Mucho Macho Man gearing up for a brilliant performance in the Woodward Handicap at Saratoga
After succeeding in the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap, Mucho Macho Man was briefly laid off racing. Now, scheduled to compete in the Grade 1 Woodward Handicap at Saratoga on 1st September, 2012, the runner will have to brush off
whatever rust he has gained.
Trainer Katherine Ritvo ran the bay colt on a four furlong work-out at Saratoga on 12th August, 2012, which he successfully completed in 47.00 seconds, with regular exercise rider Nick Petro on his back. The four-year-old had
an unmatched pace and recorded the fastest time among the 37 other runners over the same distance.
The Woodward Handicap will cover a distance of 1 1/8 miles and since the colt won the Suburban Handicap at the same distance, this will not be a problem for him. He briskly covered the distance in 1 minute and 46.58 seconds, where he defeated Hymn
Book.
Regarding his first training session since the victory, handler Ritvo told the press that:
"Instead of working at 5:30 a.m. like we usually do, I waited for the track to dry a little at 7:30."
She further stated:
"We got a little traffic, but he worked good. There were two horses in front of him for someone else, and he came up on the inside of them and finished well."
The trainer appreciated the colt’s capability and told the press that:
"He's always been pretty serious, but he has really come into his own. He's a June 15th foal, so it's going to take him some time to mature. He's always been a pretty smart horse; he's just starting to grow into his body and put on a lot of muscle.”
Owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Mucho Macho Man holds an overall record of 6-3-4 in 16 starts and has collected earnings f $1,306,410 over the years. He has prior experience at Saratoga when he competed in his maiden race in August, 2010.
This time he will be stepping it up for another victory in order to make his record more impressive.
This year, he claimed the Florida Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes at Gulfstream Park and went on to win the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap in March 2012.
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