Dan Gatto, part owner of Vasilika, dies at 63

ARCADIA, Calif. – Dan Gatto, a retired San Diego accountant who had success in California racing in recent years with such stakes winners as Thegirlinthatsong, Point Piper, and Vasilika, died on Saturday of a heart attack, according to his son, Nick Gatto.

Dan Gatto was attending the PGA Desert Classic golf tournament in La Quinta, Calif., when he was stricken, his son said. Dan Gatto was 63.

The family’s Gatto Racing is part of the ownership group of Vasilika, a multiple stakes winner who was scheduled to run in Monday’s Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita.

A native of Stockton who attended the University of San Diego, Gatto bought a portion of a claimer earlier in this century, his first involvement in ownership.

“He got a win and he fell in love with the game,” Nick Gatto said Monday.

The interest grew to include better horses, often owned in partnerships formed by trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. Parranda won the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes at Santa Anita in 2014, a year before Thegirlinthatsong won the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita.

More recently, Point Piper won the Grade 3 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs for Gatto and partners in 2016. In the last year, Vasilika was the stable’s star. Claimed for $40,000 last February, Vasilika won eight consecutive races from early April to early November, including three consecutive stakes. Vasilika gave Gatto his first Grade 1 win in the Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita last November.

Gatto also had runners with trainers Michael McCarthy and Peter Eurton.

Giant Expectations, trained by Eurton, finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3 for Gatto and partners. Giant Expectations won two stakes in 2017 – the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar and the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita - and is a candidate for the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 2.

Nick Gatto said plans for a memorial service were being discussed.