Coglianese Photos
Baffert-trained Mucho Macho Man colt worked sharply leading up to first grade 1 win.
The mood was light and the spirit even lighter as horses and riders waited to enter the gate for the $2.94 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1) Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park.
Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano stood on the sideline dressed in a sharp suit, having lost his mount when Pegasus hopeful Spun to Run scratched two days before the race. Castellano called out to his fellow jockeys as they waited to load, heckling them with jibes and jokes that drew smiles from all.
Dressed in the silks of Prince Faisal Bin Khaled astride Mucho Gusto, Irad Ortiz Jr. waved and laughed at Castellano. Less than two minutes later, the two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey blew past the crowd with astounding ease as he and Mucho Gusto claimed the fourth running of the Pegasus World Cup by 4 1/2 lengths.
“Those are the most exciting ones, when you don’t expect it,” trainer Bob Baffert said via phone after the race. “He just showed up. We’ve always wanted to see him run a race like that, but he got beat by Maximum Security and he’s been chasing some really good horses. It was a different field today.”
Leaving from post 8 in the 10-horse field, Ortiz and Mucho Gusto broke on top before the veteran jockey shifted his mount sharply to the rail to occupy third behind Mr Freeze and Bodexpress, respectively. Despite being crowded by Bodexpress after the break, Mr Freeze set the pace, clicking off easy fractions of :23.77 and :47.78 through the half-mile.
Mucho Gusto dropped back to fourth briefly at the half-mile mark and swung out three wide. Favorite Higher Power moved in to take over the open position left by Mucho Gusto but soon found himself blocked out of the running and began to drift back.
Within striking range of the leaders, Mucho Gusto found another gear and surged forward to overtake Bodexpress and then Mr Freeze. At the top of the stretch, Mucho Gusto held sway by 2 1/2 lengths and increased his margin from there. He blew past the wire with a flourish, completing the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.85 on a track rated fast for his first grade 1 victory.
“I had a great trip,” Ortiz said. “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.”
The hard-running Mr Freeze never wavered and held for second to the delight of trainer Dale Romans.
“That was the plan (to go to the front). He didn’t break as clean as I would have liked, but he got there and he had a good pace and ran a good race,” Romans said. “He was training as good as a horse can train, and he ran huge. I thought he ran a beautiful race. We’ve had confidence in him, and he ran the way we thought he would.”
“He never gave up,” said Mr Freeze’s jockey, Luis Saez. “He was brave. He was trying very hard. I thought we were going to win for a second. He never gave up. He missed the break a little, but then when he saw the clear, he went pretty nice. I felt like he was very comfortable.”
War Story, who broke slowly from the gate, made a late rally to get up for third. Diamond Oops saved ground in the backstretch and had enough in reserve to overtake Bodexpress for fourth. Tenfold, Seeking the Soul, True Timber, Tax, and Higher Power completed the order of finish.
Mucho Gusto paid $8.80, $5, and $3.80 on a $2 wager.
Bred in Kentucky by Teneri Farm and Bernardo Alvarez Calderon, Mucho Gusto is the third foal out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Itsagiantcauseway. The 4-year-old has made several trips through the sales ring, the last when he was purchased by Michael Lund Petersen for $625,000 from the consignment of Kirkwood Stables to the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Mucho Gusto impressed off the bat at 2 and has been remarkably consistent ever since. The Mucho Macho Man colt broke his maiden on debut for Baffert and then-owner Petersen before taking the Bob Hope Stakes (G3) at Del Mar next out. He ran second in the Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (G1) at Los Alamitos Race Course and followed with another victory at 3 in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park.
After running third in the Sunland Park Derby (G3) at Sunland Park, Mucho Gusto scored back-to-back wins in the Lazaro Barrera Stakes (G3) and Affirmed Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita. He placed second in the TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park behind champion 3-year-old Maximum Security before hitting the board once more in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. He closed his sophomore season with a fourth in the Oklahoma Derby (G3) at Remington Park.
Before making his start in the Pegasus World Cup, Mucho Gusto was purchased privately by Prince Faisal Bin Khaled, governor of the Asir Region of Saudi Arabia and a member of the House of Saud.
With new connections and a new goal to start his 4-year-old campaign, Mucho Gusto trained well leading up to the Pegasus, posting four bullet works at Santa Anita between Dec. 29 and Jan. 16 ahead of shipping to Florida.
“He has just been training so well,” Baffert’s assistant Jimmy Barnes said. “After that freshening, he really seemed to grow and get back to the way he was when we first got him. Did I think he was going to crush them like that? No. That was impressive.”
“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, who also won the inaugural running of the Pegasus in 2017 with Arrogate . “I loved his work, and I was going to run him in the San Pasqual (G2) 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 gets him ready.’ He didn’t get an invite to the Saudi Cup, so I thought if he runs well enough, he’ll get an invitation, and who would know that the race fell apart there at the end (with the scratch of Omaha Beach and Spun to Run), unfortunately.
“That’s the best he’s ever looked. He looked great in the warm-up, and Irad Ortiz did a pretty masterful job. He had me a little bit worried when 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.”
Mucho Gusto’s win boosted his earnings to $2,579,800. He has a 6-2-2 record from 11 starts.