[3] Assistant trainer Félix Banda also considered Grozny his best horse, and stated that he was fast and agile and always gave his all in a race.
[4] During his triple crown run, Grozny was owned by stud Temsa, trained by Fernando Chang, and ridden by David Cora.
[4] Grozny was purchased by stud Temsa in a package deal with a horse named Noah, then considered the more promising prospect.
[4][8] Throughout his racing career, Grozny suffered from soundness issues and chronic leg pain, which made him a difficult horse to train and greatly limited the number of starts he was able to make.
The joint entry of Grozny and Palestino was heavily favored in the race, with the filly Madame Equis being considered the greatest challenge.
Madame Equis was considered the definitive champion filly of her generation, and came into the Derby Nacional after winning the Polla de Potrancas and running an atypically poor race in the Gran Premio Enrique Ayulo Pardo, the first two races of the Peruvian Fillies Triple Crown.
[8] In the race itself, Grozny handled the turf surface well, but started off much faster and closer to the front than he normally did, running very fast early fractions.
[3] Two months later, Grozny returned to graded stakes company and won the G2 Clásico Ernesto Ayulo Pardo.