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Mucho Gusto Retired Due To Soft Tissue Injury; Stud Plans Pending

Mucho Gusto, the winner of the 2020 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (Grade 1), has been retired from racing after suffering a soft tissue injury training toward a defense of his title.

Trainer Bob Baffert said the 5-year-old son of Mucho Macho Man came up with the injury Tuesday morning. News of the retirement was first reported by Thoroughbred Daily News.

“He galloped this morning, and afterwards we noticed some heat in the pastern,” said Baffert. “Ultrasound showed a small issue in the ligament in the pastern area. With soft tissue problems like this it takes months of rest and you don't know if they're going to be the same when they come back. The good thing is we caught it early.”

Mucho Gusto retires with six wins in 13 starts for earnings of $3,953,800. After winning on debut at Los Alamitos' Thoroughbred meet, the horse won the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes, then finished second to Improbable in the G1 Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity to finish his juvenile season.

He started his 3-year-old campaign on a winning note in the G3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes, then ran third in the G3 Sunland Park Derby. Mucho Gusto skipped the Triple Crown races, instead going on to win the G3 Lazaro Barrera Stakes and G3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita before shipping east to finish second in the G1 Haskell Invitational Stakes to Maximum Security and third to Code of Honor in the G1 Travers Stakes. His season finished with a victory in the G3 Oklahoma Derby.

Mucho Gusto spent his first two seasons racing for owner Michael Lund Petersen, who purchased him for $625,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale of 2-year-olds in training. Petersen sold the horse privately to Saudi Prince Faisal Bin Khaled following his Oklahoma Derby score.

Mucho Gusto kicked off his 4-year-old campaign with a 4 1/2-length triumph in the Pegasus World Cup, then tested the Saudi Cup, where he finished fourth. After a 10-month layoff, Mucho Gusto made his final career start in the G2 San Antonio Stakes, where he once again finished fourth.

“I gave him all that time off to have him fresh for these races (the Pegasus and Saudi Cup),” said Baffert. “He really likes that track (Gulfstream). He ran huge in the Haskell, but his biggest race was the Pegasus. And I thought for a second he was going to win the Saudi Cup. He's sort of been the barn favorite.”

Bred in Kentucky by Teneri Farm Inc. and Bernardo Alvarez Calderon, Mucho Gusto is out of the winning Giant's Causeway mare Itsagiantcauseway.

Stud plans for Mucho Gusto are still to be determined.

Stablemate Charlatan, winner of the G1 Runhappy Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, is also on the Pegasus invitation list, but Baffert is undecided on whether the 4-year-old Speightstown colt would run. “The door is still open for the Pegasus but we haven't figured anything out yet,” he said.

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Mucho Gusto Retired

Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man–Itsagiantcauseway, by Giant’s Causeway), winner of last year’s GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, has been retired due to a soft-tissue injury, according to his trainer, Bob Baffert.

“He came up with a minor soft tissue injury that will knock him out of the Pegasus and Saudi Cup,” said Baffert.

The trainer said that the issue had just arisen today and that no stallion deal had been discussed yet.

The Pegasus was one of five graded races won by the 5-year-old chestnut, who also captured the GIII Robert B. Lewis S., GIII Lazaro Barrera S., GIII Affirmed S., and GIII Bob Hope S. He was second in the GI TVG Haskell Invitational and the GI Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity and third in the GI Runhappy Travers S. He was a graded stakes winner at two, three and four.

Mucho Gusto, purchased by Michael Lund Petersen for $625,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, was acquired privately by Prince Faisal Bin Khaled following the 2019 Oklahoma Derby and captured last year’s Pegasus in his first start for his new owner. He followed that victory with a fourth-place effort in the inaugural Saudi Cup last February. Most recently fourth in the Dec. 26 GII San Antonio S., he earned just shy of $4 million on the racetrack, finishing up his career with earnings of $3,953,800.

“We are disappointed because he was a barn favorite,” said Baffert. “He ran in some exciting races, and winning the Pegasus was incredible. Turning for home, he looked like he was going to win the Saudi Cup,” said Baffert. “He gave Michael Lund Petersen one of his biggest thrills when he ran second in the Haskell. We freshened him up, gave him the whole summer off to have him ready for the Pegasus and the Saudi Cup and then this thing happened. It was really disappointing, because I was really excited about him this year. He put up some huge performances.”

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Details Emerge In Attempted Murder Charge Against Jockey C.J. McMahon

Jockey Charles J. (C.J.) McMahon, 26, was arrested by the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana on Jan. 2 and charged with attempted murder in the second degree, illegal use of weapons, and possession of schedule 1 drugs.

