Travers winner Catholic Boy back to work for BC Classic
ELMONT, N.Y. >> Multiple Grade 1 and Travers Stakes winner Catholic Boy got back to his serious Breeders’ Cup Classic preparations on Sunday morning at Belmont Park with a fivefurlong breeze in company in his first appearance on the worktab since September 30.
Catholic Boy, a 3-year-old colt by More Than Ready, worked outside his stablemate, graded stakes winner March, with Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano aboard, edging his workmate late to complete the move in 1:01.26. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13 3/5 seconds, according to NYRA clockers.
“I thought the work was executed perfectly,” said Jonathan Thomas, who trains Catholic Boy for Robert LaPenta, Madaket Stables, Siena Farm, and Twin Creeks Racing Stables. “We wanted a nice, long, rhythmic breeze, and I thought Javier did a great job getting him to relax early. The work started out in 12 and four [fifths of a second], 13 [seconds], and got faster from there and ultimately, it ended in a really nice gallop out.”
Winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Derby on turf prior to taking the Grade 1 Travers on August 25 at Saratoga Race Course, Catholic Boy missed a total of three days under tack last week due to a slight fever, according to Thomas, including a scheduled work last weekend. However, based on the strength of Sunday’s breeze, Thomas said he remains undeterred by what he considers a minor setback as his team contin- ues to ready the versatile sophomore for the $6 million Classic on November 3 at Churchill Downs.
“He had a small temp, what basically turned out to be a two- day virus that he got over, but it cost us a breeze last weekend,” Thomas said. “When you prep for the Breeders’ Cup, you really don’t want any hiccups, but in the grand scheme of things, he recovered very quickly. He’s such a fit horse and I find it hard to believe that one [missed] breeze would dismantle what we’re trying to do here. And the fact that he breezed as well as he did this morning lets me know that maybe missing the work last week was a blessing, I don’t know. He did everything the right way.
“With the weather that we had, there’s a chance we might’ve pumped the breaks and had a couple easy days anyway, but with what I saw this morning, I don’t think it’s really derailed us much if at all,” he added.
Catholic Boy is slated to van to Churchill on Tuesday and have two works over the local surface before the Breeders’ Cup. It will be the first start at Churchill for the bay colt, whose nine career starts have come at six different tracks.
“I’d love to let him breeze over the racetrack there twice, just get a feel for it and get adjusted to his surroundings. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of plane activity from New York to Kentucky. So, we’re going to van down, which is fine, but I prefer to do that two weeks out or two and a half weeks out as opposed to one.
“Historically, he’s a horse that’s translated his form basically all over the country since he was two,” he continued. “He’s intelligent and I think it takes him a couple days to kind of soak everything in and relax. Everyone has their different methods, but this method seems to be one that’s worked for us, so I’d like to stick with it.”
Follow Stan Hudy on Twitter @StanHudy