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KIRKWOOD GRAD: Mucho Gusto Too Tough in Pegasus World Cup

Mucho Gusto | Lauren King
Courtesy of the TDN

 

Following the high-profile defections of Omaha Beach (War Front) and Spun to Run (Hard Spun) earlier this week, the GI Runhappy Pegasus World Cup appeared to be a wide-open affair. But apparently nobody told Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man). Sent off the 3-1 second choice behind Higher Power (Medaglia d’Oro), who went off at 5-2, Mucho Gusto took over with consummate ease, strolling home an 4 1/2 -length winner over Mr Freeze (To Honor and Serve). It was 3/4 of a length farther back to War Story (Nothern Afleet).

“Those are the most exciting ones, when you don’t expect it,” said Baffert, speaking via telephone from California. It was Baffert’s second win in the race since taking the inaugural edition with Arrogate in 2017.

Mucho Gusto broke like a shot from post 10 and was hustled over to the inside by the piping hot Irad Ortiz Jr. navigating the first turn. Soon headed by Mr Freeze and Bodexpress (Bodemeister) through an opening quarter in :23.77, Higher Power ranged up to the outside flank of Bodexpress following a :47.78 half. The two front runners spurted a length clear approaching the quarter pole, and while Mucho Gusto appeared to keep pace with the leaders, High Power began his backward retreat. Three-abreast with the pacesetters at the quarter pole, the chestnut quickly vaulted past those two, was clear at the top of the lane and was given a pair of left handers and one on the right, but those seemed more for reassurance as he glided home a much-the-best winner.

“I had a great trip,” said Irad Ortiz Jr., who earned his second consecutive Eclipse Award Thursday night. “He got a great start and felt good. He relaxed so well and we were able to save ground. At the three-eighths pole I tipped him out and he took off. He was much the best. I think he just took off and opened up easy. He’s a nice horse.”

Baffert was equally pleased with his charge’s performance, “[Mucho Gusto] looked great in the warm up, and Irad Ortiz did a pretty masterful job. He had me a little bit worried the way he was down inside like that, but he knew what he was doing. When he tilted out at the quarter pole, all I could say was ‘Damn I wish I would have flown down there!’. But it was pretty exciting.”

A graded stakes winner and Grade I placed at two, the chestnut took the Robert B. Lewis S. at Santa Anita in February before finishing third in the GIII Sunland Derby the following month. Victorious in the GIII Laz Barerra S. and GIII Affirmed S., he found subsequent 3-year-old champion Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) too tough in the July 20 GI Haskell Invitational S. Third in the 10-furlong GI Travers S. Aug. 24, he rounded out the season with a fourth-place finish in the GIII Oklahoma Derby Sept. 29. Given time some time off and purchased privately by HH Prince Faisal bin Khaled in the interim, Much Gusto recorded three consecutive bullet breezes recently, including a five-furlong move in :59 4/5 (1/58) Jan. 4 (XBTV) followed by a six-panel work in 1:12 4/5 (1/4) Jan. 10 (XBTV).

“The horse shipped really well and I wasn’t really planning on taking him there, but he worked really well the other day,” said Baffert, explaining the decision to ship in for the race. “I was going to run in the [GII] San Pasqual next week, but after he worked so well, I thought you know what, I’m just going to take a shot at the mile and an eighth and maybe that will get him ready. He didn’t get an invite to the Saudi Cup, so I thought maybe if he runs well enough, he’ll get an invitation. Who would know that the race fell apart [with the scratch of Omaha Beach and Spun to Run], unfortunately.”

When asked about his pre-race instructions, Baffert added, “The way he broke, I told Irad to warm him up well so that he would get away from there and he did. He could have won from the 12 hole. He just showed up. We’ve always wanted to see him run a race like that, but he got beat by Maximum Security, he’s been chasing some really good horses. It was a different field today. I want give a shout out to Flavien [Prat]. He worked him for me and was going to ride him in the San Pasqual.”

