The speedy New Jersey-bred Green Gratto, second at 53-1 in the GI Carter H. after setting the pace two years ago, closed the door this time around, holding grimly late to pull a 54-1 shocker in the annual Wood day undercard event.
Up the track when eighth after dueling on a blistering pace in last year's Carter, the dark bay annexed the GIII Toboggan S. over the local inner track Jan. 16 before finishing seventh in the GIII Tom Fool H. last out Mar. 11.
Breaking well here, Green Gratto was put in his customary frontrunning spot by jockey Chris Decarlo and clicked off moderate splits of :22.56 and :45.64 while being chased by 4-5 favorite and last out GIII Gulfstream Park Sprint S. winner Unified. Challenged by that one to his outside in early stretch, he gamely shook off that foe by the eighth pole. Tommy Macho came with a late run, but was stymied between horses late and lost all chance. Meanwhile, Unified mounted one final try in the final 100 yards, but came up a head short as the huge longshot found the wire first.
“The last time, he actually bled and he didn't perform any,” winning trainer and co-owner Gaston Grant revealed. “When we went back to the barn, we scoped him and knew something was wrong. It wasn't like his physical ability wasn't there. We went to the drawing board and came back and he was working like a freight train. There's not much we can do with him now other than these races, so we might as well take a shot at the big guys.”
How does it feel to win your first Grade I race?
“Well, I guess that's every trainer's dream,” Grant replied. “I knew he had it in him, but he had to put it together in the afternoon. We finally put it together this afternoon. [Jockey] Chris [DeCarlo]–he did a great job.”
Pedigree Notes:
Green Gratto is out of the three-time winner Starship Smokester, a $27,000 BARMAR graduate who switched hands for $12,500 in her penultimate career start at Delaware back in 2004. Her most recent produce is an unraced 3-year-old filly named Smokester's Heist (Bank Heist).
Saturday, Aqueduct
CARTER H.-GI, $400,000, AQU, 4-8, 4yo/up, 7f, 1:23.25, ft.
1–&GREEN GRATTO, 116, h, 7, by Here's Zealous
1st Dam: Starship Smokester, by Smokester
2nd Dam: Admiral Minnie, by Golden Eagle II
3rd Dam: Amiga La G., by Delaware Chief
O-Gaston & Anthony Grant; B-Kaz Hill Farm (NJ); T-Gaston
Grant; J-Christopher P. DeCarlo. $240,000. Lifetime Record:
53-9-9-8, $1,100,872. Werk Nick Rating: A +. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Unified, 120, c, 4, Candy Ride (Arg)–Union City, by Dixie
Union. ($325,000 Ylg '14 FTSAUG). O-Centennial Farms; B-Blue
Devil Racing Stable, LLC (KY); T-James A. Jerkens. $80,000.[bullet ad=”lanes-end-foaledraisedsold”]3–Tommy Macho, 117, h, 5, Macho Uno–Starstream, by
Awesome Again. ($25,000 Ylg '13 FTKOCT). O-Paul Pompa, Jr.
& J Stables; B-John Liviakis (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $40,000.[bullet ad=”winstar-train”][bullet ad=”albina-private-purchase”][bullet ad=”warhorseplace-bornraisedsold”]Margins: NK, 1 1/4, 1HF. Odds: 54.00, 0.95, 2.85.
Also Ran: All Star Red, Ocean Knight, Spartiatis, King Kranz, Sassicaia, Awesome Banner. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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