2018 Eclipse Awards: Catholic Boy

It is unusual in this age of specialization to find a 3-year-old as effective in top-class company on dirt as on turf, but Catholic Boy proved himself that rare commodity, winning Grade 1 races on both those surfaces during a 2018 campaign in which he fashioned a terrific second act after failing to make the spring classics.

That might have been a blessing. Catholic Boy was taken off the Kentucky Derby trail after bleeding when finishing fourth in the Florida Derby, and when he came back in the late spring and early summer he returned to the turf, the surface over which he initially excelled at 2 prior to moving onto the Derby trail when he won the 2017 Remsen.

It was understandable that in the early part of his 3-year-old year he was given a shot at the classics. But after the Florida Derby, his connections regrouped rather than press on and were rewarded with three straight wins, all in graded stakes, twice in Grade 1 company, all with Javier Castellano aboard.

Catholic Boy, trained by Jonathan Thomas, returned to action June 2 in the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge and re-rallied after getting passed in deep stretch to defeat Analyze It. The exact same scenario played out five weeks later in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, with Catholic Boy again fighting back to beat Analyze It, a colt who would go on to finish third against older horses later in the year in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Catholic Boy then moved back to the dirt for the Travers, and he turned in his finest effort yet. Benefitting from an outside post in the field of 10, from which he had an unencumbered trip, he crushed the best 3-year-old dirt horses still in training with a dominating, four-length victory.

But the pendulum swung for his final start of the year, in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He drew post 3 in the field of 14, and when he didn’t get away cleanly, he was in for a rough go. He had a trip that was the opposite of what he had in the Travers, finished 13th, and exited the race with a gash on his left front ankle.

Catholic Boy, a ridgling, is by More Than Ready out of the Bernardini mare Song of Bernadette. He was bred by Fred W. Hertrich III and John D. Fielding and is owned by a partnership that includes Robert LaPenta, Madaket Stables, Twin Creeks Racing, and Sienna Farm. He was a $170,000 buyback at the Keeneland January sale in 2016.

He has remained in training as a 4-year-old and will resume his career following some R & R at Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, Fla.

“I think he has a great chance of being a very, very good horse next year,” Thomas told Daily Racing Form’s David Grening after the Breeders’ Cup.