Awesome Speed Tough in Mucho Macho Man Stakes

Awesome Speed opened 2016 the way he closed 2015, with a stakes victory.

On Jan. 2, Colts Neck Stables' Awesome Speed held off a stretch challenge from El Charro to score a clear victory in the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes for newly turned 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park.

Jockey Joel Rosario rated Awesome Speed just behind appropriately named early leader Aggressive Driver through a quarter-mile in :23.66. Those two opened up on rivals in the turn, punching a half-mile in :46.69. Shortly after passing the half-mile pole, Awesome Speed seized the lead, with El Charro and Luis Saez taking up the chase.

Rosario appeared to angle out Awesome Speed in the stretch as El Charro made his run. Awesome Speed proved to be up to the challenge, posting a 1 1/4-length victory while completing the race in 1:35.97.

"He got pinched a little bit at the start. I saw (Picadilly Roadster) going to the lead and then (Aggressive Driver) was going to the lead, so I eased him out a little bit trying to get him to the outside pocket and then he had a nice cruising speed—nice horse, easy to ride," said Rosario, who picked up his fourth of five wins on the day in the Mucho Macho Man.

"Yeah it's beautiful," Rosario said of the big day. "They've all been different. Sometimes they are kind of the same, taken a little bit to figure it out. I feel good, kind of working hard and then take it from there."

Trained by Alan Goldberg, Awesome Speed successfully made his South Florida debut in the Mucho Macho Man after beginning his career with three Mid-Atlantic starts last year. The son of Awesome Again   earned his maiden win Oct. 10 at Laurel Park and entered Saturday's one-turn mile test off a three-quarter-length victory in the James F. Lewis III Stakes there.

Favored Awesome Again returned $3.20 to win, $2.40 to place, and $2.20 to show. El Charro paid $5.80 and $4.40, earning his first stakes-placing, while Bullet Gone Astray, a stakes winner at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort last year, finished third and paid $5.60 to show.

Goldberg was cautiously optimistic about Awesome Speed's ability to stretch out to two turns.

"He'll stretch out to a mile and a sixteenth, but I don't know if he'll stretch out with good horses," Goldberg said. "We'll see. I'll be down there Monday and spend a week down there and I'll talk to (assistant trainer Jorge Duarte) and we'll lay out a plan for him. Before the race I was thinking we would pass the Holy Bull (gr. II) and just try for the Fountain of Youth (gr. II), but we'll see."

Juan Rodriguez, trainer of El Charro, believes his Put It Back colt will go longer.

"I think this is one of the best horses I've had, but I think he needs more distance," Rodriguez said. "We have to wait and see what's next for him here."

Bred in Kentucky by H. Allen Poindexter, Awesome Speed is the first stakes winner out of the winning Aptitude mare Speedy Escape, who has produced two winners from as many starters. Awesome Speed's second dam is the Relaunch mare Great Escape, a multiple stakes winner in the late 1980s in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Awesome Speed was purchased for $335,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Florida sale of 2-year-olds where Goldberg landed her from the consignment of SBM Training & Sales, agent.