Inveigled looks best among the untested in Mucho Macho Man

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The South Florida road to the Kentucky Derby kicks off each season on New Year’s Day at Gulfstream Park with the $100,000 Mucho Man Stakes. And this year is no exception, Monday’s special 10-race holiday program is headlined by the one-mile fixture for newly turned 3-year-olds and also includes its filly counterpart, the $100,000 Cash Run.

A relatively inexperienced field of eight will decide the Mucho Macho Man, the first of four races for 3-year-olds to be decided here this winter along with the Grade 3 Holy Bull, Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, and capped off by the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on March 30.

Only three of the eight horses entered for the Mucho Macho Man have any stakes experience. It’s a group that includes likely favorite Inveigled, who closed his 2-year-old campaign with a very impressive 4 3/4-length victory going a mile under entry-level allowance conditions here Dec. 9. The win came four weeks after a very game second-place finish in the six-furlong James F. Lewis III at Laurel and was the second in four outings for Inveigled, who is trained for owner Mark Grier by Jane Cibelli.

“I don’t particularly like coming back in three weeks, but I also don’t want to throw him into graded company right off the bat,” Cibelli said. “So I thought this was a good place to start. And if he runs well or wins, then we could look at graded races. We pulled his blood and we scoped him and everything is as good as it gets. I’ve given him every reason to not run, but he’s been just great.”

Irad Ortiz Jr., who was aboard Inveigled for the first time in his 2-year-old finale, will have the mount again in the Mucho Macho Man.

First World War also figures to garner plenty of support in his 3-year-old bow, exiting a very promising second-place finish behind the highly regarded and undefeated Parchment Party going 1 1/16 miles under entry-level allowance conditions Nov. 9 at Churchill. He overcame early trouble to stick his head in front briefly between calls near midstretch before ultimately succumbing to the winner’s closing surge.

First World War, a son of War Front trained by Brendan Walsh, made his first two starts on grass, winning his maiden debuting at Kentucky Downs before finishing a game fourth as the tepid favorite in the Grade 2 Bourbon at Keeneland.

Sea Streak, second best but no match for Inveigled as the 4-5 favorite in the pair’s previous encounter, also is stakes-placed. He finished a well-graded second, with a field-best 86 Beyer Speed Figure, launching his career in the six-furlong Smoke Glacken late this summer at Monmouth Park.

Boy Magic, Otello, and No More Time, like Inveigled, all enter their stakes debuts off victories in their juvenile finales.

Boy Magic has captured his two starts by a combined 5 3/4 lengths but has yet to run beyond six furlongs. Otello came from midpack to run down the leaders and register a hard-fought neck decision winning his only previous try, going a mile, on Nov. 24 at Aqueduct. No More Time has been freshened since his impressive 6 3/4-length maiden win, also at a mile, here Oct. 22.

Cash Run Stakes

Two-time stakes winner Chi Chi and the lightly raced but very impressive debut maiden winner Queen’s Martini top a field of seven juvenile fillies in the Cash Run.

Chi Chi was well traveled at 2, winning stakes at Remington Park and then locally when rallying to an easy and very popular 2 3/4-length decision in the Juvenile Fillies Sprint restricted to Florida-breds going 6 1/2 furlongs here Nov. 11. She closed the season shipping to Tampa Bay Downs to finish a close second against open company turning back to six furlongs for the Sandpiper Stakes.

Queen’s Martini drew off to a very easy, 5 3/4-length triumph making her lone start in a restricted, 5 1/2-furlong dash on July 19 at Saratoga for trainer Danny Gargan. She has been idle ever since but working regularly for her return upon arriving at Palm Meadows during the fall.

De Regreso could have a fitness edge over her six rivals in the Cash Run, coming off a steady series of two-turn races over the Tapeta course including a third-place finish in the mile and 70-yard Our Dear Peg on Nov. 3.