Champion racehorse and Grade 1 sire Macho Uno dies aged 26 at Adena Springs

Adena Springs' homebred champion and successful sire Macho Uno was euthanised due to liver complications on Friday at Adena Springs South near Williston, Florida, according to the owner-breeder operation owned by Frank Stronach. The stallion was 26.

Macho Uno hailed from the third crop by 1994 Horse of the Year Holy Bull and was out of Stronach's Blushing Groom mare Primal Force, who also is the dam of Adena Springs' prominent homebred sire Awesome Again. 

Macho Uno commanded attention early by winning his debut in 2000 at Saratoga by two and three-quarter lengths for trainer Joe Orseno. 

After a game third-place finish in the Hopeful Stakes five weeks later, he won the Grade 1 Grey Breeders' Cup Stakes at Woodbine effortlessly by seven lengths. The grey/roan colt followed that with a gusty nose victory over future Hall of Famer Point Given in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and was honoured as the champion two-year-old colt of 2000.

His three-year-old campaign was delayed until July due to an ankle injury but Macho Uno would deliver results later by winning the 2001 Grade 3 Pennsylvania Derby and finishing third in the Ohio Derby and fourth in the Breeders' Cup Classic. 

At four, he added a victory in the Grade 2 Massachusetts Handicap to his résumé, along with a third in the Suburban Handicap.

He retired with a 6-1-3 record from 14 starts and $1,851,803 in earnings.

Macho Uno entered stud at Adena Springs South with a $15,000 stud fee and was relocated to Adena Springs' Kentucky farm in Bourbon County in late 2007. He became a top five freshman sire in 2007 and stayed in the top 10 through his second-crop and third-crop seasons. 

His first Grade 1 winner was Wicked Style, who won the 2007 Breeders' Futurity. His most accomplished runner was Mucho Mucho Man, who won the 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic and Awesome Again Stakes on his way to earning more than $5.6 million.

Mucho Macho Man, who also was third in the 2011 Kentucky Derby, became a stallion at Adena Springs Kentucky and was then transferred to Hill 'n' Dale Farms when Adena closed down its Kentucky farm. The stallion now stands in Ontario at Adena Springs North.

Macho Uno would sire 51 black-type stakes winners that included 17 Graded/Group winners and six champions. 

Other Grade 1 winners he sired were Macho Again, Private Zone and Whoopee Maker, who was also 2015 champion dirt horse in Brazil. 

His top performers also included Graded/Group winners Danon Legend in Japan, Tommy Macho, Macho Macho, Harlem Rocker (who won the Canadian classic Prince of Wales Stakes in 2008), Overheard, Kirby's Penny, Bobby Abu Dhabi and Mucho Mas Macho, among others.

Macho Uno was shuttled for one season to Brazil in 2010. Besides Whoopee Maker, his tenure in South America produced stakes winners Daltiva, Ovunque, Rosa Brava, Sib Macho Uno and We'll Rock You. 

The Adena stallion sired 17 crops prior to being pensioned in 2020. His progeny earned more than $67m collectively in earnings and averaged $84,293 per runner. He lived the remainder of his life in retirement as a stallion at Adena Springs South. 

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