Grade I winner Boys At Tosconova , who hasn’t raced since the Breeders’ Cup, had his first official breeze Aug. 11 at Aqueduct.
The 3-year-old son of Officer went an easy three furlongs in :39 1/5 Thursday morning for trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. The colt was expected to gallop for a couple more weeks before returning to the work tab, but Dutrow thought it was time to get him going again.
“He’s ahead of schedule but he was getting too ruffled around the barn,” Dutrow said. “I had to take the chip off his shoulder. He was biting people and getting very chippy. I never trained him off this kind of layoff. He’s been very bossy.
“He went well. He did it well within himself. I’m very happy with the way to horse came back.”
Boys At Tosconova broke his maiden by 12 lengths last summer at Belmont Park and then scored the Three Chimneys Hopeful (gr. I) at Saratoga as the odds-on favorite. After finishing a distant second to eventual 2-year-old champion Uncle Mo in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) in November, Dutrow noticed something was not right with him. Though he remained in training for the rest of the year, he was eventually diagnosed with an ankle injury. It did not require surgery and in February the colt was sent to Kentucky for some time off.
“We caught the injury in time before it got really bad,” Dutrow said. “There wasn’t any damage and he came back to us good. He’s completely sound.”
Dutrow said that if all goes well, Boys At Tosconova could make his comeback in six to eight weeks. There are no specific targets or goals right now, but Dutrow said he thinks the horse might be best at a one-turn mile.
“There can’t be any goals right now, other than tomorrow,” Dutrow said. “But we know what kind of horse he is and he came back as good as he left. We’ll find an easy spot for his return and go from there. It was disappointing losing him but it’s nice to have him back.”
Jay Em Ess Stable owns the controlling interest in Boys of Tosconova, who was also second in the Kentucky Juvenile (gr. III) last season and has earned $562,060. He was a $35,000 Keeneland September 2009 yearling buy and is out of the Coronado’s Quest mare Little Bonnet.