Catholic Boy, Diversify leg up for 2019 debuts
ELMONT, N.Y. - Catholic Boy hadn’t been on the turf since he won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby here 10 months ago. On Saturday morning, he got reacquainted with the surface, working five furlongs in 1:02.07 over Belmont’s inner turf course as he prepares for an intended start in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Dixie Stakes at Pimlico.
With Javier Castellano up, Catholic Boy worked in company with the stakes-winning filly Osare. With three sets of orange cones up, keeping workers well off the part of the course used for racing, Catholic Boy went his opening quarter in 25.47 seconds and his last quarter in 23.60 while finishing evenly with Osare.
It was his sixth workout this year. Catholic Boy, who won the Grade 1 Travers on dirt last August at Saratoga, has not raced since finishing 13th in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.
“I just wanted a really nice, methodic, long breeze, and I thought it was executed well,” trainer Jonathan Thomas said. “As always, Javier is a huge component with this horse and he seemed very happy with how he went. He seems to have grown up a lot mentally. He’s very relaxed and just kind of waiting for his cues.”
Thomas noted that he has stopped working Catholic Boy in blinkers, though he did not say if he was going to take them off for Saturday’s race.
Thomas said the Dixie - at 1 1/16 miles on turf - would likely be used as starting point to get Catholic Boy to dirt races like the Grade 2 Suburban (July 6) and Grade 1 Whitney (Aug. 3) later this year.
“We just need a place to get started,” Thomas said. “I thought the turf definitely [propelled] us into some good stuff last year.”
Diversify has first breeze
About an hour before Catholic Boy breezed on turf, Diversify worked three furlongs in 37 seconds on dirt in what was his first breeze of the year and first for Thomas.
Diversify was well in hand as he worked under exercise rider George Givovich outside of the stablemate Blacktop Legend, a 3-year-old maiden. Diversify definitely wanted to do more than his rider allowed.
Diversify, last year’s Suburban and Whitney winner and the New York-bred Horse of the Year, has not run since finishing fifth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup last Sept. 29.
Trained by Rick Violette last year, Diversify was given to Thomas by owner Robert Evans earlier this year. Violette died last October.
“It was way better than I expected,” Thomas said of the breeze. “I’d say he’s a conservative training horse every day; just a smart older horse. I put him in company just to give him something to keep him involved. It didn’t really look like he needed it. I love how he moved, I loved his enthusiasm, and I was shocked how quickly he recovered when I got back to the barn. It really exceeded my expectations for him.”
Diversify arrived in Thomas’s Belmont Park barn in early April. He had spent several weeks at Fair Hill training center in Maryland under the care of Bruce Jackson. In addition to jogging on the track at Fair Hill, Diversify also did some Aquatred therapy, which is basically walking on a treadmill in water.
“The Aquatred is a lot of cardio, low impact,” Thomas said. “It’s a new technology we’re trying to utilize for the right horses. Bruce did a great job because this horse was on point today.”
Thomas hasn’t picked out a race for Diversify. Two spots late in the meet that could make sense are the Saginaw, restricted to New York-breds on June 30, or the State Dinner, an open-company race on July 7. Both stakes are worth $100,000 and run at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Thomas called those races “soft targets.”
“I was feeling a little behind the eight ball this morning before he breezed,” Thomas said. “Now, I feel like if we’re not on target we might be ahead of schedule. I’d love to get him started here before Saratoga.”
Other workers of note this morning including Rushing Fall, the multiple Grade 1 winner who worked a half-mile in 50.72 seconds on the turf in company with Rymska. Rushing Fall is pointing to the Grade 1 Just a Game on Belmont Day, while Rymska is possible for the Grade 1 Gamely at Santa Anita on May 27.
Delta Prince, the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile winner, worked five furlongs in 1:00.61 over the Belmont Park training track. The Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on May 27 is possible for his next start.