Graceful Kitten and his team have come long way

MIAMI – Trainer Amador Sanchez and jockey Hector Berrios came to the U.S. from their native Chile to try to make a name for themselves in this country. They will have accomplished that in relatively short time if they can pull off the upset with the undefeated Graceful Kitten in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

Graceful Kitten, a 2-year-old son of Kitten’s Joy, is perfect in three starts, all on the grass, and will enter the Juvenile Turf off a pair of stakes wins at Gulfstream Park. He paired up Beyer Speed Figures of 79 for his victories in the Proud Man and the Armed Forces, going 7 ½ furlongs and one mile, respectively. Those Beyers put him right in the mix among the American contenders for the event.

Sanchez came to the U.S. in February and has had a good deal of success in a short period of time, winning with 17 of his first 66 starters in this country. He picked out Graceful Kitten at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s April sale for a modest $8,500.

“I went to the sales in Ocala with a friend and bought a bunch of horses, including Graceful Kitten, who I also own a part of along with my brother,” said Sanchez through his interpreter, none other than Hall of Fame jockey and fellow Chile native Jose Santos.

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Sanchez, who trained Cariblanco to win the Group 1 Chilean St. Leger last December at the Hipodromo Chile, said Graceful Kitten showed little when he first began working him locally on the dirt.

“He never worked well on the main track back when we first got him,” said Sanchez. “But he has improved so much, even his dirt works are strong now.”

Sanchez said he plans to work Graceful Kitten twice on the main track at Gulfstream before vanning him to Lexington, Ky., and then flying him to Santa Anita on Oct. 26. The first of those breezes is scheduled on Wednesday with Berrios aboard.

“This is like a dream come true for me and my family, since my brother also owns a part of this horse,” said Sanchez. “When I came over to this country to train, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d have a horse to go to the Breeders’ Cup. Especially the first year here.”

Berrios first came to the U.S. in 2011 and went back home two years later before returning again during the summer of 2018. His riding engagements are being handled locally by former Gulfstream Park stall superintendent turned jock’s agent Cliff Hopmans.

“I won pretty much everything there was to win in Chile,” said Berrios, who also speaks little English, with Santos as his interpreter. “I was riding champion five times at home and won four Chilean Derbies, so I decided I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could make it in the U.S. Having an opportunity to ride in the Breeders’ Cup is incredibly exciting and will motivate me to accomplish even more over here in the future.”

◗ Timmy M. benefitted from a rail-skimming ride from jockey Paco Lopez to win an allowance race on Thursday. Timmy M., who paid $5 to win, is trained by Joe Orseno for owner Patricia Generazio. He was one of two winners on the card for Lopez, who also captured the second race aboard the odds-on Catnip Kitten.