Category: News

NYRA Manager of Racing Operations Bruce Johnstone Dies

We here at Kirkwood will miss him,
Bruce Johnstone
Bruce Johnstone

Coglianese Photos

California native moved from training career to work for New York Racing Association.

  • Courtesy of the BoodHorse
    By BloodHorse Staff
  • Bruce Johnstone, who transitioned from a successful career as a trainer to management at the New York Racing Association where he spent the last 13 years as Manager of Racing Operations, died Feb. 6 following a lengthy battle against cancer. He was 76.

At NYRA, Johnstone served as the bridge between management, horsemen, and riders, working with everyone from the stewards to jockeys, the gate crew, outriders, and anyone else connected to racing. Imposing at 6’4″ and with a deep, baritone voice, Johnstone stood out for his commanding presence at the track—and for his knowledge, wise counsel, experience, and diplomacy in times of stress.

“Bruce was a true horseman who used the lessons of a lifetime to make all of us better in so many big and small ways,” said NYRA CEO and president Dave O’Rourke. “He was a man of impeccable integrity who was a beloved member of the Thoroughbred racing community here in New York and around the country. Bruce was universally admired for all the right reasons and we will miss him every day.”

NYRA created Johnstone’s position when he joined the organization in 2007. “If I’m talking to a trainer, I know what they’re saying,” he said of his duties in a 2018 interview. “I’ll know how to address a concern or an issue. I have an office, but that’s not where I live.”

Instead, Johnstone could often be found in the paddock, on the edge of the track, the backstretch or the barn area, navigating between groups and attending to any and all issues. Those issues could range from something as basic as a sauna without hot water to pop-up decisions on whether to postpone or cancel racing in poor weather conditions and ensuring the horses were adequately hydrated and sponged down in hot weather.

In 1974, Johnstone went to work at the Phipps Stable with accomplished trainer John Russell and Hall of Famer Angel Penna. Johnstone took out his own training license in 1980. Among his career highlights were wins with Secrettame in the 1983 Shirley Jones Stakes at Gulfstream Park and Buck Aly in the 1986 Bay Shore Stakes (G2). Secrettame, a daughter of Triple Crown winner Secretariat, was owned by Venezuelan owner Jose “Pepe” Sahagun and his Villa Blanca Farms.

While at NYRA, Johnstone also served from 2018-19 as chairman of the famed Aiken Training Center in Aiken, S.C.

Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Calif., Johnstone attended the University of California at Berkeley on an athletic scholarship as a swimmer and a water polo player, and also played rugby. After earning a degree in International Relations and Diplomacy, Johnstone was recruited by the U.S. Coast Guard for the Special Coastal Forces Program, an elite group of college graduates who had been Division 1 athletes.

Johnstone then ran a successful steakhouse, Chuck’s of Hawaii, in his native Santa Barbara, a job in which he worked his way into an ownership stake. The restaurant celebrated 50 years in business in 2017 and remains open.

It was through time spent with his biological father, Charles “Sandy” Johnstone, a New York-based veterinarian, that he turned to horse racing. Visiting his father in both New York and Kentucky, Johnstone, in his mid-20s, became smitten with Thoroughbreds to the point where he made it his career change.

“I got the bug with horses,” Johnstone said in the 2018 interview. “It must have been the pedigree. So I packed up my orange VW van and my two dogs and headed to Kentucky.”

In 1972, he joined trainer Victor J. “Lefty” Nickerson at Elmendorf Stable, where he was a part of one of racing’s biggest upsets, Big Spruce’s victory over Forego in the 1974 Marlboro Cup at Belmont Park.

“I live racing seven days a week,” Johnstone said in 2018. “And when I go to the neighborhood bar to get away from it, I find that people want to talk about what I do—not their jobs, but mine. That’s always fun—and it makes me realize how much I enjoy this life.”

Johnstone is survived by his daughter, Kelly Johnstone.

Details on a memorial service will be announced when available.

