Kentucky Derby veteran and the reigning Breeders’ Cup Classic champion Mucho Macho Man has been retired and will enter what will no doubt be a lucrative stud career. He’ll stand at Adena Springs Farm in Paris, Kentucky with a stud fee to be announced at a later date.
Adena Springs is the majority owner of Mucho Macho Man having purchased that interest from Dan and Patti Reeves earlier this year. No mention was made of an injury or other physical reason that the six year old was retired at this time–the assumption of most observers was that he’d try to defend his Breeders’ Cup Classic title. Barring injury it is apparently a business decision by Adena Springs no doubt figuring that $6.6 million in career earnings was a sufficient resume.
Mucho Macho Man was a force on the track, winning 9 of his 25 career races. The Reeves family purchased a majority share in the horse shortly after his second place finish in his debut race. Dan Reeves said upon his retirement that Mucho Macho Man gave both him and his wife ‘enormous pleasure’. The horse quickly gained a reputation as a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender as a two year old finishing second in the Nashua and Remsen at Aqueduct. He won the Risen Star and ran third in the Kentucky Derby behind winner Animal Kingdom.
He became even more impressive as an older horse and 9 of his last 12 ‘in the money’ finishes were in Grade 1 or 2 graded stakes events. His seven wins after the Kentucky Derby included victories in the Gulfstream Park Handicap, the Suburban Handicap, and the Awesome Again. Those wins were followed by a victory in the biggest payday race in the sport, the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita. So for this season he had a 14 length win in the Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream followed by a 4th place finish in the Santa Anita Handicap in his final race. Such was the respect afforded to him that he was listed as the fourth favorite at 7-1 in the most recent betting odds for the ‘Horse of the Year’ award.