Big Macher attempts comeback in Thor's Echo Handicap

ARCADIA, Calif. – Horses come and go – flashes in the pan, veteran geldings who race year after year, maiden claimers and Grade 1 winners. Then along comes a horse like Big Macher, who fits all those categories. He also helped put trainer Richard Baltas on the map.

“He’s a special horse in my barn. He means a lot to me,” Baltas said. “He kind of helped my career.”

Big Macher, a 7-year-old gelding with a rag-to-riches backstory, returns Sunday at Santa Anita in the $100,000 Thor’s Echo Handicap, a six-furlong race for California-breds that is his first start in 18 months. It was a long road back. It was a long road, period.

Baltas reopened a stable in 2012 and was building momentum in the summer of 2013 when one of his owners thought it would be a good idea to claim a first-time starter from a $20,000 maiden-claiming race at Del Mar. Big Macher broke slowly and finished seventh.

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“He looked like he had something wrong with him,” Baltas recalled. “And I think that’s why they ran him so cheap. I actually thought at one point it was a bad claim.”

When he returned to the barn after his debut, Big Macher had a tendon that Baltas said “looked like a big banana.” It was merely inflammation. Baltas iced him, changed his shoes, and put him in light training. Big Macher responded.

“He just started getting better and better,” Baltas said. “He was really bad at the gate for a long time and still [is not perfect].”

Three starts after the claim, in the fall of 2013, Big Macher won a $40,000 maiden-claiming race at Santa Anita. That was the last time he ran for a tag.

Big Macher went up the ladder. He won a California-bred stakes in January 2014 and that April gave Baltas his first graded win since Freedom Crest in 2001. Big Macher, owned by Brendan Bakir (Tachycardia Stables) and Tom Mansor, is the best claim Baltas has made.

“Freedom Crest was pretty close,” Baltas said. “But Freedom Crest didn’t win a Grade 1; Freedom Crest didn’t take me to Dubai.”

Freedom Crest, claimed for $32,000, won seven races and $648,850 from 31 starts. Big Macher has won seven races and $684,288 from 19 starts, including the Grade 1 Bing Crosby in 2014 at Del Mar and four other stakes. He finished a close fifth after breaking slowly in the Golden Shaheen in Dubai in 2015.

Over the past four years, Baltas has grown his stable into one of the top outfits in Southern California. Big Macher is one reason. Now comes the first start for Big Macher since his left front suspensory flared up while training in early 2016.

“It wasn’t torn or anything major,” Baltas said. “But I said if I keep going on with him, he’s going to go backwards.”

Big Macher was sent to a layup facility. Baltas expected him to be out for three months. He was out nearly a year.

“I said to take as much time as you need, he’s been a good horse to us,” Baltas said. “Now he’s had time to heal.”

Big Macher has trained forwardly for his comeback; jockey Rafael Bejarano has been aboard for most of his works. Although he is the most accomplished of the five runners entered in Sunday’s stakes, one wonders if Big Macher is as good at age 7 as early in his career.

“He’s older, so you don’t know. It’s hard to say if he’s lost a step. We don’t know,” Baltas said. “I’ve worked him in company; he looks really good training. I’m looking forward to getting him back. He means a lot.”

Big Macher’s rivals in the Thor’s Echo are Gold Rush Dancer, He Will, K Thirty Eight, and Got Even.

◗ The card also includes the $75,000 Special Goddess Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Baltas entered likely favorite Madam Dancealot and the comebacker Cynthiana.

Madam Dancealot, a Group 3 winner in England, was purchased last fall in Europe by Slam Dunk Racing and made her U.S. debut in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She misbehaved in the post parade, nearly got loose, and finished next to last.

Baltas regrouped with Madam Dancealot, who was unplaced in two subsequent stakes before she returned to form last out, winning a turf-sprint allowance over Kenda, who is her main rival again Sunday.

Corey Nakatani rides Madam Dancealot, who could be the pace of the race in a six-horse field that is short on speed. Gary Stevens rides Cynthiana, who is making her first start of the year. Despite the layoff, Baltas said Cynthiana “could run a big race in there; she’s impressive right now.”