From Maiden to Respected Stayer: The Gladiator’s Hat Keeps Moving Forward
- Turf Diario
- 12 jun
- 2 Min. de lectura
The Gladiator’s Hat, a trainee of Carlos Etchechoury, displayed both courage and class over 2400 meters in the Handicap Jorge H. Iglesias, earning a spot among the top stayers
Steadily climbing the ranks and establishing himself among the country’s better stayers, The Gladiator’s Hat keeps proving that patience and proper placement pay dividends. Once a maiden who needed eight starts and sixteen months to break through, the son of Hat Ninja has since flipped the script—turning defeats into victories.
Stretching out to 2400 meters for the first time, the 4-year-old showed that the added distance suits him perfectly, powering home to take Wednesday’s feature at San Isidro, the Handicap Jorge H. Iglesias, contested over a normal dirt track and honoring the memory of the track’s historic former general manager.
Runner-up to Operístico (by Daddy Long Legs) last out over 1800 meters in the Handicap Full Sail, The Gladiator’s Hat carried 55.5 kilos this time and showed both grit and class. He was in the fray right from the break, assuming command early and never relinquishing it.
With instructions to go to the lead, Eduardo Ortega Pavón did just that. Even when Touch the Stars (Fortify), the 59.5-kilo highweight, tried to apply pressure down the backstretch, the Haras El Angel de Venecia homebred stood his ground. And in the stretch, when the filly Flavie (Seahenge) came calling with a bold outside bid, he simply found more.
From the 200-meter mark home, The Gladiator’s Hat kicked into a third gear, pulling away again to win by 2 1/2 lengths in 2:30.39. Flavie, game in defeat, held second by the same margin over Touch the Stars, with Gadzooks (Galán de Cine) fourth and a lackluster El Pulque (Heliostatic) trailing the field.
Out of Plaska (Easing Along), and from the deep maternal family of the great Bound (Nijinsky), The Gladiator’s Hatnow boasts 4 career wins. Slowly but surely, he’s becoming a name to respect at the marathon distances—just as Carlos D. Etchechoury, a master of long-distance conditioning, had envisioned.
