Preview of Gulfstream Park's Mucho Macho Man Stakes

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00:00we're going to head over to Gulfstream Park for race 10 on Saturday. It's the mucho macho man

00:04stakes and Matt will do a horse by horse preview for this one. It's not a race with Kentucky Derby

00:10points, but we have three year olds and many of the barns and many of the trainers and owners

00:15use this race as a stepping stone to other races in Florida where they have Kentucky Derby points

00:20on the line. So an important race as we meet the field and we won't have to go far to meet the

00:26likely favorite in this field Matt guns loaded comes out of a race at Churchill Downs where he

00:31was super impressive. It was his second career start he won he went right to the front end he

00:37beat a couple horses who came back in their next start to win and he looks like the one they'll

00:41all have to catch and beat in here. Yeah absolutely we should say trained by Jose D'Angelo who has

00:48been off to a very scorching hot start at this championship meet at Gulfstream Park.

00:52He's got some really nice horses this one was an $800,000 sale as well sired by gunrunner out of

00:58a Bernardini mare classic pedigree that you would expect to handle not just the one turn mile but

01:03eventually two turns like you said these horses are pointing towards the holy bull the fountain

01:07of youth potentially the Florida Derby later on down the road. So guns loaded uh really quick he'll

01:12have to deal with some other speed to his outside one of those horses is the number two macho music

01:17who will take the blinkers off. I know he's really really quick but all of his races have

01:22been between five and six he seems a little one-dimensional I respect his speed but I'm just

01:27kind of worried in this field with a lot of other speed if he's like the fastest of them. Yeah

01:32absolutely and it'll be interesting to see maybe the blinkers off relaxes him a little bit maybe

01:36he can learn to rate there uh with Jose Ortiz up on the mount but I agree he feels more like a six

01:42for a long sprinter who's got a nice future in front of him he's a nice horse uh he's got some

01:46really legitimate speed but again it'll be interesting to see how he responds to the

01:49blinkers being taken off. The next horse McKellen is another Jose D'Angelo runner you were talking

01:54about what a great job he's done recently and the two horses he has in this race they kind of

01:58complement each other with their running styles guns loaded if you're looking at the pace projector

02:03you see the one up towards the front the three McKellen he can sit off the pace a little bit

02:08more and that could be really key in a race like this just knowing that you can sit behind horses

02:13and pass them right. Absolutely and he has the top jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. up on the mount so you

02:18know this horse is going to take some additional attention what's interesting to me is this one

02:21sired by McKenzie but was only a $50,000 sale I mentioned that because McKenzie was a pretty hot

02:26sire for his yearlings and two-year-olds and so the fact that this one has already kind of exceeded

02:32expectations I think is notable but like you said good barn and great running style for this

02:37particular race and ran really well last time out in a second place effort going a mile at

02:42Churchill downs. What's so difficult about races like this and these races early on in the year

02:46you have a lot of horses that are all coming off of good efforts like Treaty of Rome

02:50doesn't hasn't done a whole lot wrong in his career but you just got to kind of stack him

02:54up with the rest of the horses in this field this is going to be a lot tougher than what he's faced.

02:59It is and you know shout out to Dylan Davis who's making his appearance down at Gulfstream Park now

03:04to ride he's usually up here in the winter in New York but he's down in Florida I don't blame him

03:08for that change. He was the NYRA champ in 2024 right he had the the most yeah of last year. Yeah he had a huge

03:14breakout year at Saratoga and then kept it rolling up in here at Belmont and Aqueduct so

03:18but this one for Chad Brown he is definitely going to be facing a tougher group I mean that

03:22group last time out it was a nice group but nothing compared to what he's going to be facing

03:26on Saturday so hard to really project this one and I think this one also might have a future

03:30on the turf. Next horse is a little bit interesting is Cool Intentions the number five. He lost to a

03:36Lone Speed winner in his debut and what we know from him in his last two starts he can sit behind

03:41horses and pass. I don't know if down the line he's going to be a mile and a quarter Kentucky

03:46Derby horse but on Saturday he could get a really nice trip if they go quick early on he's already

03:51beat some of these horses and we know he can pass horses. Knowing that a horse can pass other horses

03:57at this age is a really critical thing to see on past performances and sometimes that just elevates

04:02you right there. I do think this one's pretty serious it is interesting you know that race

04:07two back the Maiden Breaker you don't know how good the quality is sometimes in those more local

04:12Gulfstream Maiden races before the championship meet starts so I think this is still a little

04:16bit of a class test to see how he stacks up against the best in this group down there.

