Breeders' Cup Classic Contender Catholic Boy Works Five Furlongs in 1:02.60 at Churchill Downs

Oct 21, 2018

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano did not have much time to celebrate his 5,000^th-career win on Saturday at Belmont Park before catching a plane to Louisville to work Robert LaPenta, Madaket Stables, Siena Farm and Twin Creeks Racing Stables’ Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) contender Catholic Boy five furlongs in 1:02.60 at 5:30 a.m. (all times Eastern) Sunday at Churchill Downs.

“It’s really amazing to think how much riders truly mean to a work,” trainer Jonathan Thomas said. “Javier is great and I’m glad we’ve got him.”

Castellano and Catholic Boy broke from Thomas’ stable pony at the six-furlong pole and started the five-furlong move through splits of :13.40, :26, :38.20 and :50.60 prior to galloping out six furlongs in 1:15.40 and seven furlongs in 1:28, according to Churchill Downs’ clocker John Nichols.

“I thought everything went really well,” Thomas said. “He broke off kindly from the pony. He started the work slowly but really picked it up from there. It was more of an endurance-building work this morning. He ran two tough races over the summer (in the July 7 Belmont Derby and Aug. 25 Travers) so we didn’t really need anything too speedy. This was probably the most major work prior to the Classic and we’ll likely come back with something easy next weekend.”

Castellano, who is named to ride Catholic Boy in the Classic, nearly echoed Thomas after he returned to Barn 41.

“He broke off really nicely today,” Castellano said. “He feels really good and really galloped out well. He really picked it up well down the lane and galloping out.”

Catholic Boy, a 3-year-old son of More Than Ready, has won three-consecutive graded stakes races on both the turf and dirt: the June 2 Pennine Ridge (GIII) at 1 1/8 miles on turf; Belmont Derby (GI) at 1 ¼ miles on turf and Travers at 1 ¼ miles on dirt.

Nearly four hours later, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott’s Breeders’ Cup Turf (GI) contender Channel Maker worked a half-mile in :49.20 inside of stablemate Prompt through opening fractions of :12.60 and :24.80. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.

“I wasn’t too sure whether to work him on the dirt or not,” Mott said. “I thought it was a good breeze on the inside of (Prompt). We thought about working him on the turf (Tuesday) but this was a good breeze this morning. I’m happy with it.”

Also on the Saturday work tab was South Florida-based owner/trainer Juan Carlos Avila’s Champagne Stakes (GI) fifth-place finisher Trophy Chaser, who breezed five furlongs in 1:01.40 with Castellano aboard in preparation for the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (GI).

“He went well,” Castellano said following the work. “It was a nice, easy breeze.”

Trophy Chaser, a 2-year-old colt by Twirling Candy, was an eye-popping 15 ¾-length winner in his second-career start at Gulfstream Park on Aug. 25 prior to the Oct. 6 Champagne.

One of Trophy Chaser’s likely competitors for the Juvenile is Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen’s Iroquois (GIII) runner-up Tight Ten, who blitzed five furlongs in :59.60 in company with stablemate Wilmington (five furlongs, 1:00.20).

Tight Ten, owned and bred by Winchell Thoroughbreds, started about three lengths back of Wilmington, an 0-for-2 maiden, through opening splits of :12.20 and :35.80 before hitting the wire together and galloping out five furlongs in 1:13.60, according to Nichols.

Rounding out the Sunday work tab was 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up Toast of New York, who breezed an easy half-mile in :53.60 for trainer Jamie Osborne.

The now 7-year-old gelding, who was the second-place finisher behind Mind Your Biscuits in the Sept. 29 Lukas Classic (GIII) at Churchill Downs, could target the Breeders’ Cup Classic or the 1 ¾-mile Marathon Stakes (GII) on Friday, Nov. 2, according to Osborne’s assistant Jimmy McCarthy.

“He did really well this morning,” McCarthy said. “We went about 24 seconds for the final two furlongs of the work and I think Toast needed that little blow out.”

Training hours at Churchill Downs will remain 5:30-10 a.m. daily until Saturday when the track will open at 5:15 a.m. There will be turf training available Tuesday from 9:45-10 a.m. and daily beginning Sunday, Oct. 28. For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/2PeXuHY.

BREEDERS’ CUP PRE-ENTRY ANNOUNCEMENT ON WEDNESDAY – Pre-entered fields for the 2018 Breeders’ Cup World Championships will be announced via a live stream on the Breeders’ Cup website, Official Mobile App and Facebook page on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The 35^th Breeders’ Cup World Championships, consisting of 14 races (13 Grade Is) with purses and awards totaling more than $30 million, will be held for a record-tying ninth time at Churchill Downs on Friday, Nov. 2 and Saturday, Nov. 3. The live stream will be hosted by Caton Bredar and Churchill Downs’ Joe Kristufek.

