Kid Cruz returns to training with half-mile breeze

Kid Cruz, one of the graded stakes-winning 3-year-olds who trained in New York last winter, returned to the work tab Saturday, breezing an easy half-mile in 52.20 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.

It was his first work since he had a bone chip removed from his left foreleg following a fourth-place finish in the Travers last August.

“He looks great. He’s really matured, strong, powerful, fresh,” trainer Linda Rice said. “He wanted to do a lot more [Saturday].”

Depending on how things go in his training, Kid Cruz could make his 2015 debut in the $100,000 Evening Attire Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race Feb. 16 at Aqueduct, or the $100,000 Stymie Stakes at 1 1/8 miles March 22, closing day of the inner-track season.

Kid Cruz, claimed by Rice on behalf of Steven Brandt and Rick Boylan for $50,000 in November 2013, won four stakes in 2014, including the Grade 3 Dwyer.