04:21The real wild card in the race is the number six Septarian because this is a horse who debuted at

04:26Charlestown going four and a half furlongs and then at Laurel Park those are not two of the bigger

04:31main circuits in racing but now he's moving into the Chad Brown barn so you're like moving from a

04:38lower level up to like one of the absolute best coaches in the game right here can Chad like step

04:44this horse up a little bit I mean if you're just talking about speed figures he has a really high

04:49speed figure last time out he's just a total wild card we have no idea how good he really is

04:54and the company he's been facing. Yeah it's it's really tough to kind of know what to project he's

05:00three to one on the morning line I think that's kind of a little bit of my hesitation is just how

05:04short of a price are you willing to take on a horse that is moving up in class like this and

05:09also stretching out has only ever run four and a half and six furlongs now going a mile again I

05:14think the pedigree particularly underneath might point more to the turf so it's interesting to see

05:19maybe this is just a precocious horse and maybe they can get some you know potential derby preps

05:24in his future going down the line. The price is really key with him though like I wouldn't want

05:28to take less than three to one like five to two ish on a horse like this in this field no thank

05:33you I think there's value elsewhere. Rolando is another one that's really quick Matt and you know

05:38he can he can win races when he gets comfortable out front but I'm a little concerned about in this

05:43field with horses like the one and the two who are really really fast what kind of trip will he get

05:49in here. Yeah I agree and I think it's notable that you see this as one who won in debut and

05:55then stretched out to seven furlongs the next two races and kind of fatigued late both times

06:00and again I think this is a really nice six furlong sprinter in the future also sired by

06:04Vekoma got off to a very hot start as a first crop sire but I do think you're starting to see

06:09maybe some distance limitations from his offspring as they stretch out to going a mile or over so

06:14that's one I think it's going to be there early might not be there late though. If you're looking

06:18for a fun price horse in this race it might be this one Matt the number eight Naughty Rascal.

06:24If you go over this horse's entire body of work all five races he's never run a bad race he's won

06:30twice here at Gulfstream Park over the main track he won going a mile on the turf so we know he can

06:36get the distance and I love his running style in this race where he can sit close but he doesn't

06:42want to be right on the lead and when he's drawn to the outside that can kind of help him I think

06:46keep in the clear and pass some horses late I think he's at least a try player in here.

06:51Absolutely couldn't agree more with you he's my uh one of my top selections in this race

06:56I think he's a fantastic value at 12 to 1 never run a bad race like you said has the ability to

07:01pass horses kind of sit from off the pace I think there's a lot to like here and I think the fact

07:05that it's slightly lesser connections you're going to get a good price. And then rounding at the field

07:09Sonic Skedaddle you could probably put a line through his most recent race he just had a slow

07:13start and never got into it two starts back when he broke his maiden he was very impressive but

07:18his lack of speed kind of hurts him because he has to come from way way out of it. Yeah you don't

07:23see a lot of deep closers doing well on these one turn mile setups at Gulfstream Park so

07:27probably a little bit of a tough one to get behind in this spot. So there's your field for the mucho

07:32macho man let's take a look at how we're going to end up and go with our selections here. Matt

07:37you're going to go to the number one Guns Loaded who was so impressive last time out you'll put

07:42the one on top of the eight six and three so we were just pointing out Naughty Rascal could offer

07:47you some value underneath. I'll go with the five Cool Intentions getting a trip from off the pace

07:53five three one eight for me.

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