Schettino Happy With Greenpointcrusader's Development
Three months after ending his juvenile season running a troubled seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), Grade 1 winner Greenpointcrusader is set to make his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s $350,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull (G2) at Gulfstream Park.
Trained by Dominick Schettino for St Elias Stable, MeB Racing Stables and Brooklyn Boyz Stables, the dark bay or brown son of 2006 champion 3-year-old Bernardini is the 122-pound highweight for the Holy Bull, his second straight attempt at 1 1/16 miles.
Greenpointcrusader hasn’t raced since the Breeders’ Cup, where he broke from post 10 and was wide throughout before rallying from far back to close within 4 ¼ lengths of undefeated winner and Eclipse Award champion 2-year-old Nyquist.
“He’s training well and doing everything right. He’s fit and he looks good. He grew a lot and matured a lot since the Breeders’ Cup,” Schettino said. “It was a tough race. I’m just drawing a line through it and hopefully he shows us that on Saturday.”
A $575,000 yearling purchase, Greenpointcrusader debuted last July with a neck loss at Saratoga Race Course, coming back to break his maiden by the same margin Sept. 5. In his next start, he started slow and finished fast over a sloppy, sealed track at Belmont Park to win the one-mile Champagne (G1) by 4 ½ lengths.
“He’s always been talented, from the time he came in during his 2-year-old year. He just was a late foal and needed time to mature in behind and put muscle on and things like that. That’s what he’s doing right now,” Schettino said. “He’s developing and I’m happy with him.”
Greenpointcrusader has worked steadily over the main track at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, for his return. He will have a new rider in Hall of Famer John Velazquez, breaking from post 5 in a field of six that includes undefeated multiple graded stakes winner Mohaymen, In Reality Stakes winner Fellowship and promising Conquest Big E.
“I discussed it with the owners and this is what we came up with. It’s a competitive race,” Schettino said. “There’s some nice horses in there. I know it’s a small field, but it’s a talented field of 3-year-olds. It’s going to be a good race.”
Source: Gulfstream Park