Andrew Caulfield, July 10, 2012-Mucho Macho Man Macho Uno=s impressive son Mucho Macho Man could PEDIGREE INSIGHTS also earn an automatic place in the Classic line-up if he B Y A N D R E W C A U L F I E L D succeeds in winning the Aug. 4 GI Whitney H., which is his possible next objective. Mucho Macho Man already Saturday, Belmont Park has a victory over another Classic Challenge winner, the SUBURBAN H.-GII, $350,000, BEL, 7-7, 3yo/up, GI Stephen Foster victor Ron the Greek, in the Florida 1 1/8m, 1:46 2/5, ft. Sunshine Millions Classic. His record of three wins from 1--MUCHO MACHO MAN, 118, c, 4, by Macho Uno four starts as a 4-year-old suggests he is now fully 1st Dam: Ponche de Leona (SW, $260,870), by Ponche recovered from his Triple Crown exertions last year, 2nd Dam: Perfect and Proud, by Nonparrell which saw him miss second place in the Kentucky 3rd Dam: Proud Sal, by Proudest Roman Derby by only a neck. O-Reeves Thoroughbred Racing; B-John D & Carole A Mucho Macho Man=s decisive victory in Saturday=s GII Rio (FL); T-Katherine Ritvo; J-Mike E Smith; Suburban H. was very timely, coming on the day that $210,000. Lifetime Record: GISP, 16-6-3-4, Darley announced that his grandsire Holy Bull has been $1,306,410. Werk Nick Rating: A++. pensioned at the age of 21. Although it was Giacomo Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. who provided Holy Bull with his greatest triumph by Fueled by Triple Crown Feeds winning the 2005 Kentucky Derby, it looks at the moment as though Macho Uno is going to be his most Click for the brisnet.com chart, the brisnet.com PPs, the important stallion son. free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree or the video, It hasn=t all been plain sailing for Macho Uno. While sponsored by Taylor Made Sales. his juvenile record of three wins and a narrow defeat earned him the title of champion 2-year-old colt, his Adena Springs= outstanding broodmare Primal Force subsequent career didn=t quite match up. Injury meant has already exerted a powerful influence on the that he had to miss the Triple Crown events, but he Breeders= Cup, thanks to her sons Awesome Again, returned in the second half of the year to defeat winner of the Classic in 1998, and Macho Uno, who Unbridled Elaine in the GIII Pennsylvania Derby and to defeated Point Given and Street Cry in the Juvenile two finish fourth of 13 behind Tiznow, Sakhee and Albert years later. Since then, we=ve seen Awesome Again the Great in the Breeders= Cup Classic. supply four GI Breeders= Cup winners, headed by the Although these efforts earned Macho Uno an Classic-winning Ghostzapper. International Classification rating of 120, this placed Now it looks as though Awesome Again and Macho him 10 pounds below his old rival Point Given. It was a Uno could play an important role in this year=s renewal similar story at four, when his rating fell to 116, some at Santa Anita. Awesome Again=s son Game On Dude-- eight pounds below Street Cry, after he had won the GII runner-up to Drosselmeyer in last year=s Classic at Massachusetts H. and finished fifth in the Breeders= Cup Churchill Downs--showed he is in fine form once again Classic. with his victory in Saturday=s GI Hollywood Gold Cup, Although the intention was for Macho Uno to race on which guarantees him a place in the Classic line-up at at five, he never made it to the races, which meant that his beloved Santa Anita. it was more than three years after his most important win that he covered his first mares. The Adena Springs MUCHO MACHO MAN, c, 2008 team decided his best chance of success would come Minnesota Mac from basing him at their Florida branch, rather than in Great Above Ta Wee Kentucky. Holy Bull Al Hattab The move paid off, as Macho Uno attracted a total of Sharon Brown Agathea’s Dawn 424 mares in his four seasons in Florida. His first crop Macho Uno Red God raced in 2007 and did so well that the son of Holy Bull Blushing Groom (Fr) Runaway Bride was moved to Adena Springs= Kentucky branch. Primal Force Mr. Prospector That first crop got off to a fine start when the flashy Prime Prospect Square Generation Wicked Style won the GI Lane=s End Breeders= Futurity Mr. Prospector and the eye-catching results continued in 2008, when Two Punch Heavenly Cause Harlem Rocker took the Prince of Wales S. and Ponche Nijinsky II GIII Withers S. (and also lost first place in the GI Cigar Street Ballet Ponche de Leona Street Dancer Mile in the stewards= room). That was also the year SW, 30-8-2-4 Hoist the Flag Macho Again won the GII Jim Dandy S. as