Strategy works for Mucho Gusto in Robert Lewis Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mucho Gusto had gone right to the front in his three prior starts, winning two of them, but his jockey, Joe Talamo, knew from working him in the mornings that he didn’t need to have the lead. So when two rivals decided to outgun him for the lead on Saturday at Santa Anita in the early going of the Grade 3, $147,351 Robert Lewis Stakes, Talamo was content to sit.

Mucho Gusto responded as Talamo hoped. After stalking the early pace in the 1 1/16-mile race, he seized the lead as the field neared the head of the lane and then drew clear for a comfortable 4 3/4-length victory over Gunmetal Gray, winner of the Sham Stakes last month.

Easy Shot loomed a danger in upper stretch, but flattened out in the final furlong and was caught late by Gunmetal Gray and had to settle for third, a half-length behind Gunmetal Gray. Magnificent McCool, who led early, faded and finished fourth. Kid Cantina, who pressed the early pace, was pulled up heading into the backstretch and had to be removed in the horse ambulance; stewards reported later that he sustained irreparable injuries and had to be euthanized. Nolo Contesto was scratched earlier in the day owing to the track condition.

It rained strongly early in the day, leaving the track sloppy and sealed, conditions that Mucho Gusto ($3.20), the favorite, relished. He completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.81.

“I rode him like I worked him,” Talamo said. “He absolutely loved the mud.”

Mucho Gusto got some class relief in this race. He won his first two starts sprinting, including the Grade 3 Bob Hope at Del Mar, before finishing a distant second to his highly regarded stablemate, Improbable, in the Los Alamitos Futurity last time out.

Both Improbable and Mucho Gusto are trained by Bob Baffert, who has used Talamo for works and race-riding in recent months. That has enabled Talamo to get chances on some of Baffert’s Kentucky Derby prospects, but Mucho Gusto appears to be his best chance right now. Another 3-year-old he had been riding, Coliseum, flopped in the Sham and will shorten up to seven furlongs for the San Vicente on Feb. 10, with Mike Smith taking over, Baffert said.

Mucho Gusto looked like 1 1/16 miles might be his outer limit in the Los Alamitos Futurity, but he finished the Lewis off with authority.

“I don’t think distance will bother him,” Talamo said.

Being able to sit helped. “He’s a cool horse,” Talamo said. “I rode him with a lot of confidence. It looked like we were lone speed, but sometimes when it looks that way someone goes. He was fine. He pricked his ears.”

Baffert said he had discussed with Talamo the need to try and get Mucho Gusto to settle after the Los Alamitos Futurity.

“To get to the next level, you have to relax,” Baffert said, referring to the horse, not the rider.

Mucho Gusto picked up 10 points toward a berth in the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

“This is the time of year when you get excited, when you start dreaming,” Baffert said.

Baffert has yet to unveil divisional champion Game Winner, and Improbable, as 3-year-olds, but both are working regularly at Santa Anita. They and Mucho Gusto will be on the same schedule that Baffert has utilized in recent years when he has multiple Derby prospects.

“Whoever’s doing great that week runs that week,” he said, be it in races here or at Oaklawn.

All three are expected to race twice more this spring.

Mucho Gusto, a colt by Mucho Macho Man, was purchased at Timonium last May the day after Justify won the Preakness. He cost owner Michael Lund Petersen $625,000. Baffert said his breeze up was impressive. It came on an off track, conditions he encountered on Saturday.

“He smoked over it,” Baffert said of the work.

It was a preview of coming attractions.