Boston Strong debuts in turf sprint Friday

It is well documented that the connections of Wood Memorial winner Wicked Strong named their horse in honor of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing of 2013. Initially, they put in for the name Boston Strong, which became the rallying cry of Bostonians in the aftermath of the bombings. But that name was taken.

On Friday, Boston Strong makes his career debut in a six-furlong turf race that goes as the finale on Belmont Park’s nine-race card.

Boston Strong, a New York-bred son of Pioneerof the Nile, was purchased by Sovereign Stable for $145,000 at the Keeneland April sale of 2-year-olds in training. Sovereign Stable is a New Hampshire-based partnership whose principals, Matt Gatsas and his sister Amanda Casey, have ties to Boston, having both attended college in that city. Gatsas lives in Manchester, N.H., 45 minutes from Boston.

Gatsas said he remembers seeing the Boston Red Sox hanging a jersey that read “Boston Strong” in the dugout before one of their games after the bombings, and the next morning, he called The Jockey Club to reserve that name. Gatsas said that Sovereign has already donated $1,000 to the One Fund, which supports victims of the bombings, and added that 5 percent of the horse’s earnings beyond $1,000 will go to the One Fund.

Though he has trained exclusively on dirt, Boston Strong will debut on turf. He is out of the three-time turf-winning mare Truly Enchanting and is a half-brother to the Grade 3 turf winner Infinite Magic.

“We’re just looking to get him started here,” trainer John Terranova said. “He’s bred for the turf. We haven’t had him on it, but he’s trained real solid on the dirt, so I’m hoping we’ll see even a lot better on the turf.”

Terranova described Boston Strong as a big, heavy colt who needed additional time to recover from some minor issues he had as a 2-year-old. Terranova said he also believes Boston Strong might want longer than the six furlongs he’ll get to run Friday.

“I think he’ll want more ground, but he certainly has shown enough quality to think that he’ll be competitive here in his debut,” Terranova said. “I think we got enough into him now. The race will tell us a lot more for sure.”