Awesome Speed Comes Through as Favorite in Mucho Macho Man

Colts Neck Stables’ Awesome Speed came through with a victory as expected by the bettors who made him their 3-5 favorite in the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park Saturday.

The Alan Goldberg-trained colt stamped himself as a most promising prospect for Gulfstream’s upcoming stakes for 3-year-olds not only by prevailing by 1 ¼ lengths to record his third straight victory, but also by rebounding from early trouble to distinguish himself from his six rivals in the one-turn, mile stakes.

“The speed was outside and he got jostled a little bit. We ended up being outside where we kind of wanted to be, not pressured from the outside. In a way, it kind of worked out,” said assistant trainer Jorge Duarte, who saddled the son of Awesome Again for his second stakes win in a row.

Awesome Speed was bumped by Aggressive Driver to his outside leaving the starting gate, but recovered to stalk that rival along the backstretch past fractions of 23.66 and 46.69 for the first half-mile. Jockey Joel Rosario moved Awesome Speed to the outside of the pacesetter on the far turn before sending him to the lead leaving the turn into the homestretch. The son of Awesome Again was challenged to his outside by El Charro before asserting himself and drawing clear.

“He got pinched a little bit at the start. I saw [Picadilly Roadster] going to the lead and then [Aggressive Driver] was going to the lead, so I eased him out a little bit trying to get him to the outside pocket and then he had a nice cruising speed. He’s a nice horse, easy to ride,” said Rosario following the fourth of his five wins on Saturday’s card.

Awesome Speed ran the mile in 1:35.97 while resisting the bid of runner-up El Charro and jockey Luis Saez.

“My horse tried hard and gave me everything,” said Saez, whose mount finished 6 ½ lengths clear of Bullet Gone Astray and jockey Luca Panici. “When we came into the stretch it looked like we might have a chance, but the other horse took off,” Saez said.

El Charro’s trainer Juan Rodriguez was encouraged by his colt’s performance.

“I think this is one of the best horses I’ve had, but I think he needs more distance. We have to wait and see what’s next for him,” Rodriguez said.

Awesome Speed has won three straight since debuting with an off-the-board finish at Parx Racing in August. The Kentucky-bred colt rebounded to break his maiden by nearly four lengths in October at Laurel, where he went on to capture the James F. Lewis III Stakes Nov. 14.

“I bought him out of the sale and he ran terrible the first time; that was pretty much a big disappointment,” said Goldberg by phone following his trainee’s victory. “He seems to have really gotten it together, but I’ve liked him all along.”

The $335,000 yearling purchase, who hadn’t run beyond six furlongs, stretched out to a mile in the Mucho Macho Man impressively.

“He’ll stretch out to a mile and a sixteenth, but I don’t know if he’ll stretch out with good horses. We’ll see. I’ll be down there Monday and spend a week down there and I’ll talk to Jorge and we’ll lay out a plan for him,” said Goldberg, whose stable is based in Colts Neck, N.J. and has a string stabled at Palm Meadows Training Center during the winter. “Before the race I was thinking we would pass the Holy Bull and just try for the Fountain of Youth but we’ll see.”