Dutrow: Plenty of time to get Boys At Tosconova ready

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Rick Dutrow said that missing Sunday’s Grade 3 Holy Bull with likely favorite Boys At Tosconova was definitely a disappointment, but nothing that has him too concerned.

“I want to run him when he’s on top of his game,” said Dutrow. “He could be, but I don’t think he is at the moment.

“Big Brown had a quarter crack at this point in his 3-year-old season and didn’t start until March. I already know this horse can run on dirt; we weren’t in that position with Big Brown. So I don’t consider this a setback. Maybe if we had run him on Sunday and he wasn’t right, we could have had a setback.”

Boys At Tosconova hasn’t started since finishing second behind champion Uncle Mo in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He had won the Grade 1 Hopeful in his previous start.

Dutrow said Boys At Tosconova jogged over the racetrack on Friday and could return to galloping again as early as Saturday morning.

“He was full of himself today and was a handful to jog, so if he feels the way he did today in the morning he’ll probably gallop,” said Dutrow on Friday.

Dutrow also had no definitive answer as to when and where Boys At Tosconova might make his 3-year-old debut.

“There are plenty of races out there and when he’s ready, I’ll pick out a spot,” he said. “Missing this race means nothing to him but I would have liked to have run him in the Holy Bull. He’s already got the money but I don’t.”

The news wasn’t as upbeat regarding Dutrow’s other top 3-year-old prospect Mountain Town, who is now off the Derby trail. Mountain Town finished second behind Uncle Mo in the Grade 1 Champagne at 2.

“He’s on the shelf for now,” said Dutrow. “He just wasn’t doing that good so we backed off him and sent him out to the farm in Kentucky. He won’t be able to make the Derby.”