Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
GULFSTREAM Catholic Boy getting break until February
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Catholic Boy may be temporarily out of sight, but he’s obviously not out of mind after the versatile two-time Grade 1 winner was named last Saturday as one of three finalists for an Eclipse Award in the 3-year-old division for 2018.
Catholic Boy, who won both the Belmont Derby on turf and the Travers on dirt at 3, was given some well-deserved time off at Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, Fla., following his 13th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
“The turf race on Pegasus Day was very alluring, but it wouldn’t have allowed us to give him a good break like we really wanted,” trainer Jonathan Thomas said. “He’ll be off until Feb. 1 before going back into training. We had him checked out at Ocala Equine 45 days ago and he checked out perfectly all around. I was amazed at how well this horse was physically and how he handled his 3-year-old campaign.”
Thomas has no firm plan in mind for Catholic Boy this coming season.
“In a perfect world, I guess everybody would be on board if we could take down both the Manhattan and Whitney,” said Thomas, who trains Catholic Boy for Robert LaPenta and the Madaket Stables. “From a timing perspective, targeting the Manhattan on Belmont weekend might make sense with a nice confidence-builder on turf somewhere before that. But that could all change once he goes back into training.”
Thomas said he was touched when he learned Catholic Boy had been selected as a finalist for an Eclipse Award, but quickly noted he had no chance of beating Justify for the honor.
“It’s just cool to see him mentioned for the award and gratifying to get a horse recognized as a standout in the category,” Thomas said. “It’s a big achievement for our entire team and I’m very proud of it.”
Thomas has two in feature
Thomas figures to be in the thick of Wednesday’s $52,000 optional claiming feature at Gulfstream Park when he sends out Dominance and Escapade, two of the leading candidates in the five-furlong turf dash.
Both had modest two-race win streaks snapped in their previous start, with Dominance finishing fifth in the Lightning City Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and Escapade taking second, beaten a neck, under allowance conditions at Gulfstream Park West in his 2018 finale.
“They are both nice fillies who just kind of naturally gravitated towards being sprinters and now turf sprinters,” Thomas said. “I was really proud of Dominance’s performance last time in a pretty salty race, but it made sense to back her up into an allowance spot off the effort. Escapade has been rock solid since we’ve had her and is coming into this race in good shape.”
The Thomas fillies are likely to face their sternest competition from the Wesley Ward-trained Fairlyland, idle since narrowly missing under similar conditions going 6 1/2 furlongs at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 6.
Romans notches 2,000th win
Dale Romans celebrated a milestone Saturday when Caroline Lois gave him the 2,000th victory of his training career. But Romans hopes that will just be the tip of the iceberg for him during the Gulfstream Park Championship meeting.
The Romans stable appears loaded and primed for another big winter with such promising 3-year-olds stabled locally as Admire, Blue Steel, and Come On Gerry, along with a number of already established older stars including Mr Freeze, Hollywood Star, and Coach Rocks. Most of them breezed here Sunday and Monday.
Romans said he is eyeing the Grade 2 Holy Bull on Feb. 2 with Come On Gerry and possibly Blue Steel. Come On Gerry was an impressive allowance winner in his local and twoturn debut here last month, while Blue Steel will look to bounce back from a 13th-place finish in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs in his juvenile finale.
“Blue Steel is really doing well,” Romans said after watching the son of Will Take Charge work an easy half-mile from the three-eighths pole in 50.74 late Monday morning. “And I think Come On Gerry can be a very legitimate Holy Bull horse, too.”
Admire may be training as well as any of the large contingent of Romans horses stabled at Gulfstream Park, as has Mr Freeze. Admire, who won his two-turn debut on Nov. 24 at Churchill Downs, breezed a sharp five-eighths in 1:01.60 with jockey Robby Albarado aboard Sunday.
“He’s a great big horse who just seemed to take a while before getting his stuff together,” Romans said of Admire. “I think I’m going to take him to the Fair Grounds and run him in the Risen Star next.”
Romans said he’s been frustrated trying to get an allowance race to go locally for Mr Freeze, romping winner of the West Virginia Derby last year at 3 but idle since a dull performance in the Pennsylvania Derby more than three months ago. Mr Freeze also had Albarado up going five furlongs in 1:01.84 in easy fashion on Sunday.
Romans was genuinely touched after getting his 2,000th win Saturday.
“I can’t imagine ever having a better feeling than I did when I won my first race with a $3,500 maiden claimer at Turfway,” said Romans. “But this is really a credit to all the people I’ve been surrounded with. I’ve really been blessed. You can’t do it without the help and the owners I’ve had.”
Romans, 52, won his first race in 1987.