Winner of the Grade 1 Three Chimneys Hopeful in 2010 and runner-up to that year’s Champion 2-year-old Male, Uncle Mo, in the Breeders Cup Juvenile, Boys At Tosconova made his second start off an 11-month layoff on Friday at Aqueduct. The 3-year-old son of Officer was third behind Tapizar and Uptowncharlybrown in his comeback race at Belmont Park on October 8, and on Friday stalked Hillswick before taking the lead in the stretch and edging away to a 2 ½-length victory. 

Rick Dutrow, Jr., winning trainer of Boys At Tosconova (No. 6): “I was very pleased with his race today. If he’s what he was last year he is supposed to show up today against these and he did. It didn’t look like a real grueling race for him. Maybe he was fighting the track a little bit. I think he likes to run much faster times. This was kind of a slowish time for him, but that’s OK, we got the job done. He got back in the winner’s circle and now we get to point him for his next race. As long as he comes out the way he went in, we will be OK.

“The first time we ran him, when they turned for home, I knew that we had a really good one. I can’t tell you that’s what I saw today, but it’s a different track and he seemed to be fighting it a little bit. They’re running slowish times today, but we are very, very, very happy with him and depending on how he trains we will determine where we will spot him next. But he has been training good since he came back.”

On options for his next start: “I was going to watch and see what I saw today, so for me the jury is still out as far as pointing him towards a huge race. I don’t know that we need to do that. Maybe another race will really get him into a groove and then we will be able to point him towards something that we really want to point him towards. But we have all kinds of options.”

Ramon Dominguez, winning jockey aboard Boys At Tosconova (No. 6): “I knew that I would be sitting either first or second with Hillswick in the race and with the post position that we had. I was hoping to be in control throughout the whole race with much the best horse, and that was basically the way it took place. Around the three-eighths pole I started getting after him and he just kept coming for me. Past the wire, he galloped out very strong.”