Seven 3-year-olds, including 2020 Champion 2-year-old GRETZKY THE GREAT, will take to the E.P. Taylor Turf Course in the $125,000 Greenwood Stakes Presented by Stella Artois, Saturday, August 14 at Woodbine.
Bred by Anderson Farms Ontario and owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber, Gretzky the Great will look to get back into the winner’s circle in what will be his eighth lifetime start.
Trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Mark Casse, the son of Nyquist arrives at the Greenwood off a fifth-place effort in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 27 at Turfway Park.
Prior to that effort, the bay was third in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes, also at Turfway, on February 26, in his 2021 debut.
But it has been a frustrating time for Casse trying to get the colt back to the races while battling a nagging quarter crack. Once on the Queen’s Plate trail, Gretzky the Great had to miss the Queenston Stakes, won by Tio Magico and thus, the Plate.
Gretzky the Great made his career bow last July at Woodbine, finishing second in a maiden special weight event. He then rhymed off a natural hat trick, including back-to-back stakes wins in the Soaring Free and Grade 1 Summer. The colt ended his 2-year-old campaign with a sixth-place performance in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Juvenile Turf.
“He’s a beautiful-moving horse…and he’s an extremely smart horse,” Casse told Woodbine last November.
On Saturday, he will take on six rivals, including Red River Rebel, last year’s Frost King Stakes winner, who heads into the Greenwood off a third in the Queenston Stakes. Trained by Kevin Attard, the son of Reload is 1-0-2 from four lifetime starts and this will be his grass debut.
Trainer Santino Di Paola sends out Bode’s Tipsy, a son of Bodemeister, who sports a record of 1-2-1 from six races and Artie’s Storm, owned and trained by Paul Buttigieg, seeks his first stakes victory after finishing second to Queen’s Plate contender Tio Magico in the Queenston Stakes on July 11.
Graded stakes placed County Final, a supplement trained by Steve Asmussen, Oh Say, conditioned by Conor Murphy, and Dyn O Mite, a son of Goldencents, round out the field.
The Greenwood is Race 8 on Saturday’s 10-race card. First post time is 1:10 p.m. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com.
FIELD FOR THE $125,000 GREENWOOD STAKES
POST – HORSE – JOCKEY – TRAINER
1 – Red River Rebel – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard
2 – Gretzky the Great – Kazushi Kimura – Mark Casse
3 – Bode’s Tipsy – Keveh Nicholls – Santino Di Paola
4 – Artie’s Storm – David Moran – Paul Buttigieg
5 – Count Final (S) – Luis Contreras – Steve Asmussen
6 – Oh Say (IRE) – Justin Stein – Conor Murphy
7 – Dyn O Mite – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Catherine Day Phillips
~ with files from Woodbine Communications
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