Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Turf rivals going separate ways
ELMONT, N.Y. – It may be a while before we get Round 3 in the budding rivalry between Catholic Boy and Analyze It.
Catholic Boy and Analyze It, the 1-2 finishers from Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.2 million Belmont Derby, both emerged from their performances in good order but appear to be targeting different summer objectives.
Catholic Boy, who returned to Saratoga on Sunday morning, will likely skip the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park on Aug. 11 to target a race at Saratoga. He will be considered for either the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers, a 1 1/4-mile race on dirt Aug. 25, or the Grade 3, $300,000 Saranac at 1 1/8 miles on turf Sept. 1, trainer Jonathan Thomas said Sunday.
“The Secretariat is a very lucrative and important race,” Thomas said. “Myself, I like the timing of the Travers or even the Saranac better for this particular horse.”
Thomas noted that Catholic Boy had two tough races in a five-week period, beating Analyze It by a neck in the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge and then coming back to beat Analyze It by a head in the Belmont Derby. In both races, Analyze It got in front of Catholic Boy in mid- to deep stretch before Catholic Boy came back on.
Catholic Boy, a son of More Than Ready, is already a stakes winner on turf at Saratoga, having won last year’s With Anticipation. He is a Grade 2 winner on dirt, having won the Remsen at Aqueduct last fall.
In regard to a possible start in the Travers, Thomas said he would evaluate how that race is shaping up – will Triple Crown winner Justify be running in it? – before he and his ownership group decide whether to run.
Meanwhile, trainer Chad Brown said Analyze It would make his next start in the Secretariat. Brown felt the horse proved the 1 1/4 miles of the Secretariat is within his scope with his performance at that distance Saturday.
Brown said he may experiment with blinkers to see if it helps Analyze It finish off his races better.
“We’ll observe the horse training,” Brown said. “I’ll try to figure out maybe a change of equipment or is there anything else I can do to correct his issue of wanting to idle when he makes the lead.”
Both Catholic Boy and Analyze It were assigned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure for the Belmont Derby.
Brown said that Significant Form, who finished fourth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, would be cut back in distance from that 1 1/4-mile race and be pointed to the Grade 2, $300,000 Lake Placid Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on Aug. 18 at Saratoga.
O’Brien quartet ships home
Shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, the four horses trainer Aidan O’Brien shipped here for Saturday’s races left Belmont Park for their return trip to Ireland.
O’Brien won the Belmont Oaks with Athena and ran third in the Belmont Derby with Hunting Horn. Mendelssohn and Seahenge finished third and fifth in the Grade 3 Dwyer.
The major turf races Aug. 11 at Arlington Park will likely include something from O’Brien. On Sunday, assistant trainer T.J. Comerford didn’t rule out the Grade 1 Beverly D. for Athena that day, though it would mean the 3-year-old daughter of Camelot would be taking on older fillies and mares.
“I think that she could take on older fillies over here,” Comerford said. “It’s probably harder to do, but it can be done.”
Athena has run three times since June 21, so O’Brien could elect to give Athena a little more time before her next start.
Athena earned a 97 Beyer for the Oaks victory.
Comerford felt that Hunting Horn was compromised by the slow early pace in the Belmont Derby. He was beaten by two lengths.
“I think if they went the pace they had gone in Athena’s race, it would have suited him a lot better,” Comerford said.
Comerford said he was pleased enough with Mendelssohn’s third in the Dwyer, his first start since finishing last in the Kentucky Derby. Comerford did not know if O’Brien would ship Mendelssohn back to the United States for the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 22 at Parx Racings, as had been previously mentioned, or aim for a race back in Europe.
“Ryan [Moore] and Aidan will have a chat and see what they come up with,” Comerford said. “There’s mile races on the turf at home as well. You might consider them. I’m not sure.”