A Princess’ Wish: New Yorker hero Macho Niner marches on
Ain’t no doubt about it now — Macho Niner sure needed the extra ground. The grey son of Macho Uno got his wish again and definitively affirmed his place at the top of the 3YO Classic Division with a rollicking score in last week’s Grade 1 $500,000 Princess Cup at Ontario.
Surprise winner of the New Yorker(G1) in his previous start, Macho Niner has blossomed into “staying power” form. The stalker displayed promise earlier on the Triple Crown trail — he had hit the the board in a couple graded starts over 9f….. but then slid a bit with mixed results afterwards. To add further insult to injury, trainer louisville had to watch ‘Macho sit on the Bluegrass Derby sidelines due to lack of stakes points.
What would it take to put this horse over the top and into the winner’s circle? The 10-furlong Princess Cup affirmed it — Macho Niner needed some more ground over the classic distances to throw his best SP#s. Over a ‘good’ main track surface, the colt completed the distance in a strong 2:01 3/5, a 105 SP#.
In his wake, he left Bluegrass Derby hero Anticosti to struggle home seventh (beaten by as many lengths). In all fairness, it was Anticosti’s first start in 8 weeks — champion4 stable did not start their colt in the final two legs of the Sim Triple Crown.
Davemac’s longshot Wealth By Stealth(IRE) (who had previously beaten Macho Niner two starts back) rallied decently for the place spot, some 1 1/4 lengths behind the winner. It was the Street Cry son’s debut over the distance. Same for dougiec5’s third-place Scotian Kid — the Lemon Drop Kid youngster also holds some promise over ground (depite being 0-for-7 lifetime in routes).
The victory turned Macho Niner into the Sim’s newest millionaire, pushing his bankroll to over $1.1-million. He boasts a 6-for-14 lifetime record.