Greyvitos (Malibu Moon), winless in two previous career starts, lit up the tote board at odds of 19-1 with a front-running victory in Saturday's GIII Bob Hope S. at Del Mar. It was 1 1/2 lengths back to favored 'TDN Rising Star' Mourinho (Super Saver) in second. Beautiful Shot (Trappe Shot) was a distant third. Greyvitos will line up next in the GI Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity Dec. 9.
“I wasn't surprised to see him on the lead,” winning trainer Adam Kitchingman said. “In his last race, he was climbing with the dirt hitting him so I was okay with him on the lead today. Those were solid fractions and the final time was good. With his pedigree, we figured him for a grass horse and definitely for two turns because he's bred top and bottom for that. And we might run him again on the grass sometime in the future. But he trained so well on the dirt that we wanted to try him on it. I also figured he'd like the seven furlongs.”
Adding blinkers here, Greyvitos was sent to the front from his rail draw by Victor Espinoza and led comfortably through fractions of :22.66 and :45.20. Mourinho, a last-out second as the 1-5 favorite in the Speakeasy S. at Santa Anita Oct. 15, ranged up at the top of the stretch and set his sights on the pacesetter, but just couldn't get by, as Greyvitos kept finding more.
“I knew there was a lot of speed in the race, but if I could get the jump on them then I would just go on,” Espinoza said. “The fractions were pretty quick but when the horse is doing it easy it doesn't matter how fast you go.
Greyvitos, eighth in his debut going a mile over the Santa Anita lawn July 1, entered off a third-place finish behind the reopposing Italiano (Twirling Candy) going 5 1/2 furlongs on dirt in Arcadia Oct. 21.
Pedigree Notes:
Barbara Hunter homebred Snow Top Mountain, a two-time graded winner and runner-up in the 2010 GI Garden City S., brought $950,000 from Audley Farm Equine at the 2013 KEEJAN Sale. The half-sister to millionaire Keertana (Johar) is also represented by a Bodemeister colt of this year. She was bred back to Frosted.
Saturday, Del Mar
BOB HOPE S.-GIII, $100,345, DMR, 11-11, 2yo, 7f, 1:22.20, ft.
1–GREYVITOS, 118, c, 2, by Malibu Moon
1st Dam: Snow Top Mountain (GSW & GISP, $525,303), by Najran
2nd Dam: Motokiks, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: Matoki, by Hail to Reason
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($100,000
Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Triple B Farms (Boghossian); B-Audley Farm
Equine (VA); T-Adam Kitchingman; J-Victor Espinoza. $60,000.
Lifetime Record: 3-1-0-1, $66,345. Werk Nick Rating: C.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”brookdale-audley-farm”]2–Mourinho, 118, c, 2, Super Saver–Sandi's Ready, by More
Than Ready.
'TDN Rising Star'. ($30,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP; $625,000 2yo '17
OBSMAR). O-Phoenix Thoroughbred III; B-WinStar Farm, LLC
(KY); T-Bob Baffert. $20,000.[bullet ad=”nick-de-meric-consigned-by-de-meric-sales”][bullet ad=”selectsales-shell”][bullet ad=”winstar-bred”]3–Beautiful Shot, 120, r, 2, Trappe Shot–Beauty for Ashes, by
City Place. ($105,000 2yo '17 OBSAPR). O-Calumet Farm;
B-Southern Chase Farm, Inc. & Karen & Greg Dodd (FL); T-J.
Keith Desormeaux. $12,000.[bullet ad=”southern-chase-b-t-c”]Margins: 1HF, 7 3/4, 1HF. Odds: 19.90, 1.30, 3.00.
Also Ran: Italiano, Run Away, Here Is Happy. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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