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Off 16-Month Layoff, Grade 1 Winner Green Gratto Entered For $20,000 Tag At Monmouth

Found to be infertile and thus gelded, 10-year-old Green Gratto had been entered for a comeback last fall at Gulfstream when a social media firestorm forced him to be withdrawn from that race. Now, according to the Daily Racing Form, the Grade 1 winner has been entered in a $20,000 claiming race on Sunday at Monmouth Park.

“I know the big uproar it caused the last time he was entered, but I think everyone needs to know that this is best for the horse and he has a forever home here,” co-owner Norman Wilson told drf.com.

Unraced since April of 2018, Green Gratto was under the care of trainer Tamara Levy when his first comeback attempt was spoiled. He returned to Wilson's farm, where Wilson said the gelding became listless and unhappy, before he was sent to trainer Kathleen O'Connell in 2020.

Green Gratto has recorded three workouts at Monmouth since late June, and shows works at Tampa Bay Downs as early as Feb. 8 of this year. The gelding is listed at 8-1 on the morning line for Sunday's six-furlong contest, which is restricted to New Jersey-breds.

Prior to his unsuccessful stallion career, Green Gratto amassed earnings of $1,149,202 with a record of nine wins, nine seconds, and nine thirds from 65 starts. His graded stakes victories include the G1 Carter in 2017, G3 Toboggan in 2017 and G3 Fall Heighweight in 2015.

‘They Just Run For Her’: Apprentice Jockey Ferrin Peterson Celebrates Four-Win Day At Monmouth

The hints were there that something special was going to happen for apprentice Ferrin Peterson, Julie Krone said. Her work ethic, the way horses seem to respond to her, the increased experience she has gained by riding all summer at Monmouth Park – all were tell-tale signs, she said.

So the Hall of Fame rider-turned-jockey-agent was not the least bit surprised when Peterson, whom she represents, won four of the 10 races last Sunday at Monmouth Park, giving her 12 winners from 64 mounts heading into Friday night's six-race twilight card.

“It's the way horses respond to her that you notice right away,” said Krone. “They seem to find another gear for her. They just run for her.”

Peterson, 28, now finds herself in the midst of what looks to be a hotly-contested race for the second spot in the track's rider standings behind runaway leader Paco Lopez (30 wins). She's right there with accomplished veterans Antonio Gallardo (15 wins), Joe Bravo (13) and Jose Ferrer (12). Hector Diaz Jr. is also part of that logjam with 12 wins.

“I'm very pleased with the way things are going,” said Peterson, who is listed to ride in four of the six races on Monmouth Park's Friday card. “It feels like I am starting to pick up momentum. The trainers here have really helped me get started. Pat McBurney let me gallop for him when racing was postponed here for two months because of COVID-19. It feels like it was a long wait to finally get started in July.

“It just has been a really weird start. Not having Julie on the backstretch, where she could have really helped out business get going, was a bit of a setback, too. So I was unsure of how the meet would go. But I'm very happy with the way things have gone since the racing started.”

Peterson, a licensed veterinarian, is a latecomer to riding, turning to the profession full-time a year and half ago. Krone says her intelligence and willingness to learn are two of her biggest strengths.

“We're superstitious at the racetrack so I'm afraid to say too much because you know you will jinx it,” said Krone. “But she has never made the same mistake twice. All I have to do is show her a video or explain a technique and she gets it immediately.

“Her other big strength is that she communicates with the horses. And there is never any hesitation to accept instruction or a correction. She is totally into her development as a jockey.”

Peterson said she is always tugging at Krone to show her more when it comes to technique or the nuances of riding.

“I told Julie as long as there is something I can improve in my riding each week I want to work on it so the trainers can see I am trying to improve and that I have the work ethic – even if I am not winning,” she said. “Last Sunday there were a few things that Julie worked on with me that just really clicked with me.

