Macho Uno Is Not the One for the Derby

Frank Stronach’s champion colt, Macho Uno, will miss the Kentucky Derby because of an ankle injury, his handlers said Tuesday.

Macho Uno, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs in November to clinch the Eclipse Award for best 2-year-old male, had been a mystery horse in Florida this winter, hardly training and with an indefinite racing schedule.

Finally, Joe Orseno and Danny Vella, two of Stronach’s trainers, confirmed that something was wrong. Orseno, who manages the colt’s racing career, said that Macho Uno will be flown today to Lexington, Ky., where Larry Bramlage, an equine surgeon, will determine whether surgery is needed to remove a small flake in his left rear ankle.

Vella, Stronach’s trainer at his Adena Springs farm, told The Blood-Horse magazine that Macho Uno hadn’t been 100% since his narrow victory over Point Given in the Breeders’ Cup.

“He didn’t come out of the Breeders’ Cup just right,” Vella said. “He was tight in his rear end. We thought time off would help, and while it did, he was still uncomfortable behind. We were puzzled, but we decided the best thing was to send him to [Bramlage] and let him go over the horse. It’s not a major problem, but it’s a tough blow.”

Macho Uno is likely to miss the entire Triple Crown, which begins with the Kentucky Derby on May 5. His absence means that another year will go by with the Derby not being won by a 2-year-old champion or a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner. The last 2-year-old champion to return the next year and win the Derby was Spectacular Bid in 1979. Since the first Breeders’ Cup, in 1984, a Juvenile winner has never won the Derby.

Macho Uno won three of four starts last year, his only loss a third-place finish in the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga. Despite being voted the best in his division, he was not generally considered the early Derby favorite. In the Kentucky Derby future wager, a bet not available in California, Point Given is the favorite, followed by Macho Uno and Millennium Wind at the same odds. Those odds were revised Tuesday, with Point Given listed at 6-1, followed by Millennium Wind, A P Valentine and Dollar Bill, all at 10-1.

Another top 2-year-old who will miss the Derby is Windsor Castle, who won the Remsen at Aqueduct last year. Windsor Castle is recovering from a fever that has compromised his training. He is expected to race this spring, but will not have enough prep races to be ready for Churchill Downs.