Sadly MGSW, Millionaire and GS producer KEEPER HILL died at 20. Proud to have been associated with her early training and to have sold her at Keeneland April Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale 1997 for $250K. Today the BloodHorse
looks back at her shocking Las Virgenes win.

Keeper Hill wins the 1998 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs
Keeper Hill wins the 1998 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs

Anne M. Eberhardt

BackTrack: Keeper Hill Shocks in Las Virgenes

Each Thursday, BloodHorse.com presents historic race stories from the magazine.

Ummmmmm. Good tasting canary. Bobby Frankel had everything but yellow feathers sticking out from the corners of his grin after John and Alice Chandler’s Keeper Hill paid $114.20 in winning the $200,000 Las Virgenes Stakes (G1) at a mile on Feb. 15. The daughter of Deputy Minister, fresh from her maiden win, effectively drove a stakes through the heart of the California 3-year-old filly division with a 5 1/2-length victory that discouraged the idea that anything out West would be catching her soon.

“I wanted to see if we had an Oaks-type filly,” Frankel said, explaining his jump to a grade 1 race. He found out he had a Guineas filly in the bargain.

Michael Tabor’s Love Lock, winner of the Starlet Stakes (G1) and Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3), had a throat-hold on the local division, but she got sick and went to the farm. Wayne Lukas tried to replace her with Star of Broadway, the Broad Brush filly who was 3-for-3 in the Midwest. The fans went along for the ride, making her 8-5, while Career Collection went off at 9-5.

Keeper Hill raced three times in the East last year for Shug McGaughey and was never embarrassed. She finished second to Ninth Inning, subsequent winner of the Astarita Stakes (G2). McGaughey, who owns a piece, and the Chandlers, decided Keeper Hill could get more chances on the grass in Southern California than in Florida. Since John Chandler works with Frankel through the Juddmonte Farm horses, Bobby was their man. She broke her maiden first crack on the grass Jan. 14.

“I looked at this race,” Frankel said of the Las Virgenes, “and it looked like there were nothing but sprinters going in there. She’s bred for the dirt, and she had that good race to the filly who won the Astarita. My only real worry was that it might be too short for her. But the Chandlers kept urging me to go ahead and enter her. They gave me the confidence to try.”

Frankel also added blinkers. “The jock had to ride her hard last time,” the trainer said. “The last time I breezed her, with the blinkers, she went much better. I think that made the biggest difference.”

Keeper Hill also got one of those trips sent straight from racing heaven. Breaking from post one, under David Flores for the first time, she hugged the rail behind a fast pace around the turn and onto the backstretch. Up front, Star of Broadway was being pestered by Mishill, whose unbeaten record from Portland Meadows was worth 32-1 in the tote, compared to 56-1 on Keeper Hill.

Flores was able to stay inside without effort as his filly gradually gained on the leaders. Around the final turn, Star of Broadway shook loose as Mishill gave way. Career Collection put in a run on the outside, but it was Keeper Hill on the rail who had the momentum. Flores pulled alongside Star of Broadway to make a race for it. Then suddenly, it was over. Keeper Hill galloped away in the final sixteenth of a mile to win by 5 1/2 lengths, as Star of Broadway saved second over Occhi Verdi. The winner was timed in 1:36.94 and lit up the board.

“Leaving the paddock she was 90-1,” Frankel said with a shake of his head. “I said to myself, ‘If you’re ever gonna bet, now’s the time.'” So, how hard did he play?

“Not a dollar.”

Kentucky Oaks Winner Keeper Hill Dead at 20

We are saddened by the death of Multiple Graded SW, Millionaire and Graded Stakes producer KEEPER HILL. We are proud to have been associated with her early training and to have sold her at Keeneland April  in 1997 for $250,000.

ill Ridge Farm has announced that 1998 Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) winner Keeper Hill died Nov. 20 at age 20.

Bred in Kentucky by Chadds Ford Stable, Keeper Hill, by Deputy Minister—Fineza, by Lypheor, won three grade I stakes in her four seasons of racing, taking the Kentucky Oaks, 1998 Las Virgenes Stakes (gr. I), and 1999 Three Chimneys Spinster Stakes (gr. I). She also placed in 12 other stakes.