The win was the first Grade I score for Mucho Gusto’s sire, Mucho Macho Man, who stands at Adena Springs. Purchased for $625,000 by Michael Lund Petersen at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale in 2018, he was the highest-priced offspring by the sire that season. This is one of two winners for the mare, Itsagiantcauseway.

PEGASUS WORLD CUP INVITATIONAL S. PRESENTED BY RUNHAPPY-GI, $2,940,000, Gulfstream, 1-25, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:48.85, ft.
1–MUCHO GUSTO, 124, c, 4, by Mucho Macho Man
http://www.fasigtipton.com/ 1st Dam: Itsagiantcauseway, by Giant’s Causeway
2nd Dam: Countervail, by Seeking the Gold
3rd Dam: Strike a Balance, by Green Dancer
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($14,000 Ylg ’17 KEEJAN; $95,000 Ylg ’17
KEESEP; $55,000 RNA 2yo ’18 OBSMAR; $625,000 2yo ’18
EASMAY). O-HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled; B-Teneri Farm Inc.
& Bernardo Alvarez Calderon (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Irad Ortiz,
Jr. $1,800,000. Lifetime Record: 11-6-2-2, $2,579,800.

The 2-year-old Thoroughbred had been bred to race, but Kip Elser of Kirkwood Stables in Camden, South Carolina, believed a sport horse career was ..

Danta And Robertshaw Still Believe In The Thoroughbred Hunter

Courtesy of the Chronicle of the Horse
By: Natalie Voss
Jan 23, 2020 – 2:58 PM

It didn’t take Ron Danta more than a few minutes to decide he wanted Lucca in his barn. The 2-year-old Thoroughbred had been bred to race, but Kip Elser of Kirkwood Stables in Camden, South Carolina, believed a sport horse career was more his speed.

Danta and his partner Danny Robertshaw also base out of Camden at their Beaver River Farm, so Danta went to Kirkwood to take a look. Danta watched Lucca (Fit To Fight—Fraulino, Alwasmi) pop over his first couple of logs and liked what he saw.

“It’s kind of sad nowadays—you look back, and so many of the great, great hunters we had over the years were Thoroughbreds,” said Danta. “Danny had Protocol, who was undefeated in the 4’ regular working hunter and champion at [the Pennsylvania National], Washington, Madison Square Garden [New York] and the Royal Winter Fair [Toronto] in the same year. So many of those horses were such great show horses, and now the trend is people won’t even look at a Thoroughbred. They all want to go to Europe to look at warmbloods.”

13/03/2019 ; Wellington FL ; Winter Equestrian Festival - Week 10

Lucca showing with Hunter Kay at the Winter Equestrian Festival. Sportfot Photo

Natural jumping form is important to Danta when looking at an off-track Thoroughbred, as are the usual conformation basics—a nicely-angled shoulder, a hindquarter that isn’t too upright.

Danta and Robertshaw don’t get too hung up on a Thoroughbred’s pedigree. There are some families that carry the same genetic stamp, but Danta has seen people become crazed over a racing pedigree, only to realize that sire’s success rate is as variable in the show ring as it was on the racetrack.

These days, Danta leans toward a horse with a natural lead change. Lucca checked all the boxes, and longtime client Pauline Lampshire agreed to purchase him.

“As we’re getting older, we’re finding with the young horses we buy, if they don’t have a natural lead change in them we don’t really want to look at them because, unfortunately, lead changes affect the jump,” Danta explained. “They land, and then they want to get nervous about the lead change at the end.”

From the beginning, it seemed Lucca had found his calling. He had the “fun,” laidback attitude that made the horse show environment a breeze.

Now 16, the chestnut has shown in the open divisions as well as the Take2 Thoroughbred hunter classes with Hunter Kay, bringing home championships from venues like the Winter Equestrian Festival (Florida) and the Tryon International Equestrian Center (North Carolina). Last September Lucca won the hunter final at the inaugural $20,000 Take2 Hunter and Jumper Finals held during the Kentucky National.

