Big Macher will target BC Sprint

ARCADIA, Calif. – Big Macher has only a minor stakes win to show for his 2015 campaign, but owners Tom Mansor and Brendan Bakir and trainer Richard Baltas hope to run the 5-year-old gelding Oct. 31 in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland.

On Sunday, Big Macher worked six furlongs in 1:12.40, moving closer to a trip to Kentucky. He won his last start, the restricted Pirate’s Bounty Stakes at Del Mar on Sept. 7.

Big Macher worked in company with stablemate Little Jerry. Baltas timed Big Macher galloping out seven furlongs in “1:25 and change.”

A maiden claimer at the start of his career, Big Macher has won 7 of 17 starts and earned $684,038. He won the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar in July 2014 and was ninth in the 2014 BC Sprint at Santa Anita after a slow start.

This year, Big Macher has made three starts, including fifth-place finishes in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes at Santa Anita in January and the $2 million Golden Shaheen for sprinters in Dubai in March. After returning to the U.S., Big Macher was considered for a trip to Royal Ascot for sprint stakes in June but did not make the journey.

“I think the horse is doing great,” Baltas said. “He had some issues behind, and the time off has done him a lot of good. He’ll run well fresh. We’re going to pre-enter. He’ll have to get in by selection.”

Big Macher will have tough competition just from other California shippers. Among the expected travelers is Wild Dude, who won the Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 3. On Sunday, Wild Dude worked a half-mile in 51.80 seconds. Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Wild Dude won the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes in July.