Slam Dunk Racing and Old Bones Racing Stable's Gregorian Chant, ending an 11-week layoff, carries 5-2 morning line favoritism against seven rivals in Sunday's $100,000 Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.
The Green Flash, a five-furlong sprint over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course, is the last of seven graded stakes presented during the three-day Pacific Classic weekend with combined purses totaling $1.95 million.
Gregorian Chant, a 5-year-old English-bred gelding, took a three-race winning streak at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., to Belmont Park in Elmont, New York for the Grade 1 Jaipur on June 5 and, after being forwardly-placed early in the six-furlong turf sprint, tired and finished seventh of nine.
“I don't think it was as much the (listed 'good') turf as the tactics,” trainer Phil D'Amato said. “He likes to come from off the pace and we wound up dueling with the co-favorite on the lead.”
Brought back to the West Coast and given a break, Gregorian Chant has had five turf works here since the July 16 start of the meeting.
“We freshened him up with this race in mind,” D'Amato said. “We'll see if the distance is good for him for the Breeders' Cup.”
The $1 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint will be run over the same course on Saturday, November 6.
The field for the Green Flash from the rail out with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: Kneedeepinsnow (Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1); Texas Wedge (Umberto Rispoli, 6-1); Lieutenant Dan (Giovanni Franco, 7-2); Collusion Illusion (Flavien Prat, 7-2); Chasin Munny (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 10-1); Little Juanito (Ricky Gonzalez, 6-1); Give Me the Lute (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1), and Gregorian Chant (Juan Hernandez).
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