Mucho fires big shot off layoff to win allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mucho passed his first test as a 3-year-old in workmanlike fashion when he outran four others in a Friday allowance sprint at Gulfstream Park, and now trainer Bill Mott will contemplate what’s next for the Blame colt.

Ridden by Jose Ortiz, Mucho rallied from just off the pace to win the six-furlong race by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:10.35 over a fast track, returning $3 as a heavy favorite. It was the first start for Mucho since he finished second in the Grade 1 Hopeful in early September, and his first start on Lasix.

“It looked like maybe he got a little tired at the end,” said Mott, who already has Hidden Scroll and Country House as top contenders for the May 4 Kentucky Derby. “But he’d been off six months, and like Jose said, he made a pretty long run from the three-eighths pole home. It was a pretty good race, I’d say.”

Mucho was bred in Kentucky by his owners, Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider. Seth and Walker Hancock of Claiborne were among those on hand for the race, which was the fourth of the bay colt’s career. He romped by nearly 10 lengths in an August maiden race at Saratoga before his runner-up finish in the Hopeful.

“We need to sit down with the powers that be and figure out if we want to stretch out next time or what we want to do distance-wise,” said Mott. “I’m sure we will [stretch him out] at some point, but whether or not it’s in his next start is what’ll have to be decided.”

Releasethethunder finished second, a neck before the front-running Lutsky in the field of five.

◗ Trainer Dale Romans said he believes Coach Rocks stands to improve off her comeback race here Thursday, when the 4-year-old filly finished third as the odds-on favorite in a seven-furlong allowance won by Razorback Lady.

“She just got outsprinted, that’s all,” said Romans. “She came out of it good. We’re hoping to run her back in a two-turn allowance race early in the Keeneland meet. Best case would be she’d move forward from there to the La Troienne.”

The La Troienne is Grade 1 race on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

◗ The co-features here next Saturday, March 9, are a pair of $75,000 turf sprints for older horses, the Silks Run and Captiva Island for fillies and mares. The next major date here is Florida Derby Day, March 30. The four-month championship meet runs through April 1.