In Reality winner Boca Boy starts preparing for 3-year-old season

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After upsetting the previously undefeated and odds-on favorite Breeze On By in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality Stakes here in late September, Boca Boy appeared to be headed for bigger and better things during the latter stages of his 2-year-old campaign. But a minor setback several weeks later put those plans on hold.

Boca Boy finally returned to the work tab here Wednesday, breezing a slow and very easy three-eighths in 38.15 seconds. It is the first step on a journey that his connections hope will have him ready to compete in one or more of the important Kentucky Derby preps later this winter and spring.

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“He’s on his way back and headed for the big time,” said Ken Winebaugh, who serves as assistant to Boca Boy’s trainer of record, his wife, Cheryl Winebaugh. “We had been pointing him for the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs when he popped a little splint after a work in October. So we freeze-fired him and gave him plenty of time off to make sure everything was good before starting him up again. Right now, it appears he’s come back perfect. Generally, we don’t work our horses fast. He’ll set down for a good five-eighths at some point and then probably two-minute-lick a mile. That’s when we’ll know he’s ready to run.”

Winebaugh mentioned several options for Boca Boy’s 3-year-old debut. The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here Feb. 27 or the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs three weeks earlier are the most prominent races on the list, although Winebaugh did not rule out the possibility of finding a softer spot against Florida-breds for his return.

“We haven’t ruled out turf, either, because he’s already shown he likes the grass as well,” Winebaugh said. “We’re not going to be in any rush. He’s got a long season ahead of him.”