Canadian Thoroughbred’s early Queen’s Plate favourite GRETZKY THE GREAT posted a career best Beyer Speed Figure of 83 with his gutsy third-place finish in the John Battaglia Stakes on Tapeta at Turfway Park Friday night, Feb. 26. The Nyquist colt, trained by Mark Casse, was making his 3-year-old debut and was under pressure throughout the 1 1/16 mile race as he set the pace but was pushed along.
Gretzky the Great continued to battle along the rail in the stretch run when things got a bit tight as eventual winner Hush of a Storm drifted in but the colt stayed on to miss by 1 3/4 lengths. It was the first 2-turn race on the main track for the Anderson Farms Ontario-bred colt who won the Grade 1 Summer Stakes on grass at Woodbine last fall.