Young trainer Jonathan Thomas has enjoyed a breakout year in 2018, spearheaded by the rousing success of his versatile 3-year-old colt Catholic Boy (More Than Ready), who won the GI Belmont Derby on grass and the GI Travers S. on dirt in consecutive starts. With the Aug. 25 Travers representing his most recent start, Catholic Boy is being trained up to a tilt in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs Nov. 3., where he is expected to take on the likes of formidable older foes such as Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) and Diversify (Bellamy Road). The sophomore posted his first workout back since the Travers Sunday, breezing four furlongs at Belmont Park in :50.88, and Thomas sat down with the TDN the following day to discuss his outlook.
TDN: The Travers was obviously a huge effort. How well did he recover from the race?
JT: The 10 days following the Travers, we used just for a little R&R. So he got plenty of grazing time and got out in his round pen. We were really just trying to use it to regroup. We thought he came out of it well, but it's a good opportunity to give him kind of a mini-break.
TDN: Looking forward, what is the plan for Catholic Boy? What went into the decision to forego a prep race and train the horse directly up to the Classic in early November?
JT: Right off the bat, we had kind of contemplated the Super Saturday week at Belmont, which included the GIII Hill Prince S. and the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, but after letting the dust settle and going back through his past performances and what's worked really well for him, we felt that the best option was to just train him up to the [GI Breeders' Cup Classic]. He's run two of his lifetime best numbers off of a 63-day break and a 70-day break, and going into the Classic, it's a 70-day break. Lord knows he's fit and he has a tremendous amount of seasoning under his belt, so we felt the best thing to do for him was just to let him regroup for a few weeks. He actually had his first work back Sunday and that went really well–it gives us plenty of time to bring him there and hopefully in peak condition.
TDN: Saratoga winners have had considerable success in the Breeders' Cup Classic in recent years. Did that play a role at all in your decision?
JT: He's had plenty of seasoning and racing experience, so we thought we'd kind of take a path that has worked particularly well. It worked for Arrogate, it worked for American Pharaoh, and then last year, to a similar extent, it worked for Gun Runner. You know, they all had their last races at Saratoga and then trained up to the Classic. I'm a huge fan of Bob Baffert and Steve Asmussen, and I love what they did with those particular horses, and we're certainly trying to replicate that.
TDN: You probably get asked this question every day, but at this stage in his career, do you think Catholic Boy is better on dirt or turf?
JT: We're in a unique position where he's at the top of the game on both surfaces. I mean, if you're a numbers person, he runs faster races on the dirt, but that's normally how it goes, numerically. The dirt races tend to get faster figures. And visually, you could make a case that he's been maybe a little bit more impressive as far as polishing off his races on the dirt. His GI Belmont Derby and GIII Pennine Ridge S. [wins] were dramatic, and I think they had a particular flair in that respect. But right now, I think we'd probably have to give to the nod that he's probably a little bit better on the dirt.
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