Catholic Boy sizzles in work for Suburban

ELMONT, N.Y. – Of the close to 400 horses to put in timed workouts over three tracks at Belmont Park on Sunday, few, if any, were more impressive than dual Grade 1 winner Catholic Boy, who blazed five furlongs in 58.82 seconds over the main track.

Prepping for the Grade 2 Suburban on July 6, Catholic Boy had his sternest work of the year under Javier Castellano. He began his move in company with the unraced maiden Tetsu but ran away from that one in the stretch to complete the move six lengths in front at the wire. He completed his final quarter in 24.07 seconds with no urging from Castellano and then galloped out six furlongs in 1:11.08 and seven furlongs in 1:23.40. The five-furlong time was the fastest of 26 at the distance.

“I don’t know what to make of the time because I’ve never had had a horse breeze that fast before,” trainer Jonathan Thomas said. “Visually, I was happy with the way he was moving, his high cruising speed, his energy level and how he galloped out. It was by design to have a stout work; we were looking for something a little quicker than normal.”

Catholic Boy will be returning to dirt in the Suburban following a half-length victory in the Grade 2 Dixie Stakes on turf at Pimlico on May 18, his first start of the year. Catholic Boy is a multiple graded stakes winner on both turf and dirt, with main-track wins in the Grade 1 Travers last summer at Saratoga and the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct in 2017.

“It’s nice to know he likes the track,” Thomas said. “Hopefully, we’ll have the same kind of track on Suburban Day like we had today.”

Another horse working for the Suburban on Sunday was Marconi, the Brooklyn winner, who worked four furlongs in 48.14 seconds in company with Prince Lucky over the training track. Marconi galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.07 and three-quarters in 1:13.57.