Green Gratto keeps going and going

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Gaston Grant keeps waiting for Green Gratto to show him some signs of fatigue after racing 32 times in the last 25 months. But since he hasn’t seen them yet, Grant will continue racing Green Gratto, who is scheduled to make his 2016 debut in Monday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan Stakes at Aqueduct.

He brings to the Toboggan a two-race winning streak that includes victories over Palace in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight on Thanksgiving and the listed Gravesend the day after Christmas. Green Gratto has earned triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures for his last three starts, including a career-best 107 for his Gravesend win.

“Every day I come in, I expect to see him tailing off,” Grant said Monday. “But he acts like he hasn’t run in a month or two. His conditioning is great; he just wants to keep going.”

Green Gratto hasn’t crossed the finish line worse than fourth in his last 18 starts, although he was disqualified from second-place purse money for a medication positive last March. That string includes a second in the Grade 1 Carter last April and a third in the Grade 3 Tom Fool last March.

Grant’s objective for the winter with Green Gratto is the $250,000 General George Stakes at Laurel on Feb. 15.

In the Toboggan, Green Gratto is expected to meet Dads Caps, the horse he finished 1 1/2 lengths behind in last April’s Carter. Dads Caps has not run since finishing third in the Grade 2 True North last June at Belmont Park.

Others expected for the Toboggan are Alex the Terror, Sir Rockport, Trouble Kid, and either Heaven’s Runway, Stallwalkin’ Dude, or Fabulous Kid from the barn of David Jacobson.