida-bred Decisive Moment was able to set lackadaisical fractions of :24.67 and :49.24 in the Risen Star as Mucho Macho Man chased in second from a length-and-a-half back while racing to the inside of Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club-winner Santiva and 123-1 longshot Liondrive. Those four were heads apart at the top of the long Fair Grounds stretch when Mucho Macho Man began to edge clear inside the final furlong before finishing in 1:43.98 with Santiva second and Rogue Romance another length-and-quarter back in third.
Mucho Macho Man also provided the first career graded stakes victory for trainer Kathy Ritvo, who conditioned the bay colt for owners Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Dream Team One Racing Stable.
Mucho Macho Man would go onto to finish third in the Kentucky Derby behind winner Animal Kingdom and despite his June 15 birthdate, would also compete in all three legs of the Triple Crown, finishing sixth in Shackleford’s Preakness (G1) and seventh in the Belmont (G1) won by Ruler On Ice.
Mucho Macho Man became in Grade 1 winner in the 2013 Awesome Again at Santa Anita then won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic there in his next start.
He retired in 2014 after winning nine of 25 starts with five seconds and five thirds and his $5,625,410 bankroll ranks him third, behind Skip Away ($9,616,360) and Silver Charm ($6,944,369), on the list of the all-time leading Florida-bred money earners.
Mucho Macho Man is by Macho Uno out of Ponche de Leona, by Ponche and was bred in Florida by John D. and Carole A. Rio. He currently stands at stud in Canada.