a prelude to 4Fls, 1GSW Nonparrell Perfect and Proud Floral Victory his success in the GI Stephen Foster H. as a 4-year-old. 19-1-1-3 12Fls, 1SW Proud Sal Proudest Roman 7Fls, 1SP Gal Sal Caulfield cont. Consequently, Macho Uno stood his first two seasons Although Blueskiesnrainbows has yet to prove he=s in Kentucky at increased fees--$20,000 in 2008 and equally effective on turf, English Channel=s credentials $25,000 in 2009. Therefore his 2009 and 2010 crops, as a turf sire are already firmly established. His other which respectively number around 90 named foals and stakes winner last week, the progressive filly Trois 85 named foals, theoretically represent his best chance Aureole, scored on turf, as did his earlier 2012 stakes of continued success. The 2009 crop is shaping up winners Skyring and Star Channel. With Optimizer well, with Potesta (GII Hollywood Oaks), Livi Makenzie, (placed three times at graded level), Ann of the Dance, Macho Macho, Macho Bull and Aggressive Elegance Easy Crossing, Seanchai, Captain Webb and Channel among them. Quest among his black-type performers, the Lane=s End Unfortunately, Macho Uno=s 2011 crop numbers only stallion is building a healthy total of stakes horses for a 37, but a reduction in his fee saw his book increase to horse who shone principally at the ages of four and five. 75 in 2011. Mucho Macho Man comes from the fourth and last of ******** Macho Uno=s Florida crops, and his pedigree reflects his If you believe in nicks, and have a pot full of money, roots. His dam Ponche de Leona is by Ponche, an Ocala you could do worse than track down a daughter of Stud stallion who shared the same sire, Two Punch, as Silver Hawk with a view to sending her to Galileo. the fast and precocious Smoke Glacken. Ponche raced Seven daughters of the former Airdrie stallion have a from two to seven, collecting five stakes wins over total of 10 foals of racing age by the three-time sprint distances, four of them at Calder. He sired only a champion sire. Nine of them have raced and no fewer handful of stakes winners from 134 foals, but Ponche than six of them have earned black type. de Leona was one of the most successful. Among them are Nathaniel and his sister Great Heavens, who scored a tremendous group-race double ******* three days ago, when Nathaniel took the G1 Coral- What should we expect from a champion turf horse Eclipse and Great Heavens the G2 Lancashire Oaks. whose career could be summarized as follows: at two These two have Racing Post ratings of 129 and 115, won his only start, at Saratoga; at three won nothing respectively. Another top performer in the group is more important than a Grade III, despite earning more Seville, whose rating of 120 reflects his seconds in the than $1.1 million; at four became a triple Grade I winner G1 Irish Derby and G1 Grand Prix de Paris. Then there=s on turf; and at five enjoyed his finest season, with the the German listed winner Namibia and the listed-placed Breeders= Cup Turf boosting his career total of Grade I winners Aristocrat and Aigue Marine. victories to an impressive six? Galileo has also sired group winners from mares by To this can be added the fact that his sire Smart three other sons of Roberto, so it=s not all about Strike didn=t race at two and enjoyed his best season at Danehill! four, and that his broodmare sire Theatrical was another who saved the best till last, also winning the Breeders= Cup Turf on the way to the Eclipse turf award at five. The only obvious conclusion is that this horse--English Channel--wasn=t likely to make an instant impact when his first juveniles raced last year. Bearing in mind that Smart Strike owes roughly a third of his progeny earnings to his turf performers, it would also be fair to conclude that English Channel=s progeny would show a penchant for grass. On the limited evidence available from English Channel=s first crop of 102 foals, it appears that the best of them are maturing very nicely. Whereas English Channel=s sophomore season saw him win the Woodlawn S. in May, the Colonial Turf Cup in June and the GIII Virginia Derby in July, his son Strait of Dover won the Marine S. in May and the Queen=s Plate in June. And now his well-bred son Blueskiesnrainbows-- from the family of Lyphard, Nobiliary, Urbane, No Review and Another Review--has won the GII Swaps S. The chances are that we will be hearing plenty more from English Channel, even though he will have to labor under the common modern-day handicap of having a second crop which is markedly smaller than his first.