Sonic Mule was a stubborn winner of Saturday’s $100,000 Mucho Macho Man S. at Gulfstream Park, winning a stretch-long duel by a head over State of Honor.
The victory, coming on the heels of a win in the Buffalo Man S. last month, also at Gulfstream, was the second stakes in a row for the 3-year-old son of Distorted Humor. Sonic Mule is now 4-1-2 in seven starts, with earnings of $186,455 for Calumet Farm.
Coming out of the one-mile chute, Sonic Mule took up a good spot three-wide just a couple lengths off the lead. Jockey Javier Castellano moved the bay colt closer to the front as the field moved into the turn and had assumed the lead with a quarter mile to run.
State of Honor loomed up on the outside to contest for the lead. The two were nearly inseparable for the entire stretch, but Sonic Mule would not let his foe by and hit the wire the winner in 1:37.52.
“He’s a fighter, no question about it. You could tell he was getting tired and he didn’t gallop out real far past the wire so I think he was giving Javier everything he had,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He’s shown to be that kind of horse. He’s got a lot of determination and a lot of fight. He’s a cool horse to be around.”
Sonic Mule was bred by WinStar Farm and is the first foal out of Globe Trot, whose dam Trip was a three-time graded stakes winner of nearly $900,000.
