Given little chance by Churchill Downs bettors against the favored Wood Memorial Stakes winner Air Forbes Won, Gato Del Sol was sent off at odds of 21-1, the third longest in the race. He trailed the nineteen-horse field in the 1 1/4 mile race almost from the start, but under jockey Eddie Delahoussaye began making a move after half a mile and by the mile pole had moved up to fifth place. He continued to gain ground as the field moved down the homestretch, with six horses spread across the track racing head-to-head. By the final furlong marker, Gato Del Sol had moved to the lead by a half-length and then pulled away to win by a total of 2 1/2 lengths. He paid $44.40 to win, the 10th-highest payoff in Derby history.

Immediately following his Derby win, Gato Del Sol's handlers decided to bypass the Preakness Stakes with its shorter distance and tighter turns. Instead, they rested their horse for the 1½ mile Belmont Stakes. Their decision marked the first time in twenty-three years that the Kentucky Derby winner chose not to try for the Triple Crown. However, Gato Del Sol finished second in the Belmont Stakes, fourteen lengths back of Henryk de Kwiatkowski's colt, Conquistador Cielo.

After his Belmont race, Gato Del Sol remained racing on the New York circuit for the remainder of the 1982 season. He was a disappointing eighth in the Suburban Handicap then won an Allowance race before his run in the prestigious Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. The race that year had as its entrants each of the winners of the three American Classics. In addition to Derby winner Gato Del Sol, the competition included the Preakness Stakes victor Aloma's Ruler, and the Belmont Stakes winner Conquistador Cielo. However, fans watching the Travers Stakes witnessed a brilliant stretch run by the Canadian outsider Runaway Groom to win the race and become the only horse in American racing history to defeat the winner of the three classics in the same race. Gato Del Sol, who finished fifth, came out of the race with an ankle injury that ended his 1982 season.

Gato Del Sol returned to race on the West Coast in mid May 1983. He won two of nine starts including the Cabrillo Handicap at Del Mar Racetrack then in 1984 would be switched to running on turf. Nonethess, he went winless, notably finishing eighth in the 1984 Breeders' Cup Turf. In his fifth year of racing, Gato Del Sol started twice, finishing second in the Shoemaker Breeders' Cup Mile Stakes and winning the 1985 Caballero Handicap at Hollywood Park Racetrack.

Retired to stud duty at Stone Farm, Gato Del Sol had little success as a sire. He was eventually sold and in 1993 ended up at a breeding operation in Germany where he continued to under perform. In 2000, his original co-owner, Arthur Hancock III and his wife Staci, arranged to buy Gato Del Sol back in order to eliminate any possibility that he be subjected to the same fate as another American champion, Exceller, who met an ignominious death in a Swedish slaughterhouse.

Pensioned, Gato Del Sol spent the remainder of his days on the farm where he was foaled and, on August 7, 2007, he had to be euthanized because of health complications at the age of 28.^[1]