Mucho Macho Man worked five furlongs on the Churchill Downs main track April 30 with jockey Rajiv Maragh in the irons.
The son of Macho Uno worked in 1:00 2/5. The spits were :12 4/5, :25 2/5, :37, and he galloped out six furlongs in 1:14 1/5.
“The best of his work was the last part and that is always good,” said Maragh, who rode the colt in the Louisiana Derby (gr. II), where Mucho Macho Man finished third behind Pants on Fire and Nehro. Maragh is listed to ride Mucho Macho Man in the May 7 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). “It was the exact work we were looking for.”
Trainer Kathy Ritvo said she was pleased with the work and feels the colt is doing as well as anyone could ask.
“It was important for me to get a work on a dry track,” Ritvo said. “Last week, we worked on a wet track. Today he handled the track well. I can’t ask for him to do any better than he is. He is beginning to blossom.”
Mucho Macho Man is owned in partnership by Dean and Patti Reeves and Dream Team One Racing Stable. He was bred in Florida by John and Carole Rio.
The colt got a little bit more experience than Ritvo expected, when runners from the Derby Festival Marathon & Mini-Marathon appeared in the infield.
“I was like, ‘Ooh, how is this going to go?” Ritvo said. “But he did fine.”
Ritvo also said Mucho Macho Man, a June foal who is already 17 hands, is still growing. But she thinks his size may help in the Derby.
“The only thing he requires is miles,” she said, noting the colt gallops at least two miles every day. “He has been working perfect up to the race. I wouldn't trade places with anyone.”
In other Derby contender news, Watch Me Go was scheduled to work April 30 but will work Sunday, May 1 instead, according to trainer Kathleen O’Connell.
“We’ll work him 5/8ths and let him gallop out,” O’Connell said. “We want to stretch his legs and get some air into him.”
Watch Me Go is the winner of the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. III). He is a homebred racing for Gilbert Campbell.