“People want to see numbers, so riding four winners on a card was significant to me. Getting longshots to run second and third is good but trainers and owners want to see wins.”

The California native and former college pole vaulter has never shied from hard work, at one point juggling college schoolwork and being a track athlete while also trying to make inroads on her goal of being a jockey as he worked toward veterinary school. That work ethic has carried over to her constant presence in the backstretch and working with Krone on dark days.

And finishing second to Lopez, she says, would be a major achievement this early in her career. Lopez is seeking his seventh riding title at Monmouth Park.

“I do definitely think it's possible (to get second),” she said. “We're only halfway through the meet. Now that things seem to be connecting that's definitely my goal – to chase second. And, really, to chase first. Who knows? Anything can happen.”

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Young, Jamaican-Born Trainer Williams Will Saddle His ‘Dream’ In Monmouth Oaks

It would be more than understandable if Matthew J. Williams was feeling a bit anxious as he prepares to send out Dream Marie in Saturday's Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks, the feature race on Monmouth Park's 13-race card.

He's 24, has just two years of experience as a trainer, has never won a stakes race, and boasts the grand total of 64 starters to this point in his career.

And the nine-horse field of 3-year-old fillies for the 96th edition of the Monmouth Oaks features horses from the barns of Todd Pletcher, Steve Asmussen and Arnaud Delacour.

But Williams says he is able to stay calm as he takes aim at what would be the biggest victory of his young career because he keeps reminding himself of one thing.

“It's the horses running, not us,” he said. “That's a good thing.”

With the top six finishers back from the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks on July 4, as well as fourth-place Acorn Stakes finisher Lucrezia, the Oaks field has several accomplished fillies. Dream Marie, off her second-place finish to Project Whiskey in the Delaware Oaks, where she was beaten a half-length, certainly fits.

“She made a really big run in the Delaware Oaks,” said Williams. “I thought she was going to win coming out of the turn but Project Whiskey (trained by Butch Reid) really dug in. But my filly ran a good race.

“We're hoping we can turn the tables on Project Whiskey but Lucrezia is a horse that I have a lot of respect for, too. She finished ahead of us in the (Grade 2) Gulfstream Park Oaks and I saw her win a 2-year-old stakes race at Tampa and she was really impressive that day.”

Williams, who hails from Kingston, Jamaica, currently has five horses he trains, all owned by his family's Miracles International Trading Inc. stable, and has been Gulfstream Park-based since launching his training career.

His transition to training in the United States has been seamless because of his background.

“My grandfather had a stud farm in Jamaica,” Williams said. “He was a champion breeder for 10 years in Jamaica. He had a lot of Jamaican Classic winners and bred a Triple Crown winner in Jamaica. So growing up I was always involved with horses.”

Dream Marie signaled her arrival as a potential stakes winner after winning a $50,000 starter allowance at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 14, Williams said, following that up with a win in a $75,000 optional claimer on Jan. 20. Williams then decided to try her in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream on Feb. 29.

The daughter of Graydar-Lin Marie by Curlin finished third that day.

“It was time to take a shot with her,” Williams said. “I think she ran well. A couple of things could have gone differently in the race but she ran well. Two good fillies beat her.”

When Dream Marie finished second on May 15 in the Hollywood Wildcat at the Monmouth Oaks distance of a mile and a sixteenth, Williams targeted the Delaware Oaks and Monmouth Oaks for his filly.

Purchased for $25,000 at the OBS March sale in 2019, Dream Marie sports a 3-2-1 line from 10 career starts with lifetime earnings of $150,160.

Joe Bravo is staying aboard, too, after having the mount in the Delaware Oaks.

“It feels good to have Joe want to ride her again,” Williams said. “I don't think any rider is as familiar with a racetrack as Joe is with Monmouth Park.”

For Williams, Dream Marie would be appropriately named if she happens to win Saturday.

