The handicap division just got a little deeper after Preservationist announced his presence with authority following a sensational 4 1/2-length victory over the two-time Grade 1 winner Catholic Boy in Saturday’s $700,000 Suburban at Belmont Park. The victory was the third in the Grade 2 fixture in the last five years for both trainer Jimmy Jerkens, who won the race in 2015 and 2016 with Effinex, and jockey Junior Alvarado. Preservationist has been a study in patience for Jerkens and his owners, Centennial Farms. The Suburban was just the eighth start for the 6-year-old son of Arch, who was sidelined 18 months after finishing second in his career debut at Belmont in June of 2016 and again for nearly 11 months prior to his 2019 debut earlier this season. Preservationist was making his stakes debut in the Suburban off a pair of allowance wins while also stretching out to 1 1/4 miles for the first time in his career. He broke alertly under Alverado and quickly sped to command along the inside, conceded the lead to the 6-5 Catholic Boy upon settling into the backstretch, re-engaged the favorite slipping up the rail exiting the quarter pole before pulling away with complete authority through the stretch. Catholic Boy eased back off Preservationist and Realm during the early going, was sent up to take command before completing the opening three-eighths, remained off the rail turning into the stretch, proved no match for the winner when challenged but remained second-best, finishing three parts of a length in front of the wide-running Pavel. Preservationist paid $9.90 as the second choice in a field of 11 older horses after covering the distance in 1:59.99 over a fast track. “We always knew he had a lot of talent and it was really frustrating not having any continuity with him,” said Jerkens. “Something always happened. For a big horse, he has kind of narrow feet. Maybe now that he’s older, he’s gotten to the point where they have finally opened up.” Jerkens praised Alvarado for his ride. “I told Junior to let him break out of there because the outside horses are always looking to cut over,” Jerkens said. “No sense getting shuffled back when you don’t have to. He broke clean and was right there all the way.” Trainer Jonathan Thomas said he thought Catholic Boy was a little “keyed up” on the opening bend. “I thought once he kind of made the lead he set reasonable fractions, but it ended up catching up with him a little bit,” said Thomas. “Take nothing away from the winner, I thought he ran great. I thought it was a pretty respectable effort, I don't know if we just weren't second-best today."   Jockey Javier Castellano agreed Catholic Boy was just a bit too anxious during the early going. "I wish I could have settled a little bit more, but he was a little bit keen the first part and it's a mile and a quarter race,” said Castellano. “The key is getting horses to relax in the first part of the race, but he didn't and I think that cost me the race, although I don't want to take anything away from the winner." – additional reporting by David Grening