Campaigned by Mill Ridge, Dr. John Chandler, Audrey Otto, and trainer Shug McGaughey throughout her career, Keeper Hill registered a 4-7-5 mark and earned $1,661,281. After initially being trained by McGaughey, Keeper Hill was conditioned by Bobby Frankel.

“You can only dream about winning a race like the Kentucky Oaks, and Keeper Hill fulfilled that dream,” said Mill Ridge’s Headley Bell. “For our partners and Mill Ridge family it was an honor to associate with her all these years.”

As a broodmare Keeper Hill produced grade III winner Keep Up, by Unbridled’s Song. Keep Up stands at Mill Ridge. Keeper Hill currently has an unnamed yearling colt by Candy Rid

Pegasus Winner Mucho Gusto ‘The Gift Who Keeps On Giving’

Courtesy of the Paulick Report

by Ray Paulick | 01.29.2020 | 6:41pm

Mucho Gusto, under Irad Ortiz Jr., in the Gulfstream Park winner’s circle after the Pegasus World Cup

 

 

Everyone whose hands have touched Mucho Gusto, 4 ½-length winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational, were smiling in the wake of the Mucho Macho Man colt’s performance in the $3-million race at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

And a lot of people have had a hand in the success of Mucho Gusto, who was bred in Kentucky by a Peruvian family, offered at public auction on four different occasions and finally sold privately to a Saudi prince months before his biggest career victory.

The Pegasus winner’s story begins at Ted Kuster and Matt Koch’s Shawhan Place in Paris, Ky., where Mucho Gusto was born and raised. His breeders are Teneri Farm Inc., and Bernardo Alvarez-Calderon. The latter is a horseman from Peru who has been breeding Thoroughbreds in his native land for nearly 50 years and was formerly an accomplished show-jump rider who represented Peru in international competition. Father of six children, some of whom followed Alvarez-Calderon into the equestrian world, he named his farm Teneri because of his appreciation for the legendary Italian breeder Federico Tesio and two of the most significant horses he bred, Nearco and Ribot. (Teneri consists of the first two letters of the three names.)

Mucho Gusto, produced from the Giant’s Causeway mare Itsagiantcauseway (bred by Zayat Stables), brought $14,000 when Shawhan Place consigned him to the 2017 Keeneland January Sale of Horses of All Ages.

The colt’s buyer was Kelly Lively of Ocala, Fla., daughter-in-law of retired jockey John Lively. He was the only horse purchased that year by Lively, who prepped Mucho Gusto for the fall yearling sales on her five-acre farm near Ocala.

“Me and a couple of friends try to buy one or two horses each year to re-sell,” said Lively, who works for consignors Select Sales and de Meric Stables and Sales when she isn’t selling real estate in Central Florida.

“The only problem I ever had with him, a week or so before the sale (Keeneland September Yearling Sale), a hurricane was coming through Florida and the barn flooded. He cut open his shoulder.”

That didn’t seem to hurt the colt’s sale price when offered by Select Sales at Keeneland, where California attorney Steve Schwartz bought him as agent for $95,000 – the eighth highest price of 35 yearlings sold from the first crop by Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man, a son of the Holy Bull stallion Macho Uno. Lively turned a nice profit with the pinhook.

Schwartz turned Mucho Gusto over to Kip Elser, whose Kirkwood Stables are based in Camden, S.C., to prepare for a juvenile sale. “He’s a good judge of a yearling,” Elser said of Schwartz, who trained horses for a few years in Southern California. “He does two or three a year.”

Elser entered Mucho Gusto in the 2018 OBS March Sale and there were no takers. Bidding stopped at $55,000 and a mystified Elser bought him back.

“He breezed in 10 flat (for one furlong) and went well, but was completely ignored,” Elser remembered. “He got no attention.”