Bond, set at $80,000, was posted on Sunday, and McMahon was released.

According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, details of the case were confirmed Tuesday afternoon by Wayne Griffin, a spokesperson for the Lafayette Police Department.

“[McMahon] was allegedly involved in an incident where a vehicle was parked at a red light. He pulled up in his own vehicle next to the car. He shot into the car. And then he sped off,” Griffin told the TDN. “We were able to locate the vehicle through some investigative means and [by using traffic cameras]. And in turn we were able to locate him and make an arrest.”

The alleged incident is reported to have occurred on Dec. 27. No individuals were injured during the shooting, Griffin said.

The son of a Quarter Horse jockey and grandson of a trainer, McMahon began riding horses at an early age and took out his apprentice jockey's license at 16, recording his first win at Evangeline Downs in 2011.

Previously a leading rider at Lone Star Park and Delta Downs, McMahon is coming off his least productive year since 2014, winning 47 races from 391 mounts that earned $1,147,087. He enjoyed his best years in 2015 and '16, winning 219 races in 2015 (ranking 11th nationally) and compiling mount earnings of $4,989,625 the following year. McMahon has won three graded stakes: the 2016 Texas Mile Stakes (G3) with Great Minds and the Super Derby (G3) and Oklahoma Derby (G3) with Texas Chrome in 2016.

McMahon was suspended by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission for 30 days in 2017 for reportedly testing positive for methamphetamine and THC.

Most recently he rode the Delta Downs meet in Vinson, La., where he won with two of 41 mounts, his last appearance there on Dec. 28. He was named to ride the Jan. 8 and Jan. 9 programs at Sam Houston Race Park in Texas.

The TDN reports that McMahon's jockey license remains in good standing in Texas, but he may not be allowed to ride at Sam Houston.

“The thing with McMahon is his license remains in good standing with us,” Robert Elrod, the public information officer for the Texas Racing Commission, told the TDN. “But my understanding is Sam Houston is not going to let him ride. That's their call. As long as he doesn't have a conviction, he's afforded due process.”

Sam Houston officials did not return requests for comment.

McMahon has 1,046 career victories from 6,734 races for mount earnings of $22,682,202, according to Equibase.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Guess Who’s Back: Vitali Saddles First Runner At Turf Paradise

Embattled trainer Marcus Vitali has returned to entering racehorses for the first time since July of 2019, this time at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Ariz. His trainee Be Gone Daddy ran third in Monday's Hank Mills Sr. Stakes, and he has four more horses entered at the track in the coming days.

The Thoroughbred Daily News briefly connected with Vitali Tuesday. The trainer said he had bad cell reception and that he would return the call, but did not do so. The TDN was unsuccessful in attempts to get comment from Arizona commission officials.

Vitali has made headlines many times over the years, first for numerous therapeutic medication violations, then for avoiding sanctions for positive post-race drug tests by turning in his license in Florida. In 2016, reporting by the Paulick Report revealed Vitali was training horses at Gulfstream Park under the name of Allan Hunter; Vitali and Hunter were subsequently barred from the entry box there and at Tampa Bay Downs. Vitali reapplied for a trainer's license in Florida, where state officials credited him with time served for his medication overages.

Vitali sent out just 29 starters in 2017, mostly at Gulfstream and Gulfstream Park West, but returned with a stronger hand in 2018, with 334 starters, also mostly in South Florida.

In 2019, Vitali's license was suspended for one year when he interfered with a search conducted by Delaware Park security of his employee's dorm, bursting into the room and absconding with an object which was never recovered. Vitali claimed the object was a container of marijuana. His employee at the time said it was an unlabeled vial containing a clear liquid of some type which Vitali asked her to keep in her refrigerator. He has completed that suspension.

In 2020, the Maryland Jockey Club told the Paulick Report that it had given trainer Wayne Potts one week to vacate his barn at Laurel Park, where he keeps 30 horses, after track officials say they discovered Potts was program training for Vitali. Vitali reportedly could not get stalls at racetracks in the area. Maryland officials said they discovered the connection between the two when horses based at Rising Sun Training Center in New Jersey were entered under Potts's name at Laurel and turned up with health certificates that had been altered to white out Vitali's name. A cluster of horses appeared at Rising Sun around that time from longtime Vitali clients, primarily from Florida. That cluster included Be Gone Daddy.

After Potts was told to vacate Laurel, Vitali applied for a training license in Illinois afterwards but was unsuccessful in receiving one. The horses formerly based at Rising Sun ran at Arlington Park and Hawthorne under trainer Dino DiZeo. Many of the same group from Rising Sun posted workouts at Turf Paradise in the days before Vitali saddled his first runner there.

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