Catholic Boy’s Smoken Boy Wins G1 by Nine Lengths

Smoken Boy, the 2-year-old son of Catholic Boy, jumped to the top of his division, scoring a powerful Grade 1 victory in his stakes debut, the mile and one-sixteenth Clásico Agustín Mercado Reverón S. (G1) over a muddy track at Race Track.

A nose away from being undefeated, Smoken Boy only loss came by that narrow margin in his debut on October 6. Next out on November 15, he romped by nearly seven lengths going six furlongs after pressing the pace early. Stepping up to a two-turn trip for the first time, he was more impressive than last out and showed a new dimension to his style.

Smoken Boy had been on or near the lead in his previous races. Today, he was taken off the pace and he sure proved he is a versatile runner. More than a dozen lengths back at the half, he was asked to start picking it up and his response was electrifying. He erased that entire gap before the top of the stretch. He strode away strongly, despite goofing off a little as youngsters will do out there all by themselves, to win, geared down by more than nine lengths.

Smoken Boy was produced by the stakes-placed Cairo Prince mare, Smoken Deb. Bred by Robert LaPenta, he races for Sonata Stables and is trained by Edwin Diaz.