Gretzky the Great battled both Artie’s Storm and County Final the entire length of Woodbine’s long homestretch but still came out on top to take the Listed Greenwood Stakes by a determined head August 14.
The three-year-old colt, who captured the G1 Summer Stakes last year at age two, became the second Stakes winner of the week for his sire, Nyquist, joining the filly Princess Theorem, who took the Listed Van Clief Stakes at Colonial Downs earlier in the week.
Reunited with jockey K. Kimura, Gretzky the Great broke alertly and was forwardly placed as he dueled with Red River Rebel for the early lead. Gretzky the Great put away that rival at the top of the stretch but was quickly joined by Artie’s Storm and County Final, and those three slugged it out the length of the stretch with ‘Gretzky’ prevailing by a head at the wire.
Bred by Anderson Farms in Ontario, Gretzky the Great is out of the Stakes-placed Bernardini mare Pearl Turn, and hails from the female family of Graded Stakes winners Saint Anddan (G2 Churchill Downs Stakes) and Luftikus (G3 Lone Star Park Handicap).
The leading first crop sire of 2020, Nyquist's other Stakes winners include 2020 Eclipse Champion two-year-old filly Vequist, winner of the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, as well as Princess Theorem. Nyquist's four first-crop juvenile G1 horses last year has only been matched by Bernardini, Congrats, and Capote.