When Elser entered Mucho Gusto in Fasig-Tipton‘s Midlantic Sale of 2-year-olds in training in Maryland two months later, it was a completely different story. After zipping a quarter mile in :21 1/5 on a sloppy Timonium racetrack, he brought a final bid of $625,000 from Donato Lanni on behalf of a relatively new owner, Michael Lund Petersen, the Pandora Jewelry magnate who resides on a farm nearby in suburban Baltimore.

That’s some serious inflation from March to May. What happened?

Bob Baffert, Mucho Gusto’s trainer, said he remembers seeing the colt’s OBS workout and was not impressed.

“He never switched leads,” Baffert recalled of the work over the OBS synthetic track. “A lot of times when they never switch, you can get turned off.”

Lively, who watched her pinhooked colt breeze at OBS, agreed.

“They don’t really separate on the synthetic,” Lively said. “There were a bunch of 9 4/5 works and he went in 10 flat. I thought he looked great, but he didn’t switch leads.”

“When he worked at Timonium it was a wet track and he blitzed around there,” Baffert said. “He went unbelievably well. That’s why when I entered him at Gulfstream (for the Pegasus), I was hoping it would rain.”

The Midlantic Sale takes place the week after the Preakness and Baffert recalls looking at the colt in Elser’s consignment the day after Justify won the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. “He was one of the standouts,” Baffert recalled, “but I didn’t think he’d bring that much.”

So Schwartz, like Lively before him, scored a pinhooking home run when the horse he bought for $95,000 sold for $625,000.

Mucho Gusto went straight into stakes company after breaking his maiden for Baffert at Los Alamitos on Sept. 20 of his 2-year-old season. He won the G3 Bob Hope Stakes going seven furlongs at Del Mar Nov. 17, then finished second behind Improbable in the G1 Los Alamitos Futurity at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 8.

Mucho Gusto continued on the Kentucky Derby trail after winning his 3-year-old debut at Santa Anita, the G3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes, contested over a sloppy track Feb. 2. But Petersen’s hopes of getting to Churchill Downs with his second Kentucky Derby starter (Mor Spirit carried his silks to a 10th-place finish in 2016) were dashed when Mucho Gusto finished third after setting fast fractions in the G3 Sunland Park Derby in New Mexico.

After a summer campaign that saw victories in a pair of G3 stakes at Santa Anita, Mucho Gusto finished second behind eventual 3-year-old champion Maximum Security in the G1 Haskell, then was third behind Code of Honor and Tacitus in the G1 Travers.

His final start of 2019 was something of a puzzler, finishing fourth as the 9-10 favorite in the G3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park.

In between the Travers and the Oklahoma Derby, an individual acting on behalf of Saudi Prince Faisal Bin Khaled contacted Baffert in an effort to buy Mucho Gusto from Petersen. The offer was turned down.

“They kept upping the price,” Baffert said. “I said, ‘It’s got to be a good offer because Michael Lund really likes this horse.’”

A deal was struck after the Oklahoma Derby in October to sell Mucho Gusto for an undisclosed sum. Petersen’s colt had won $779,800 on the track, and the price of the private transaction clearly put him in the black.

Victory in the Pegasus gave Prince Faisal Bin Khaled the winner’s share of $1,662,000, which probably gave him a healthy share of the price he paid to acquire Mucho Gusto. More importantly, the triumph gave him a runner in his country’s inaugural $20-million Saudi Cup, where Baffert will also be saddling G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up McKinzie.

“I love a horse who does well for everybody,” said Lively, who went to Gulfstream for the Pegasus, calling it “probably the most exciting day of racing in my life. He’s such a sound horse. He may not be the best horse, but he always tries.”

You might think the breeders of Mucho Gusto are the only ones who didn’t make out okay in the various transactions, since he sold for just $14,000 as a January yearling.

But Gus Koch of Shawhan Place was quick to remind that the Alvarez-Calderon family still owns the mare who produced the Pegasus winner. “The plan is go to Medaglia d’Oro with her,” said Koch. “They are longtime clients, fantastic people, and we are over the moon for them and their success. Mr. Alvarez-Calderon has been breeding horses his entire life, and to win a race like the Pegasus in a thrilling moment for all involved.”

