First Foals for Grade I Winner Catholic Boy Coming Soon

In a few months, the first crop of foals from Claiborne's Catholic Boy will hit the ground. A Grade I winner on both dirt and turf, the son of More than Ready was popular with the breeders. We heard from trainer Jonathan Thomas and Claiborne's Walker Hancock.

A graded stakes winner at ages two, three and four, Catholic Boy won three of his four starts as a juvenile, including the GIII With Anticipation S. on turf at Saratoga and the GII Remsen S. on dirt. In 2018, Catholic Boy became just the third American 3-year-old in history to win Grade I races on dirt and turf, preceded by two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome and Secretariat, who also retired to Claiborne. Those wins came in the GI Belmont Derby Invitational S. and the GI Runhappy Travers S., both at a mile and a quarter.

Bred in Kentucky by Fred W. Hertrich III and John D. Fielding, Catholic Boy is out of Song of Bernadette, who sold to Bridlewood Farm for $2.3 million carrying a foal by War Front at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

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