Gulfstream Park: Mucho Macho Man regroups

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mucho Macho Man returned to his winter home at Gulfstream Park late Wednesday afternoon following his fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap.

Trainer Kathy Ritvo said she has no real explanation for why Mucho Macho Man faltered badly through the stretch and was beaten 10 1/2 lengths by Game On Dude, a horse he had defeated decisively over the same track four months earlier in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

[Clocker Reports: Get Mike Welsch’s clocker reports from Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows]

“He seems to have come out of the race just fine,” Ritvo said. “The following morning, he was bouncing around the shed row and was very bright. The track might have been too fast that day, and he took a lot of dirt. He had dirt everywhere when he came back – in his ears, in his eyes, everywhere. But I’m not a big excuse person, so I really can’t say those are the reasons why he ran like he did the other day.”

Ritvo said plans are on hold for Mucho Macho Man.

“We’ll see how he’s doing and how he looks once he gets back to the track before we start thinking about where he might run next,” Ritvo said.

If worrying about Mucho Macho Man isn’t tough enough for Ritvo, she’ll have even more stress to deal with when her son, Michael, launches his riding career. The younger Ritvo has been breezing horses at Gulfstream and Palm Meadows since arriving from Parx earlier this winter. At Parx, he was learning the ropes from his uncles, trainer Mike Petro and jockey Nick Petro.

“Michael has been okayed at the gate and has been attending the apprentice jockey school with [former steward] Dave Hicks, who said he believes he’s ready to go,” Kathy Ritvo said. “He certainly looks good on a horse and has really good hands, although it’s hard to make an unbiased judgment when you’re talking about your own son. I don’t have that many horses running right now, so I’m not quite sure if his first mount will come on one of mine or not.”