Chance It won't be denied in Mucho Macho Man

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A couple of 3-year-olds who should be heard from again later this winter on the Triple Crown trail, Chance It and As Seen On Tv, put on quite a show from the top of the stretch to the wire before the former proved a head best in Saturday’s $100,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Chance It, who had to survive a claim of foul lodged by Kelly Breen, the trainer of As Seen On Tv, capped off a huge day for both his trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr., and his jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, both of whom won three stakes on the card.

Idle since winning the 1 1/16-mile In Reality Stakes here on Sept. 28, Chance It was bet down to 3-5 favoritism as the field entered the gate for the one-mile Mucho Macho Man. Well placed early, Chance It saved ground while rated about five lengths off the early pace of Smash Factor before slipping inside the tiring leader to engage As Seen On Tv for the lead leaving the turn. The latter held a slight edge through much of the stretch before Chance It reasserted himself under strong handling by Gaffalione to narrowly prevail while switching back to his left lead approaching the wire.

As Seen On Tv, never far back under Paco Lopez, rallied three wide in company with the winner approaching the quarter pole and held a short advantage through much of the stretch, but could not quite last in a game effort. Sole Volante was easily best of the others while proving no threat to the top pair at the end.

Chance It is trained by Joseph for Shooting Star Thoroughbreds LLC. The final official clocking for the race of 1:35.53 was hand-timed due to a malfunction of the track’s regular timing system shortly after the start. Chance It paid $3.40.

An emotional Joseph admitted shortly after the race that he believed Chance It was going to come out second-best as the leaders approached midstretch.

“I thought he was beat at the eighth pole, I really did,” said Joseph. “He switched leads right there and just dug in the last bit. Paco came to him with a lot of horse and he had to belly down. To do it off a three-month layoff, he won on pure heart. Paco rode him tight the whole way, he didn’t have the best of trips, he had every reason to get beat – but he didn’t. That’s why I have so much respect for him.”

Chance It capped off a memorable day for Joseph, who earlier had won the Grade 3 Kitten’s Joy with Island Commish and the Glitter Woman with Sound Machine. Joseph's Ricki Ticki Taffi finished second in the Limehouse, the first stakes on the card.

“Today was great, but this was the one I needed,” said Joseph. “If he [Chance It] got beat, I’d have wanted to sleep in tomorrow.”

Joseph said both the Grade 2 Holy Bull (Feb. 2) and Fountain of Youth (Feb. 29) would be under consideration for Chance It’s next start.