Mucho Macho Man Wins Sunshine Millions Classic With Ease

Mucho Macho Man Wins Florida Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes With Ease at Gulfstream Park

The 2014 Classic Stakes is one of the biggest races at the Florida Sunshine Millions. The race was held at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, FL on January 18th and some of the best Florida bred Thoroughbreds ran in the race competing for the $400,000 purse. The Sunshine Classic is 1 1/8 miles long and there were six entries running.

From the beginning, Mucho Macho Man was the one to watch in the 2014 Florida Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes. Mucho Macho Man, 2013 Breeders Cup winner and Horse of the Year finalist, won the Classic in 2012, but last year proved to be unfortunate for the horse, so there was a lot of anticipation for Mucho Man coming into to this year’s classic. Well, this year Mucho Macho Man was back on top as the he beat out the other entries for the win.

Mucho Macho Man was ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, which was the same duo that won the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita. Mucho Macho Man was the 1-10 favorite and he had a good overall race with a time of 1:48.76 on the fast track. He broke well from the starting gate and took the lead on the final turn with a decent 14-length victory over second place contender Joshua’s Comprise, who was followed by Decaf Again in third place.

Mucho Macho Man is owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and trained by Kathy Ritvo.

Trainer Kathy Ritvo said “It was good to have him back. We put him in because he was ready to run. It was fun…It’s nice to win at home…the whole race was fun. I was very comfortable today.”

Although people were unsure if Mucho Macho Man was going to be successful in the 2014 Florida Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes, he had a good solid race.

Jockey Gary Stevens said “I actually felt more pressure today than I did in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, [but] he won very, very easy. He ran fast, and I geared him down at the end and tried not to overdo it.”

Mucho Macho Man has proven himself and seems to be in good racing condition. We look forward to watching Mucho Macho Man’s career throughout 2014.

2014 Florida Sunshine Millions Classic Results and Payouts
4 Mucho Macho Man and Gary L. Stevens $2.20 to Win/$2.10 to Place/$2.10 to Show
2 Joshua’s Comprise and Francisco Z. Maysonett $13.60 to Place/$6.00 to Show
1 Decaf Again and Carlos Olivero $6.20 to Show
Also ran: 5 – Bernie the Maestro , 6 – Gourmet Dinner , 3 – Rule Number Six

2014 Florida Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes Replay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFrJ2UYOzmI