Mucho Macho Man is a big colt and a young one among his 3-year-old peers: he was born June 15, late for a thoroughbred. His youth and size make for a combination that offers many mysteries for a horse trainer.
So, when Mucho Macho Man followed a game third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby with a ho-hum sixth in the Preakness Stakes, his trainer, Kathy Ritvo, was ready to do whatever soul-searching was necessary to explain that performance.
When jockey Rajiv Maragh galloped Mucho Macho Man back to Ritvo at Pimlico Race Course, however, the answer to his poor performance was — or actually was not — right in front of her. Mucho Macho Man had lost his left front shoe early in the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown.
It was not the first time he had run out of his shoes, either. In March, Mucho Macho Man threw his right front shoe at the start of the Louisiana Derby but still finished third, beaten by only three-quarters of a length.