“Winning my first stakes race, and my first graded stakes, would mean a lot,” Williams said. “It's something I have dreamed about when I was watching U.S. races on TV in Jamaica. It means a lot to me just to see my name among some of the trainers in this race so winning it would really be something special for me.”

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Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 To Feature Races From Saratoga, Monmouth, Woodbine

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 encompassing action from Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, Whitney Day, in addition to Monmouth Park and Woodbine Racetrack.

Live coverage of all the sequence's races will be available with America's Day at the Races on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence are now available for download at https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/cross-country-wagers.

Woodbine will initiate the sequence in Race 9 at 5:26 p.m. Eastern with a 1 1/8-mile maiden allowance tilt for 3-year-olds and up. A full 12-horse field running on the Tapeta track will see a pair of entrants for Hall of Famer Mark Casse, who will saddle Malahini and Awesome Wok N Roll. Trainer Graham Motion will send out Red Storm Risen, while Olliemyboy, who ran second last out on July 11, will run for trainer Sid Attard.

Monmouth Park, located in Oceanport, New Jersey, will host the first stakes of the sequence in the second race with the 96th running of the Grade 3, $200,000 Monmouth Oaks in Race 11 at 5:31 p.m. Nine 3-year-old fillies will compete at 1 1/16 miles on the main track, with Project Whiskey, trained by Robert Reid, Jr., entering off a win in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks on July 4. Lucrezia, conditioned by Arnaud Delacour, ran fourth in the Grade 1 Acorn on Belmont Stakes Day June 20 and previously was the runner-up to Eclipse Award-contender Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park on March 28.

Historic Saratoga will add another chapter to its famed legacy in the third leg with the 93rd running of the 1 1/8-mile Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney in Race 9 at 5:42 p.m. A “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Classic, a field of five millionaire earners will compete, led by 6-5 morning-line favorite Tom's d'Etat for trainer Al Stall, Jr. Code of Honor, who won last year's Runhappy Travers at the Spa, will look for additional glory as a 4-year-old in the meet's primer race for 4-year-olds and up.

Conditioned by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Code of Honor will look to become the first horse since Hall of Famer Easy Goer in 1989 to win the Travers, Jockey Club Gold Up and Whitney in a career. Other contenders include Improbable, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, as well as New York-bred Mr. Buff and By My Standards.

Action will shift back to Woodbine, in Rexdale, Ontario, for the penultimate leg in Race 10 at 5:58 p.m. when a full field of 13 horses 3-years-old and up will contest at 1 3/8 miles on the turf. Coleyville, who won last out in a race taken off the turf, earning an 84 Beyer Speed Figure for trainer Edwin Knight, is coming off a win, while Burning Man, who netted an 87 Beyer for his runner-up effort against optional claimers at 1 1/6 miles on the turf on June 20, returns for trainer Josie Carroll.

Another Grade 1 contest will close out the Cross Country Pick 5 with the $300,000 H. Allen Jerkens presented by Runhappy in Saratoga's Race 10 at 6:18 p.m. Eleven sophomores will contest the seven-furlong main-track sprint that will feature a rematch of the top-four finishers of the Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Claiborne Farm on Belmont Stakes Day last month.

No Parole, the winner of that race, drew post 6 for trainer Tom Amoss as he looks to improve to 5-for-5 all-time in sprints. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen will saddle three in Echo Town and Shoplifted – the 2-3 finishers in the Woody Stephens – as well as Sonneman. Baffert entered Eight Rings, drawing post 2, while Tap It to Win, who ran fifth in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes for Casse, will break from the outside post 11.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, August 1:
Leg 1 – Woodbine, Race 9: (5:26 p.m.)
Leg 2 – Monmouth, Race 11: (5:31 p.m.)
Leg 3 – Saratoga, Race 9: Grade 1 Whitney (5:42 p.m.)
Leg 4 – Woodbine, Race 10: (5:58 p.m.)
Leg 5 – Saratoga, Race 10: Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens (6:18 p.m.)

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