Breeders’ Cup Pre-Entry is the first stage of a two-stage entry payment process for all owners intending to start a horse in a Breeders’ Cup World Championships race. The first payment is due by 12 p.m. ET on Monday. The second payment is due on Monday, Oct. 29 when entries are taken for all 14 Breeders’ Cup races, and post positions will be drawn later that day.

The Official Breeders’ Cup mobile app can be downloaded via the links below:

iTunes App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/breeders-cup-mobile/id1297424320?ls=1&mt=8

Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yinzcam.venues.breederscup

Locally, the event will take place in The Parlay’s Media Briefing Room at Churchill Downs and media are welcome to attend. Breeders’ Cup Limited President and CEO Craig Fravel and Churchill Downs Racetrack President Kevin Flanery will be on hand to answer media questions following the Pre-Entry announcement.

ARRIVALS/BARN LIST – All Breeders’ Cup contenders must be on the grounds 72 hours prior to their race. Many of the contenders will begin arriving between 7-10 days from the event, according to Churchill Downs director of the stable area Steve Hargrave. Stay tuned for updates regarding arrivals following the pre-entry announcement on Wednesday.

Below are the current Breeders’ Cup contenders that are currently stabled at Churchill Downs:

Trainer	Horse	Race	Barn	Last Work
Tom Amoss	Lone Sailor	Classic/Dirt Mile	29	Oct. 17; 4F :49.60
Tom Amoss	Serengeti Empress	Juvenile Fillies	29	Oct. 18; 5F 1:00
Steve Asmussen	Chanteline	Turf Sprint	38	Oct. 3; 5F 1:02.20
Steve Asmussen	Mia Mischief	Filly and Mare Sprint	38	Oct. 20; 5F 1:00.80
Steve Asmussen	Midnight Bisou	Distaff	38	Oct. 16; 5F 1:01.20
Steve Asmussen	Switzerland	Sprint	38	Oct. 16; 5F 1:02.20
Steve Asmussen	Tight Ten	Juvenile	38	Oct. 21; 5F :59.60
Juan Avila	Trophy Chaser	Juvenile	34	Oct. 21; 5F 1:01.40
Bret Calhoun	Finley'sluckycharm	Filly and Mare Sprint	23	Oct. 18; 5F 1:00.20
Mark Casse	Wonder Gadot	Distaff	36	Oct. 19; 5F 1:00
Brad Cox	Arklow	Turf	22	Oct. 12; 4F :49.80
Brad Cox	Golden Mischief	Filly and Mare Sprint	22	Oct. 20; 4F :50.60
Brad Cox	Monomoy Girl	Distaff	22	Oct. 20; 5F 1:00.20
Brad Cox	Will Call	Turf Sprint	22	Oct. 20; 4F :49.80
Tim Glyshaw	Bucchero	Turf Sprint	3	Oct. 20; 4F :48.60
D. Wayne Lukas	Bravazo	Classic	44	Oct. 17; 5F 1:00
D. Wayne Lukas	Warrior's Club	Sprint	44	Oct. 16; 4F :48.60
Ron Moquett	Whitmore	Sprint/Dirt Mile	10	Oct. 19; 4F :47
Bill Mott	Channel Maker	Turf	19	Oct. 21; 4F :49.20
Bill Mott	Yoshida (JPN)	Classic	19	Oct. 15; 5F 1:02.40
Dale Romans	Promises Fulfilled	Sprint/Dirt Mile	4	Oct. 20; 4F :48.60
Dale Romans	Seven Trumpets	Dirt Mile	4	Oct. 20; 5F 1:00.20
Dallas Stewart	Seeking the Soul	Classic	37	Oct. 19; 5F 1:01
Chad Summers	Mind Your Biscuits	Classic/Dirt Mile/Sprint	18	Oct. 19; 6F 1:15
Saeed bin Suroor	Thunder Snow	Classic	17	Oct. 19; one mile 1:42.20
Jonathan Thomas	Catholic Boy	Classic	41	Oct. 14; 4F 1:01.20
Ian Wilkes	Quarteto de Cordas (BRZ)	Turf	26	N/A

DOWN THE STRETCH – Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott’s assistant Kenny McCarthy reported Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) contender Yoshida (JPN) could breeze Monday at Churchill Downs. … Imperial Hint, one of the likely favorites for the TwinSpires Sprint (GI), is expected to arrive at Churchill Downs from Parx on Monday evening and will be stabled in Barn 17, according to Churchill Downs Director of the Stable Area Steve Hargrave. … Trainer Ian Wilkes’ Breeders’ Cup Turf (GI) aspirant Quarteto de Cordas was originally scheduled to work Sunday at Churchill Downs but the breeze was called off due to a loose horse on the track. The colt could breeze Tuesday on the turf, according to Wilkes.