Macho Again ready for Gold Cup

No horse has beaten superfilly Rachel Alexandra since last year. The closest anyone has come was in the Grade 1 Woodward last month at Saratoga Race Course, when 4-year-old colt Macho Again fell a neck short.

Co-owned by Roger and Joyce Locks of Saratoga Springs and Ballston Spa native Jim Cutbush through the West Point Thoroughbreds syndicate, Macho Again returns to action on Saturday in the Grade 1 $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Most of the pre-race talk has been about a pair of 3-year-olds, Belmont and Travers winner Summer Bird and record-setting Grade 1 winner Quality Road, and Asiatic Boy, who has more than $3 million in career earnings but has yet to win a race in North America.

"Macho's doing good, and we're ready to rumble," Joyce Locks said early this evening. The Lockses arrived on Long Island for tomorrow's race around 4:30 this afternoon.

"[A win] would mean an awful lot for us. To win two Grade 1 races in the second half of the year would be absolutely phenomenal. Maybe he'd get a little more respect, which we feel he deserves. He's a great horse.

"If you look at the polls in the Racing Form, I think we come in third, but our opinion is, Macho is pretty much the best older horse out there. We're excited."

Trained by Dallas Stewart, Macho Again won the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap in March and the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs in June. He was a closing second to long shot Bullsbay in the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 8 at Saratoga before running into Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward.

"He came so close," Joyce Locks said. "It's good and bad that he came in second in the Woodward. We wanted to win. It would have been great for us. It was great for racing that she won because it really helps the fan base and they were all backing her. But, we were right there with her. If it was here at Belmont, more than likely we would have surpassed her.

"He's developed into a phenomenal older horse. He's proved himself. He's coming out of these races really well and been moving forward in a very short period of time. This is a long stretch (at Belmont) and that's what he's good at. Give him that long stretch, and he's like a bullet. It could be a phenomenal race. We're always in it to win it."

Macho Again has six wins and six seconds from 20 lifetime starts, winning the Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga as a 3-year-old. He's the third choice in the Jockey Club at odds of 7-2.

"It's a horse race, so anythingn can happen," Joyce Locks said. "I feel good about Macho, and feel good about the race. I think we have a great chance."