Danta said he wishes there were even more opportunities for horses to compete in Take2. He also expects he’ll make the Take2 Finals in Kentucky a part of the stable’s schedule again in 2020. While in Florida for the winter season, Danta expects he and Robertshaw will make the rounds to local training centers to look at Thoroughbreds that may be ready for a career change.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to go home with a few more than we came with,” he said.

TDN Rising Star COAL FRONT Settling in at Spendthrift

TDN Rising Stars Settling in at Spendthrift ( Started and consigned by Kirkwood)

WATCH VIDEO
 

Coal Front | Horsephotos

By Katie Ritz

Two ‘TDN Rising Stars’ have found their way onto the growing stallion roster at Spendthrift Farm. Coal Front (Stay Thirsty) and Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief) earned the ‘Rising Star’ title in their first and second starts, respectively, and both went on to become graded stakes winners. Both of these new sires will be a part of Spendthrift’s Share the Upside program, allowing breeders to have a continued breeding right throughout a stallion’s career. Spendthrift’s Stallion Sales Manager Mark Toothaker spoke to us about how the two were settling in and the first reactions from breeders.

Toothaker said he believes Coal Front is one of the most striking freshman sires coming in this year. “He’s such a well-balanced horse. He’s got a big hip and is very correct, but just has eye-dropping beauty.” He said that breeders have already been drawn to him as well. “When you let him out onto the show ring and stand him up to people, they just step back and say, ‘Man, that is just about as pretty a horse as they make them.’”

The son of Bernardini’s Stay Thirsty was a $575,000 2-year-old purchase, bought by Robert LaPenta at the 2016 OBS April sale. Coal Front is out of the Mineshaft mare Miner’s Secret, and is a half to Conquest Titan (Birdstone), a stakes winner at two that went on to place second to Cairo Prince (Pioneerof the Nile) in the GII Holy Bull S. at three. Miner’s Secret is a half to the multiple graded stakes winner Woodlander (Forestry), as well as to stakes winner and sire Admiral Alex (Afleet Alex).

Coal Front is crossed 3×3 to A.P. Indy, which Toothaker said breeders have taken note of as well. “He’s really the best performer on that cross at three-by-three. A lot of people who are really into pedigrees are excited about Coal Front, and I think breeders are going to find a whole gold mine of genetics that they can tap into to get a great chance at a quality horse.”

Coal Front earned ‘Rising Star’ status on debut, breaking his maiden at Keeneland as a 3-year-old and beating the field by 6 1/2 lengths. He went on to take the GII Amsterdam S. at Saratoga and Parx’s GIII Gallant Bob S. later that year.

At four, he won the GIII Mr. Prospector S., and then claimed three more stakes wins the next year including the G2 Godolphin Mile at Meydan and the GIII Razorback H. at Oaklawn. Toothaker said he recalls the Razorback as one of his most impressive wins. “He drew the 14 hole that day, but was able to overcome that disadvantage and win in a very impressive fashion.”

The Razorback was also Coal Front’s first time stretching out to a mile and a sixteenth, and he won by a neck, getting past graded stakes winners Copper Bullet (More Than Ready) and Rated R Superstar (Kodiak Kowboy).

Coal Front retired after his 5-year-old season, finishing with over $1.8 million in earnings. Each of his five graded stakes was won at different tracks and at different distances, from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. Toothaker said of Coal Front’s versatility, “Coal Front didn’t need to have his own racetrack, he could take his track with him. He won at different distances all over the world. Breeders are going to love his versatility, and be very impressed with how talented he was.

Our Hip 75 sells for US $280,000 in New Zealand

Well done! Our  More Than Ready colt that made $280k last night at Karaka.  We are lucky to partner with top class horsemen like Eoin Kemp and Kilgravin Lodge. We plan to get a few more yearlings with him in 2020 and do it again. The colt sold to Cypress Point Agistment – Hong Kong.

We don’t have results yet for the Savabeel colt.