As Kelly Lively put it, “Much Gusto is the gift who keeps on giving.”

Mucho Gusto Returns to California in Good Order

Courtesy of the BloodHorse

Mucho Gusto the morning after winning the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park
Mucho Gusto the morning after winning the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park

The Gulfstream Park back side was crowded with vans during the early morning hours Jan. 26 as horses shipped out of the South Florida base following the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1).

Mucho Gusto, who won the Jan. 25 race by 4 1/2  lengths for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert and Prince Faisal Bin Khaled, looked well loading into the trailer bound for California.

“He was training well, and I was trying not to get too excited about him because he always came up a little short in the big races this last year,” Baffert said. “The freshening really helped him. He needed to run the best race of his life, and he basically ran the same race as he did in the Haskell (Invitational Stakes, G1). He ran his heart out.”

Baffert, who did not make the cross-country trip to Florida, said all reports regarding Mucho Gusto were positive Sunday morning and that the Mucho Macho Man  colt would likely ship to Saudi Arabia along with Whitney Stakes (G1) winner McKinzie for the $20 million Saudi Cup Feb. 29. The ban on medication, part of the new structure of the fourth annual Pegasus World Cup, had little effect on Mucho Gusto, Baffert said.

“We scoped him to make sure he didn’t bleed, so that was a positive,” Baffert said. “He’s never shown any signs of bleeding. The Saudi Cup will be next. They bought him to run in the Saudi Cup, and we got word today he was invited. Both he and McKinzie will run.

“Ever since they announced the Saudi Cup, people from the Middle East have been trying to buy horses for the race. They kept pestering me, and I told them if they came back with a big, ridiculous offer, they’d sell him, and that’s what they did. They’re looking good now. Who would know the race would fall apart like it did?”

Hronis Racing’s last-place finisher, Higher Power, who is also based in California with trainer John Sadler, shipped out early Sunday morning with Mr Freeze. Sadler’s foreman, who accompanied the son of Medaglia d’Oro  onto the trailer, said the horse looked good despite Saturday’s finish.

The next start for Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister’s Mr Freeze—the Pegasus World Cup runner-up—is still up in the a

“He came out great, and he looks really good this morning,” said trainer Dale Romans, who has no target in mind for the son of To Honor and Serve.

“I’ve no idea yet,” Romans said. “I’ll have to think it over.”

Fourth-place runner Diamond Oops, campaigned by Diamond 100 Racing Club, Amy Dunne, D P Racing, and Patrick Biancone Racing, also returned from his Pegasus effort to the delight of his connections.

“He came back awesome and was sound and happy this morning,” said Andie Biancone, daughter of trainer Patrick Biancone. “We’re super proud of his effort, and he’ll probably return to sprinting in the future, but he did his best and we’re super proud of him.”

Biancone said a next race has not been selected for the Mr. Prospector Stakes (G3) winner.

“We’re going to just let him tell us when he’s ready,” Biancone said. “He was fresh walking around the shed row this morning, so it’s a good sign. I think when the horses from Palm Meadows shipped in 72 hours ahead of time, they weren’t used to that. They normally come in 24 hours before, so it was really different for them. He’s not tired, but I’m definitely tir

Baffert Relishes Mucho Gusto’s Pegasus Win From Afar; Colt Earns Invitation To Saudi Cup

Mucho Gusto after his win in the Pegasus World Cup
COURTESY OF THE PAULICK REPORT

Idle since fourth in the Grade III Oklahoma Derby Sept. 29, Bob Baffert’s Santa Anita-based Mucho Gusto ran the race of his life in yesterday’s Grade I, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream, winning by 4 ½ lengths while getting a mile and one eighth in 1:48.85.

Ridden for the first time in his 11th career start by recent Eclipse Award winning Jockey Irad Ortiz, Mucho Gusto was hustled from the gate, soon found the rail and had a 2 ½ length advantage turning for home.

“Irad Ortiz did a pretty masterful job,” Baffert, who opted not to travel to Gulfstream, said yesterday from Santa Anita. “He had me a little worried the way he was down inside like that, but he knew what he was doing. When he tilted out at the quarter pole, all I could say was ‘Damn, I wish I would have flown down there.

