Recruiting Ready Looking for Stakes Win in Mucho Macho Man

Trainer Horacio DePaz will saddle Recruiting Ready for a start in Saturday’s $100,000 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park with the knowledge that Sagamore Farm’s 3-year-old colt has more than held his own against the best of his generation.

Sagamore Farm’s colt was graded stakes-placed three times last year behind the top three of the very best 2-year-old colts of the 2016 racing season.

“It’s no disgrace to get beat by Not This Time, Gunnevera and Classic Empire. Those are some very solid racehorses,” DePaz said.

Recruiting Ready, who is scheduled to clash with 10 rivals in the one-turn mile for 3-year-olds, demonstrated considerable talent in his debut at Pimlico last May when he scored by nearly 11 lengths, running 4 ½ furlongs in 51.78 seconds.

“He was working with another nice 2-year-old that we have and they were working nice and forward. Obviously, with first time starters you don’t really know how forward they would be,” DePaz said. “It was surprising that he was so forward, but he was a colt we always thought highly of going into the race.”

The son of Algorithms subsequently went into the six-furlong Bashford Manor (G3) at Churchill Downs July 2 as the 1-2 favorite, but came up just short of holding off a late-charging Classic Empire.

“To catch us at the pace that we went – he ran 1:09-and-change; he wasn’t crawling – that horse made up a lot of ground to catch us. We were kind of like, “We thought we were sitting on a special horse. What kind of horse is this?’” said DePaz of Classic Empire, who went on to capture Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita.

After opening up a clear lead in the stretch run of the 6 ½-furlong Saratoga Special (G2) Aug. 14, Recruiting Ready again had the lead in deep stretch, only to be caught late, this time by Gunnevera.

“You don’t want to make excuses, but that was the weekend that they canceled racing the day before because of the storms that came though. That track was a heavy racetrack that we were running on. He obviously ran into a nice colt as well in Gunnevera, especially what he’s done lately,” said DePaz of Gunnevera, who went on to win the $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot (G3).

DePaz stretched out Recruiting Ready in the 1 1/16-mile Iroquois over a muddy Churchill Downs Sept. 17, and the Kentucky-bred colt raced evenly to finish third behind victorious Not This Time, who went on to finish second behind Classic Empire in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

“For that race we took some speed out of him. We worked him some miles and try to get him some foundation to get him to be able to go two turns and settle,” DePaz.

Recruiting Ready caught another off track in the Dec. 10 Buffalo Man at Gulfstream Park, finishing third behind Hutcheson entrant Sonic Mule over a sloppy track at six furlongs.

“In both performances [in the Iroquois and Buffalo Man] he didn’t have that kick that he had in his previous races. The jocks came back both times and said he felt fine but just didn’t take off with them on the turn. Obviously, I’m leaning towards him not liking an off track,” DePaz said.

Joel Rosario has the return mount aboard Recruiting Ready, whose trainers is hoping for a fast track for the Mucho Macho Man.

“He’s had some bad luck. Hopefully, in 2017 we can change that around,” DePaz said.

Even Thunder Gets Class, Distance Test in Mucho Macho Man: D J Stable’s Even Thunder is set to  take a step up in class and distance in the Mucho Macho Man, slated to be contested at a mile around one turn.

Purchased privately after prevailing by four lengths in the Shakopee Juvenile Stakes Sept. 17 at Canterbury Park, the Even the Score gelding debuted for his new connections with a gutsy head victory in the King’s Swan Stakes Dec. 2 at Aqueduct.

 

Even Thunder has yet to race beyond the six furlongs of his two most recent starts.

 

“We bought him privately with the intention to stretch him out,” trainer Joe Orseno said. “He wasn’t ready for the [one-mile Nashua (G2)] Nov. 4 at Aqueduct so we decided to wait another three weeks and run him short one more time, and that worked out in our favor.

 

“He was sent to us and we watched his races. He was just a 2-year-old that had run four times, even though it was at Canterbury,” he added. “I liked the way he ran. He didn’t break that sharp a couple starts and made up a lot of ground and closed well. To us, with his pedigree, he looked like a horse that wanted more ground and didn’t have the opportunity to run longer.”

 

Sold for $15,000 as a yearling, Even Thunder was fifth in his debut last July at Canterbury, returning 18 days later to break his maiden by a neck. He made his stakes debut finishing second in the Careless Navigator last August.

 

“When you’re looking for young horses, everybody’s looking for the big horse. We thought if he stretches out, he could be a big horse,” Orseno said. “The stable manager, John Green, was searching high and low for months for horses and this just kind of fell in our lap, so we jumped on it.

 

“He’s doing well and we think he deserves a shot. It’s going to be a tougher race, and we’re going to see what we have,” he added. “Everybody’s doing the same thing. At least we’re talking about it. Hopefully he continues down the road and develops for us and goes forward.”