MMM And WTC Meet in Santa Anita 'Cap

The next chapter in one of the best recent stories in racing is expected to be written on March 8 when rivals Mucho Macho Man and Will Take Charge face off in the $750,000 Grade I Santa Anita Handicap. The two last met in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, where Mucho Macho Man and jockey Gary Stevens just held off the hard-charging Will Take Charge and Luis Saez to get the win by a nose. For both the winner and the runner up, the race capped a hard-fought 2013 campaign that had started slow and ended in success.

'Macho came back from a close Classic defeat

A year earlier, Mucho Macho Man had himself suffered a narrow defeat when he came from the pack and almost, but not quite caught Fort Larned at the wire of the 2012 Classic, missing by a half-length. To start 2013, he was pulled up and awarded a DNF in the Sunshine Millions Classic, then was a disappointing third in both the ungraded Criminal Type Stakes and the Grade I Whitney Handicap. He was able to turn things around in time, however, winning the Grade I Awesome Again Stakes before his victory in the Classic. He goes into the SA Handicap off a win in this year’s Sunshine Millions.

'Charge got better as the year went on

For Will Take Charge, he went onto the Triple Crown off a pair of stakes wins, including the Grade II Rebel, but his route through the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes was nothing short of disaster, as he finished eighth, seventh and tenth in those races, respectively. With many question his credentials as a Grade I contender, he rebounded to win the Grade I Travers and Grade II Pennsylvania before the battle in the Classic. He followed that one with a win in the Grade I Clark Handicap, and goes into the SA Classic off a second in the Grade I Donn Handicap.