Florida Sunshine Millions winners Mucho Macho Man, Awesome Feather
and Little Mike all came out of Saturday’s races in good order,
according to their trainers Sunday morning.
Mucho Macho Man, impressive winning the $400,000 Classic by 1 ½ lengths
over Ron the Greek, was grazing early Sunday morning outside his barn
while a large group of fans, including owners from Reeves Thoroughbred
Racing and Dream Team One Racing Stable, admired the tall 4-year-old bay
colt.
“Everything is fine,” said trainer Kathy Ritvo. “We’re all very happy
with his performance. He’ll give him a couple days and we’ll think about
what we’re going to do next. We have some good options. With the
Classic being his first race since Nov. 9, “It’s nice to see you can
give him that kind of time between races and he can run the way he did.”
Trainer Chad Brown, who saddled Stronach Stables’ undefeated Eclipse
winner Awesome Feather for a 5 ¾-length victory in the $300,000 Distaff,
said the 4-year-old filly came out of her ninth consecutive victory
“real good.”
“The race was real impressive,” said Brown, who watched the filly stalk
a :46.69 and 1:10.82 pace before drawing away down the stretch and
covering the 1 1/8th mile in 1:49.17. “I don’t have anything picked out
right now for her next start. We’ll get her back on the track in the
next couple days, see how she’s doing, and then pick something out.”
Priscilla Vaccarezza’s 5-year-old Florida homebred gelding Little Mike
ran his Gulfstream Park turf course record to five wins from six starts
in the $150,000 Florida Sunshine Millions Turf Saturday with a stunning
wire-to-wire score by three-quarters of a length under regular jockey
Joe Bravo as the 8-to-5 favorite.
“He came out of it just fine,” said trainer Dale Romans Sunday morning
of the son of Spanish Steps that was making his second start back here
after spending nearly nine months on the sidelines because of a cracked
shin. “He’s a better horse this year and I always thought he would go
the mile-and-an-eighth because he can relax on the lead.”
No decision has been made for Little Mike’s next appearance. Winner of
three Graded stakes here last year – Fort Lauderdale (G3), Canadian Turf
(G3) and Appleton (G3) – Little Mike’s only defeat over the course came
in the Gulfstream Turf Handicap (G1) going 1 1/8 miles last year as
Teaks North pulled a 25-to-1 upset, although beaten only 2 ½ lengths.
Teaks North finished fifth in Saturday’s race.
Trainer Bill Kaplan reported Sunday morning champion filly and mare
sprinter Musical Romance, fourth in Sunday’s Filly & Mare Sprint,
grabbed a quarter leaving the gate “but it isn’t that bad and it looks
like we’ll be able to get her back to training in four or five days.”
Kaplan said the Feb. 19 Hurricane Bertie Handicap (G3) will be Musical Romance’s next start.