Stronach Stables’ Macho Uno, Eclipse Award-winning champion juvenile of 2000 and a prolific sire whose progeny include popular 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner Mucho Macho Man, was euthanized Aug. 30 due to liver complications at his home at Adena South. He was 26.
A son of Horse of the Year Holy Bull, bred by Adena and a half-brother to 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Awesome Again, Macho Uno commanded attention in his debut, winning at 5 ½ furlongs at Saratoga in July 2000 for trainer Joe Orseno. After a game third-place finish in the Hopeful (G1) five weeks later, Macho Uno won the Grey Breeders’ Cup (G1) at Woodbine effortlessly by seven lengths. The gray colt would follow up with a gusty nose victory over future Hall of Famer Point Given in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).
Macho Uno’s three-year-old campaign was delayed until July due to an ankle injury. After finishing second in his three-year-old debut under allowance conditions at Saratoga, Macho Uno won the Pennsylvania Derby (G3), finished third in the Ohio Derby (G2), and was fourth in the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Classic. The colt returned for his 4-year-old season for a victory in the Massachusetts Handicap (G2), a third-place finish in the Suburban (G2), and a fourth in the Whitney (G1) before ending his racing career with a fifth-place finish in the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
At stud, along with siring multiple graded-stakes winner Mucho Macho Man, a winner of $5.6 million who sired 2020 Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) winner Mucho Gusto, Macho Uno sired Grade 1 winners Macho Again, Private Zone, Tolomeo and V I P Zone, multiple graded-stakes winners Tommy Macho and Harlem Rocker, and stakes winners Uno Mas Modelo, Hy Riverside and Picco Uno among others.
Macho Uno was represented by 17 crops prior to being pensioned in 2020. He lived the remainder of his life in retirement as a stallion at Adena South.
