Trainer Kathy Ritvo reported Friday that Mucho Macho Man was likely to work Saturday or Sunday at
Saratoga Race Course, after which a decision will be made about whether the
4-year-old son of Macho Uno will compete in the Grade 2, $350,000 Suburban
Handicap at Belmont
Park on July 7. The
Suburban is contested at 1 1/8 miles.
“We’re not sure yet,” said Ritvo, who trains Mucho
Macho Man for Dean and Patti Reeves. “He’s on schedule to work
either tomorrow or the next day and we’ll make a decision. He came out of
the Alysheba super and he’s doing great.”
A dual graded stakes winner, Mucho Macho Man was most recently third in
the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 4. Earlier this year, he
won the Florida Sunshine Millions Classic and the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park
Handicap. As a sophomore, he competed in all three Triple Crown races, with his
best finish a third in the Kentucky Derby. Given time off after running seventh
in the Belmont,
he finished his 3-year-old year with an easy allowance victory at Aqueduct last
November.
Mucho Macho Man shipped down to Belmont
Park last Friday from Saratoga with a pair of
horses Ritvo was running that day and turned in his first breeze since the
Alysheba, covering four furlongs over the training track in a bullet 46.75. It
was recently announced that, effective June 1, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing had
acquired Dream Team One Racing Stable’s ownership interest in Mucho Macho
Man.