“I am really happy, I was really surprised because it was a last minute thing,” Baffert told XBTV yesterday at Santa Anita. “I just thought about (the Pegasus) and I was watching the race closely. I gave him a good work and I was going to run him next week in the San Pasqual (Grade II, 1 1/8 miles Feb. 1) and I thought, ‘You know what, he worked so well today (Jan. 16), I think I’ll take a shot at it and he hadn’t gotten an invite from the Saudi Cup…So I thought maybe if he runs well (in the Pegasus), he’ll get an invitation.”

As expected, the Saudi Cup invitation has been extended and Baffert said that both Mucho Gusto and McKinzie would depart from Santa Anita on Feb. 18.

“The race is $20 million at a mile and one eighth on Feb. 29,” he said.

Mucho Gusto Fires Another Bullet in Pegasus World Cup

Mucho Gusto wins the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream Park
Mucho Gusto wins the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream Park

Coglianese Photos

Baffert-trained Mucho Macho Man colt worked sharply leading up to first grade 1 win.

The mood was light and the spirit even lighter as horses and riders waited to enter the gate for the $2.94 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1) Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park.

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano stood on the sideline dressed in a sharp suit, having lost his mount when Pegasus hopeful Spun to Run scratched two days before the race. Castellano called out to his fellow jockeys as they waited to load, heckling them with jibes and jokes that drew smiles from all.

Dressed in the silks of Prince Faisal Bin Khaled astride Mucho Gusto, Irad Ortiz Jr. waved and laughed at Castellano. Less than two minutes later, the two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey blew past the crowd with astounding ease as he and Mucho Gusto claimed the fourth running of the Pegasus World Cup by 4 1/2 lengths.

“Those are the most exciting ones, when you don’t expect it,” trainer Bob Baffert said via phone after the race. “He just showed up. We’ve always wanted to see him run a race like that, but he got beat by Maximum Security and he’s been chasing some really good horses. It was a different field today.”

Leaving from post 8 in the 10-horse field, Ortiz and Mucho Gusto broke on top before the veteran jockey shifted his mount sharply to the rail to occupy third behind Mr Freeze and Bodexpress, respectively. Despite being crowded by Bodexpress after the break, Mr Freeze set the pace, clicking off easy fractions of :23.77 and :47.78 through the half-mile.

Mucho Gusto dropped back to fourth briefly at the half-mile mark and swung out three wide. Favorite Higher Power moved in to take over the open position left by Mucho Gusto but soon found himself blocked out of the running and began to drift back.

Within striking range of the leaders, Mucho Gusto found another gear and surged forward to overtake Bodexpress and then Mr Freeze. At the top of the stretch, Mucho Gusto held sway by 2 1/2 lengths and increased his margin from there. He blew past the wire with a flourish, completing the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.85 on a track rated fast for his first grade 1 victory.

“I had a great trip,” Ortiz said. “He got a great start and felt good. He relaxed so well, and we were able to save ground. At the three-eighths pole, I tipped him out and he took off. He was much the best. I think he just took off and opened up easy. He’s a nice horse.”

The hard-running Mr Freeze never wavered and held for second to the delight of trainer Dale Romans.

“That was the plan (to go to the front). He didn’t break as clean as I would have liked, but he got there and he had a good pace and ran a good race,” Romans said. “He was training as good as a horse can train, and he ran huge. I thought he ran a beautiful race. We’ve had confidence in him, and he ran the way we thought he would.”

“He never gave up,” said Mr Freeze’s jockey, Luis Saez. “He was brave. He was trying very hard. I thought we were going to win for a second. He never gave up. He missed the break a little, but then when he saw the clear, he went pretty nice. I felt like he was very comfortable.”

War Story, who broke slowly from the gate, made a late rally to get up for third. Diamond Oops saved ground in the backstretch and had enough in reserve to overtake Bodexpress for fourth. Tenfold, Seeking the Soul, True Timber, Tax, and Higher Power completed the order of finish.

