Mucho Macho Man Filly Rallies From Last to Stay Perfect On Grass in San Clemente

Mucho Unusual | Horsephotos

Saturday, Del Mar
SAN CLEMENTE S.-GII, $201,755, Del Mar, 7-20, 3yo, f, 1mT, 1:34.66, fm.
1–MUCHO UNUSUAL, 123, f, 3, by Mucho Macho Man
1st Dam: Not Unusual, by Unusual Heat
2nd Dam: Fly First Class, by General Meeting
3rd Dam: Laura's Jet, by Wajima
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($170,000 RNA Ylg '17 KEESEP).
O/B-George Krikorian (CA); T-Tim Yakteen; J-Joel Rosario.
$120,000. Lifetime Record: 7-4-2-0, $372,680. *1/2 to Big
Score (Mr. Big), GSW & GISP, $635,372.
2–Apache Princess, 123, f, 3, Unusual Heat–Puskita, by Indian
Charlie. O/B-KMN Racing (CA); T-J. Keith Desormeaux.
$40,000.
3–Over Emphasize, 118, f, 3, Overanalyze–Star in the Corner,
by Holy Bull. ($9,500 RNA Wlg '16 KEENOV; $40,000 Ylg '17
KEESEP). O-Mel & Jean Annuzzi; B-John R. Penn (KY); T-Michael
W. McCarthy. $24,000.
Margins: NK, 3/4, HF. Odds: 2.50, 17.30, 8.60.
Also Ran: Keeper Ofthe Stars, Maxim Rate, Seranitsa, Stillwater Cove, Harmless, Kalliniki, Devils Dance. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Mucho Unusual stayed unbeaten on turf and picked up her first graded stakes win with a last-to-first rally in the GII San Clemente S. Saturday at Del Mar.

A second-out victress last fall at Santa Anita, the George Krikorian homebred was runner-up as the favorite in the Golden State Juvenile Fillies S. there Nov. 2 before fading to fourth at odds-on in a state-bred optional claimer in her sophomore bow Jan. 27. Switched to turf in the California Cup Oaks Feb. 18, the bay went wire-to-wire to pull to upset at nearly 11-1, and repeated by a head in an open optional claimer June 16.

Made a lukewarm 5-2 chalk here, she dropped back to trail the 10-filly group as a pair of longshots duked it out through sharp fractions of :22.72 and :46.50. The field began to bunch up midway around the far turn, and longshot Apache Princess (Unusual Heat) made a bold, four-wide bid to take control at the top of the lane. That one went clear past the eighth pole, where Mucho Unusual emerged as the only danger, and the Tim Yakteen trainee kept charging under Joel Rosario to just get up in the shadow of the wire.

“She just didn't show me a lot [of speed] early, so I let her do her thing away from there,” said Rosario. “On the backside, she wanted to go, so we went after them. Turning for home I thought about going down inside, but she was making up ground and I didn't want to chance it. She had that nice acceleration through the stretch and we got it.”

Pedigree Notes:

Mucho Unusual is the third stakes winner and second graded stakes winner for her sophomore sire, following up Saturday's GI Haskell Invitational runner-up Mucho Gusto. Her dam, a two-time winner for Krikorian, produced a colt by Mr. Big named Big Talker last term and a filly by the same sire this season.

 

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