Pegasus winner Mucho Gusto has family ties to Stronach's Adena Springs

Primal Force was a foundation broodmare for Frank Stronach's Adena Springs operation, producing two Grade 1 winners who went on to be prominent sires for the farm in Awesome Again and Macho Uno. Adena has continued to invest in the sons of those two stallions, and Macho Uno's grandson, Mucho Gusto, proved a force on Saturday as he captured the Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park, a race that was the brainchild of Stronach.

Primal Force, a daughter of Blushing Groom foaled in 1987, won four of her eight career starts while racing as a homebred for Mr. and Mrs. Bertram Firestone. Stronach purchased her for $95,000 at the 1992 Keeneland January horses of all ages sale. She remained with Adena until her death in 2011 at age 24, producing six winners from as many starters.

Primal Force's second foal, to the cover of Deputy Minister, was Awesome Again, who won the 1997 Queen's Plate, the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, for Adena, which is an Eclipse and Sovereign Award-winning operation for its homebreds in both the U.S. and Canada. The following year, Awesome Again put together an unbeaten six-start campaign, winning prestigious events such as the Stephen Foster Handicap and Whitney Handicap before defeating a stacked field in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Two years later, Primal Force became the first mare to produce multiple individual Breeders' Cup winners, as Macho Uno won the Juvenile to lock up a divisional Eclipse Award and to make his dam Broodmare of the Year. Since then, Hasili, Leslie's Lady, Sweet Life, and Win Approval have joined the club as mares to produce multiple Breeders’ Cup winners. Macho Uno went on to a solid career, adding graded scores in the 2001 Pennsylvania Derby and 2002 Massachusetts Handicap.

Awesome Again, who was pensioned last year, and Macho Uno, who is still active at age 22, both went on to stand for Adena Springs in Kentucky. The lion's share of the attention has gone to Awesome Again, whose best runner was 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, a homebred for Adena. Awesome Again is also the sire of Eclipse Award winner Ginger Punch, Preakness Stakes winner Oxbow, Belmont Stakes winner Sir Winston, Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Round Pond, and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Wilko among his Grade 1 winners. He is the sire of 72 stakes winners to date for earnings of more than $96.2 million, with those statistics eligible to grow as he has active progeny remaining.

Ghostzapper joined Awesome Again at Adena Springs and has also been a successful sire, with his standouts including multiple Grade 1 winner and Canadian champion Shaman Ghost – who also now calls the Adena stallion barn home. Ghostzapper is the sire of Grade 1 winners including Eclipse Award champion Judy the Beauty, and is emerging as a broodmare sire, with his daughters producing the likes of Triple Crown winner Justify. Ghostzapper is one of Awesome Again's 14 sons at stud advertised worldwide for 2020, including fellow Kentucky stallions Oxbow (Calumet Farm) and classic-placed Grade 1 winner Paynter (WinStar Farm).

Meanwhile, Macho Uno has sired 50 stakes winners to date, with his most significant son being Mucho Macho Man. A multiple graded stakes-placed juvenile, Mucho Macho Man was a graded stakes winner at 3, when he finished third in the 2011 Kentucky Derby, and a graded winner at 4. However, the lanky horse, a June foal, truly blossomed late in his 5-year-old season, with consecutive Grade 1 triumphs in the Awesome Again Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Mucho Macho Man entered stud in 2015 at Adena Springs, and Mucho Gusto leads his first crop, with more than $2.5 million in the bank after the Pegasus, his first Grade 1 triumph after being placed at the level in both 2018 and 2019. He won the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes as a juvenile, and the Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Lazaro Barrera Stakes, and Affirmed Stakes, also all Grade 3 events, last year.

Mucho Macho Man is also the sire of Grade 2 winner Mucho Unusual, stakes winners City Man and Mucho Amor, and Canadian classic-placed He's a Macho Man.