Mucho Gusto paid $8.80, $5, and $3.80 on a $2 wager.

Bred in Kentucky by Teneri Farm and Bernardo Alvarez Calderon, Mucho Gusto is the third foal out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Itsagiantcauseway. The 4-year-old has made several trips through the sales ring, the last when he was purchased by Michael Lund Petersen for $625,000 from the consignment of Kirkwood Stables to the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. 

Mucho Gusto impressed off the bat at 2 and has been remarkably consistent ever since. The Mucho Macho Man colt broke his maiden on debut for Baffert and then-owner Petersen before taking the Bob Hope Stakes (G3) at Del Mar next out. He ran second in the Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (G1) at Los Alamitos Race Course and followed with another victory at 3 in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park.

After running third in the Sunland Park Derby (G3) at Sunland Park, Mucho Gusto scored back-to-back wins in the Lazaro Barrera Stakes (G3) and Affirmed Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita. He placed second in the TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park behind champion 3-year-old Maximum Security before hitting the board once more in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. He closed his sophomore season with a fourth in the Oklahoma Derby (G3) at Remington Park.

Before making his start in the Pegasus World Cup, Mucho Gusto was purchased privately by Prince Faisal Bin Khaled, governor of the Asir Region of Saudi Arabia and a member of the House of Saud.

With new connections and a new goal to start his 4-year-old campaign, Mucho Gusto trained well leading up to the Pegasus, posting four bullet works at Santa Anita between Dec. 29 and Jan. 16 ahead of shipping to Florida.

“He has just been training so well,” Baffert’s assistant Jimmy Barnes said. “After that freshening, he really seemed to grow and get back to the way he was when we first got him. Did I think he was going to crush them like that? No. That was impressive.”

“The horse shipped really well and I wasn’t really planning on taking him there, but he worked really well the other day,” said Baffert, who also won the inaugural running of the Pegasus in 2017 with Arrogate . “I loved his work, and I was going to run him in the San Pasqual (G2) next week. But after he worked so well, I thought, ‘You know what, I’m just going to take a shot at the mile-and-an-eighth and maybe that gets him ready.’ He didn’t get an invite to the Saudi Cup, so I thought if he runs well enough, he’ll get an invitation, and who would know that the race fell apart there at the end (with the scratch of Omaha Beach  and Spun to Run), unfortunately.

“That’s the best he’s ever looked. He looked great in the warm-up, and Irad Ortiz did a pretty masterful job. He had me a little bit worried when he was down inside like that, but he knew what he was doing. When he tilted out at the quarter pole, all I could say was, ‘Damn, I wish I would have flown down there!’ But it was pretty exciting.”

Mucho Gusto’s win boosted his earnings to $2,579,800. He has a 6-2-2 record from 11 starts.

VIDEO: PEGASUS WORLD CUP INVITATIONAL S. PRESENTED BY RUNHAPPY (G1)

KIRKWOOD GRAD: Mucho Gusto Too Tough in Pegasus World Cup

Mucho Gusto | Lauren King
Courtesy of the TDN

 

Following the high-profile defections of Omaha Beach (War Front) and Spun to Run (Hard Spun) earlier this week, the GI Runhappy Pegasus World Cup appeared to be a wide-open affair. But apparently nobody told Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man). Sent off the 3-1 second choice behind Higher Power (Medaglia d’Oro), who went off at 5-2, Mucho Gusto took over with consummate ease, strolling home an 4 1/2 -length winner over Mr Freeze (To Honor and Serve). It was 3/4 of a length farther back to War Story (Nothern Afleet).

“Those are the most exciting ones, when you don’t expect it,” said Baffert, speaking via telephone from California. It was Baffert’s second win in the race since taking the inaugural edition with Arrogate in 2017.

