Mask romps in Mucho Macho Man to kick off 3-year-old campaign

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Chad Brown said he wasn’t as much surprised as he was impressed with the way Mask won his career debut. And those sentiments rang true and more so after Mask turned in an even more eye-catching performance to kick off his 3-year-old campaign with a dominating, 6 1/4-length victory over two-time stakes winner Bal Harbour in Saturday’s $100,000 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park.

Mask overcame a slow start and some traffic issues to easily defeat the highly regarded Navistar when launching his career at Belmont Park on Oct. 20. And after missing a bit of time due to “minor baby issues” according to his trainer, Mask came back even better for his second start in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man.

With Javier Castellano aboard, Mask broke alertly and immediately sprinted to the lead, set a moderate pace racing into a fairly brisk headwind down the backstretch, then exploded when set down for the drive. By midstretch, Mask had opened such a commanding advantage that Castellano was able to take him in hand and allow the rising star to just cruise to the wire as much the best.

Bal Harbour, winner of the Smooth Air Stakes to close out his 2-year-old campaign, rallied mildly to prove second-best, finishing three lengths in front of the tiring Dak Attack while never menacing the winner at any point. Dak Attack was a major disappointment, coming up empty after racing forwardly to the stretch, finishing a well-beaten third while suffering his first setback in three career starts.

Mask, a son of Tapit owned by Lanes End Racing, returned $4.80 after completing a mile over the fast track in 1:37.65.

“Both starts weren’t a surprise, but he was impressive again,” said Brown. “He trained like he was something special. And again, we learned some things about him. He broke much better in his second start, he made the lead, had no problem with the mile, and the way he ran it looks like he won’t have a problem with two turns either. He’s a professional. He’s got a wonderful mind. He’s an exciting horse.”

Brown said he was a little surprised – although not disappointed – that Mask was able to make the lead as readily as he did.

“When I saw that first fraction, I knew he’d be pretty tough to beat at that point the way he’d been training,” Brown said. “He’d been galloping out particularly strong in his works. The only thing left to see in the race was whether the layoff was going to hit him or not, and it didn’t.”

Brown said at the moment, he has no plans for Mask’s next start.

“I just wanted to see today what he got out of this race and how he handled the mile and so far I’m very pleased,” said Brown. “I’ll see how he comes out of the race and go from there. I do want to try the horse two turns in his next start, to see where we stand on the Kentucky Derby trail. But right now, he looks like he’s firmly on that path.”