Green Gratto, center of social-media storm, entered at Monmouth

Green Gratto, the 10-year-old Grade 1 winner whose comeback late last year was scuttled by social-media critics, has been entered in an optional-claiming race at Monmouth Park in New Jersey on Sunday.

Green Gratto, now a gelding, has not raced since April 2018, but he has had eight workouts for new trainer Kathleen O’Connell since being moved in February to her barn at Tampa Bay in Florida. He has had three workouts at Monmouth Park since late June, including his latest Aug. 2. He is entered for a $20,000 tag in the Sunday Monmouth race for New Jersey-bred horses.

“I know the big uproar it caused the last time he was entered, but I think everyone needs to know that this is best for the horse and he has a forever home here,” said Norman Wilson, co-owner of Green Gratto with his wife, Liz.

Green Gratto was last entered in a race at Gulfstream Park, when trained by Tamara Levy, in November of last year, but an outcry on social media led Gulfstream and his owners to agree to withdraw the horse. After the withdrawal, he was returned to the Wilsons farm in Ocala, Fla., but then shipped to Tampa Bay to begin training again.

Green Gratto, who won the Carter Handicap in 2017 but then went winless in his next 12 starts, was retired in 2018 to stud duty, but he proved infertile. The Wilsons said that the horse was listless and unhappy on the farm, so they decided to return him to the racetrack, where he seemed to thrive.

Norman Wilson said that the withdrawal from the race at Gulfstream was a “setback,” but he said that Green Gratto is healthy, sound, and back to being race-ready.

“He’s been steadily training for almost a year now,” Norman Wilson said. “We’re letting him call all the shots, and he’s been telling us he’s ready to go.”