Mucho Gusto broke like a shot from post 10 and was hustled over to the inside by the piping hot Irad Ortiz Jr. navigating the first turn. Soon headed by Mr Freeze and Bodexpress (Bodemeister) through an opening quarter in :23.77, Higher Power ranged up to the outside flank of Bodexpress following a :47.78 half. The two front runners spurted a length clear approaching the quarter pole, and while Mucho Gusto appeared to keep pace with the leaders, High Power began his backward retreat. Three-abreast with the pacesetters at the quarter pole, the chestnut quickly vaulted past those two, was clear at the top of the lane and was given a pair of left handers and one on the right, but those seemed more for reassurance as he glided home a much-the-best winner.

“I had a great trip,” said Irad Ortiz Jr., who earned his second consecutive Eclipse Award Thursday night. “He got a great start and felt good. He relaxed so well and we were able to save ground. At the three-eighths pole I tipped him out and he took off. He was much the best. I think he just took off and opened up easy. He’s a nice horse.”

Baffert was equally pleased with his charge’s performance, “[Mucho Gusto] looked great in the warm up, and Irad Ortiz did a pretty masterful job. He had me a little bit worried the way he was down inside like that, but he knew what he was doing. When he tilted out at the quarter pole, all I could say was ‘Damn I wish I would have flown down there!’. But it was pretty exciting.”

A graded stakes winner and Grade I placed at two, the chestnut took the Robert B. Lewis S. at Santa Anita in February before finishing third in the GIII Sunland Derby the following month. Victorious in the GIII Laz Barerra S. and GIII Affirmed S., he found subsequent 3-year-old champion Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) too tough in the July 20 GI Haskell Invitational S. Third in the 10-furlong GI Travers S. Aug. 24, he rounded out the season with a fourth-place finish in the GIII Oklahoma Derby Sept. 29. Given time some time off and purchased privately by HH Prince Faisal bin Khaled in the interim, Much Gusto recorded three consecutive bullet breezes recently, including a five-furlong move in :59 4/5 (1/58) Jan. 4 (XBTV) followed by a six-panel work in 1:12 4/5 (1/4) Jan. 10 (XBTV).

“The horse shipped really well and I wasn’t really planning on taking him there, but he worked really well the other day,” said Baffert, explaining the decision to ship in for the race. “I was going to run in the [GII] San Pasqual next week, but after he worked so well, I thought you know what, I’m just going to take a shot at the mile and an eighth and maybe that will get him ready. He didn’t get an invite to the Saudi Cup, so I thought maybe if he runs well enough, he’ll get an invitation. Who would know that the race fell apart [with the scratch of Omaha Beach and Spun to Run], unfortunately.”

When asked about his pre-race instructions, Baffert added, “The way he broke, I told Irad to warm him up well so that he would get away from there and he did. He could have won from the 12 hole. He just showed up. We’ve always wanted to see him run a race like that, but he got beat by Maximum Security, he’s been chasing some really good horses. It was a different field today. I want give a shout out to Flavien [Prat]. He worked him for me and was going to ride him in the San Pasqual.”

The win was the first Grade I score for Mucho Gusto’s sire, Mucho Macho Man, who stands at Adena Springs. Purchased for $625,000 by Michael Lund Petersen at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale in 2018, he was the highest-priced offspring by the sire that season. This is one of two winners for the mare, Itsagiantcauseway.

PEGASUS WORLD CUP INVITATIONAL S. PRESENTED BY RUNHAPPY-GI, $2,940,000, Gulfstream, 1-25, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:48.85, ft.
1–MUCHO GUSTO, 124, c, 4, by Mucho Macho Man
http://www.fasigtipton.com/ 1st Dam: Itsagiantcauseway, by Giant’s Causeway
2nd Dam: Countervail, by Seeking the Gold
3rd Dam: Strike a Balance, by Green Dancer
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($14,000 Ylg ’17 KEEJAN; $95,000 Ylg ’17
KEESEP; $55,000 RNA 2yo ’18 OBSMAR; $625,000 2yo ’18
EASMAY). O-HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled; B-Teneri Farm Inc.
& Bernardo Alvarez Calderon (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Irad Ortiz,
Jr. $1,800,000. Lifetime Record: 11-6-2-2, $2,579,800.