Catching Up With Macho Uno

Macho Uno at Adena Springs in Kentucky during the summer of 2015. (Photos by Melissa Bauer-Herzog)
When Awesome Again crossed the finish line first in the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic, no one could have guessed his weanling half-brother (same dam [mother], different sire [father]) would be the next member of the family to end up in the Breeders’ Cup winner’s circle.
Two years later, Macho Uno was the second Breeders’ Cup winner for his dam, Primal Force, when crossing the finish line a nose in front of Point Given to seal up the 2-year old male championship with two Grade 1 victories.
But the win wasn’t an easy one for Macho Uno. He had passed one chestnut horse in the stretch of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and it looked like he was in the clear until Point Given made a late run to nearly nab Macho Uno, who veered out as they approached the finish.
2001 BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE

Video courtesy of Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Macho Uno was the second homebred winner of the day for Stronach Stables, which had won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Perfect Sting the race before the Juvenile.
“We were ready for a spectacular performance and we got it,” Macho Uno’s trainer, Joe Orseno, told ESPN. “He’s been training real well and it showed today.”
But hopes of a run in the Kentucky Derby were cut short when Macho Uno was forced off the Kentucky Derby trail the next year. The colt missed the whole first half of the season, making his return in an allowance on July 25, 2001. Coincidentally, where his margin of victory in the Juvenile had been a nose, this time he lost by that same margin when finishing second in his return.
But that didn’t seem to hurt his confidence too much when he ran in the Pennsylvania Derby a little more than a month later. Taking on the filly Unbridled Elaine, who was coming into the race on a two-race win streak (and would go on to win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff later that year), the field was no problem for Macho Uno. With Gary Stevens aboard for the first time, Macho Uno made his jockey’s work easy when he was given clear running room in the stretch by taking commend and winning by a deceivingly easy 1 ½ lengths.
After a third-place finish in the Ohio Derby, Macho Uno headed to the Breeders’ Cup Classic to try and emulate his half-brother. In the first sporting event held in New York City after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Macho Uno ran into an unmovable force in Tiznow. Macho Uno was only able to manage fourth, but he finished just 4 ½ lengths behind the first two finishers in the Classic.
The following year, Macho Uno was on fire in his first two races as a 4-year-old.
After an allowance win to start off the season, Macho Uno and Gary Stevens made easy work of the Massachusetts Handicap when beating Evening Attire and Include for a 1 ¾-length score. Next up was the Suburban Stakes in which Macho Uno raced close behind the E Dubai throughout the race. Macho Uno tried to reel in E Dubai in the stretch with a game run but finished 1 ¾ lengths behind that rival in third. That was the final time Macho Uno would hit the board in a race, he ran three more times with his last start coming in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, in which he finished fifth. Macho Uno tried to make it back to the track in 2003 but was retired that September.
Macho Uno ended his career with six victories in 14 starts, including two Grade 1 victories. While he wasn’t able to get a Breeders’ Cup Classic win like his brother, he did top Awesome Again by being named a U.S. champion in addition to taking home his own blanket of flowers in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Macho Uno was retired to Adena Springs South in Florida for the 2004 breeding season and immediately showed that he was going to be a good sire when taking leading first-crop sire honors in Florida and ranking fifth on the overall first-crop sire list. From that first crop, he produced Macho Again, who won the 2009 Stephen Foster Handicap and was second in the 2008 Preakness Stakes; and Harlem Rocker, a classic winner in Canada.
MACHO UNO AT ADENA SPRINGS KENTUCKY

Also coming from his time standing in Florida was 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man and Grade 3 winner Kays and Jays, among others.
After the 2-year-old success of his first crop, Macho Uno was moved to Adena Springs Kentucky for the 2008 season with his stud fee bumped to $20,000. From that first Kentucky crop came multiple Grade 1 winner Private Zone, who is currently one of the top older males of the 2015 racing season.
With 16 graded stakes winners, 34 stakes winners and four champions from nine crops of racing age of Aug. 7, 2015, Macho Uno is still very popular with breeders every year.
“Those initial Kentucky crops really elevated him, he was a top-10 active Kentucky sire two of the last three years. He’s really proven himself to be a very good stallion option, a proven horse at the $20,000 stud fee range, and there aren’t many of those out there, so he’s maintained that support from breeders who like to go to a proven horse, maybe to start off a maiden mare,” said Cormac Breathnach, part of the stallions nominations team at Adena Springs Kentucky. “He offers a lot of outcross potential, especially for Northern Dancer-lined mares, and that’s kind of been his bread and butter. When you put all that together, he’s a really good option for a lot of breeders.”
At 17 years old, Macho Uno is doing great and is a popular stallion among the barn staff. His laid-back temperament makes him an easy horse to be around, both in the breeding shed and during day-to-day activities.
“Macho Uno’s doing great. He’s 17 years old, he’s in great shape, great health, thankfully. He’s breeding mares well, doing everything he should be doing as a stallion and they are performing on the racetrack. … He’s a real focal point of our roster,” Breathnach said. “He’s really popular because he’s been here so long and he’s earned himself a place in the lore of Adena Springs, the operation. So, we all have tremendous respect for him, he’s a stallion that offers a lot of different attributes.”

While Macho Uno has already proved himself as a top sire on all surfaces, those at Adena Springs are very excited about the 2-year-olds he has running this year. One of those 2-year-olds has already proved to have the potential to be one of the top horses in her division. Banree ran in the Schuylerville Stakes on the opening weekend of Saratoga and finished second in the Grade 3 race.
“It’s a pleasure to have him, being a homebred Breeders’ Cup winner who sired a Breeders’ Cup winner. He’s kind of a big deal here, so we’re delighted to have him and hopefully he has several good years left. We’re really excited about his current 2-year-olds,” Breathnach said. “I’ve heard a lot of good things, Banree obviously really ran well in the Schuylerville, she’s a really top-class filly. She’ll have her day yet. They sold very well at auction this spring, I think there are going to be some very good horses out of this group and they were a great looking group as yearlings last year, they sold well. So, I think he’s got a lot in the pipeline and a lot more to come with Private Zone and the likes of Banree.”
This year, Macho Uno’s influence was felt even more strongly at Adena Springs when his Breeders’ Cup Classic winning son Mucho Macho Man joined him in the stallion barn.
With multiple sons and daughters in the breeding shed and hopefully many more crops of foals to come, the future looks just as bright as the past for this Juvenile winner.