Awesome Speed overcomes trouble in Mucho Macho Man Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Awesome Speed proved that he could stretch his speed to at least a mile and overcome adversity, recovering from some trouble at the break to register a 1 3/4-length victory over a game El Charro in Saturday’s $100,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

The win was the fourth of five on the card for jockey Joel Rosario, who also captured the Grade 3 Dania Beach earlier in the day.

Awesome Speed, a son of Awesome Again, had not been beyond six furlongs prior to making his 3-year-old debut in the Mucho Macho Man. And he looked to be in some trouble after being knocked around and pinched back between horses after the start. But Awesome Speed recovered quickly under Rosario, rated just off the pace of Aggressive Driver, readily overtook the leader approaching the quarter pole, edged clear, then withstood a bid from El Charro to win for the third time in four career starts.

Bullet Gone Astray finished another 6 1/2 lengths farther back in third.

Awesome Speed is trained by Alan Goldberg for Colts Neck Stables LLC. He covered a mile over a fast track in 1:35.97 and paid $3.20.

“It looked like he got hit one way and then got hit another,” Goldberg said by phone of his horse’s rough start. “He had a pretty clean trip after that. He’ll stretch out to a mile and one-sixteenth, but I don’t know if he’ll stretch out with good horses. Before the race, I was thinking we would pass the Holy Bull and just try for the Fountain of Youth, but we’ll see.”