ARCADIA, Calif.—A winner of three consecutive sprints, two of them stakes, out of Santa Anita’s turf chute last year, the Phil D’Amato-trained Gregorian Chant (GB) proved equally adept down the track’s hillside turf course as he rallied for an impressive 1 ¼ length win in Friday’s $73,000 allowance feature, getting about 6 ½ furlongs in 1:11.58 while providing Juan Hernandez with a riding triple.
Idle since running a close fourth down the hill in the Grade III Eddie D Stakes Oct. 1, Gregorian Chant, long-thought to be a two-turn sort, settled into a comfortable fourth place position, about three lengths off dueling leaders Bran and Overdue past the half mile marker, swung about six-wide at the dirt crossing and overhauled a determined Bran under a hand ride late in a big effort.
“I didn’t know how cranked I had him, but it looked like Juan had him travelling comfortably,” said D’Amato. “It looked like he had those horses measured through the stretch, it was nice to see. It was a nice comeback performance for him. We’ll stay around one turn with him, whatever they have.”
A winner of both the restricted Clockers’ Corner Stakes and the Grade III San Simeon Stakes on Jan. 24 and March 13 of last year, Gregorian Chant was off 3-5 in a field of five older horses and paid $3.40, $2.20 and $2.10.
Owned by Old Bones Racing Stable, LLC, Slam Dunk Racing and Michael Nentwig, Gregorian Chant, a 6-year-old English-bred gelding, picked up $43,800 for the win, increasing his earnings to $337,480 while improving his overall mark to 19-7-0-3.
French-bred Bran, head and head early with Overdue, ran a huge race in defeat, besting longshot Nero by 1 ¼ lengths. The second choice at 5-2 with John Velazquez, Bran paid $2.80 and $2.40.
Nero, who added blinkers in his second start off a $40,000 claim for Neil Drysdale, was a measured third, about a half-length off the lead at the top of the lane and ran a big race while lugging in some late. Off at 23-1 with Ryan Curatolo, he paid $3.80 to show while finishing 3 ¼ lengths in front of Commander.
Fractions on the race were 21.81, 43.27 and 1:05.77.
Santa Anita Press Release
Photo: Gregorian Chant by Benoit Photos.
