Suspensory Issue Will Keep Catholic Boy Out of Kelso

Multiple grade 1 winner Catholic Boy has a slight rear suspensory issue that will prevent the 4-year-old stallion prospect from running Sept. 21 in the $300,000 Kelso Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park.

Majority owner Robert LaPenta said he is hopeful the 2018 Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) winner can run once more before closing the year in a Breeders' Cup race.

"He should be back in training in a week or two. He's just not 100%, and with the great career he's had, there's no sense in sending him out there," LaPenta said. "We'll look for something soft for him on turf or dirt, and we're hoping we can run him in the Breeders' Cup, but we want to get him back to where he was.

"The toughest thing in this game is a) finding a great horse, which you have about a 2% (chance) of happening, and b) keeping him healthy."

Catholic Boy, who is trained by Jonathan Thomas, has not raced since July 6 when he finished second to Preservationist in the Suburban Stakes (G2) at Belmont. The Kelso, a one-mile race on dirt, had been looked at as a possible prep, but after a slower-than-expected four-furlong work in :51.59 Sept. 14, the More Than Ready  ridgling was checked by veterinarians, and the injury was detected.

"It's been a day-to-day thing," said LaPenta, who owns Catholic Boy along with Madaket Stables, Siena Farm, and Twin Creeks Racing Stables. "His last work wasn't what we hoped it would be. (Jockey Javier Castellano) said he didn't have the energy that he normally has, so they checked him and found a slight rear suspensory issue, which isn't major, but he's not at the top of his game."

Thomas has a variety of options for a prep race and Breeders' Cup destination because of Catholic Boy's unusual versatility. Last year, he became the first 3-year-old male since Secretariat in 1973 to win grade 1 races at the classic distances of 1 1/4 miles or more on turf and dirt. Limited to just two starts this year by minor setbacks, Catholic Boy opened the year with a victory on turf in the May 18 Dixie Stakes (G2T) at Pimlico Race Course before returning to Belmont's main track for the Suburban.

The TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T), Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), and Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) are considered the prime possibilities for Catholic Boy at the Nov. 1-2 World Championships at Santa Anita Park. He finished 13th in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

Bred by Fred Hertrich III and John Fielding out of the Bernardini  mare Song of Bernadette, Catholic Boy was acquired privately after he was a $170,000 RNA from Taylor Made Sales Agency's consignment to the 2016 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. He has seven wins and two seconds from 12 starts, with earnings of $2,122,000.

LaPenta said the ideal scenario would be running Catholic Boy in one of the Pegasus World Cup races at Gulfstream Park Jan. 25 before he begins a stallion career at Claiborne Farm in 2020.