Call On Mischief should be closer to pace in Blue Sparkler

Trainer Michael Stidham has gotten off to a quick start at the Monmouth Park meet and on Saturday will attempt to keep rolling when he sends out the versatile Call On Mischief against probable favorite Miss J McKay in the $75,000 Blue Sparkler.

The 5 1/2-furlong turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies has drawn 10. It goes as the ninth on a 12-race card that starts at 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

Coming into the race week, Stidham has gone 2 for 7 at the Monmouth meet, which started July 3, and also has two second-place finishes. Call On Mischief won over the local main track last August, and in February won a first-level allowance sprint on turf that carried a $50,000 claiming option at Fair Grounds.

She’s also been just edged in a pair of allowances, one on dirt and another on turf. Her sire, Into Mischief, was a Grade 1 winner on dirt, and her stakes-winning dam, Callmethesqueeze, was a multiple winner on dirt and turf.

“I’m not really sure what her preferred surface is,” Stidham said of Call On Mischief. “We would run her whether on grass or if it was to come off because of possible weather. We’d stay in either race.”

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There is a 50 percent chance of rain Saturday, according to the Weather Channel.

Call On Mischief last raced June 21, finishing an uncharacteristic ninth in the $80,000 Lady Shipman at Belmont Park. The six-furlong turf race went in a quick 1:07.21.

“She got a little further back,” Stidham said. “There was quite a bit more speed in the race than she had come up against in her last start. She got shuffled back a bit, was never really able to make up the ground.

“We’re hoping she’ll be more forwardly placed.”

Joe Bravo has the mount from post 10 for Phoenix Thoroughbred.

Miss J McKay was third in the Lady Shipman, and last year won the $100,000 Anne Arundel County on turf at Laurel. Jorge Vargas has the mount from post 7 for trainer Cathal Lynch.

The other stakes winner in the field is Fast Scene. She won the $102,000 Woodbine Cares on the grass last September and the $104,000 My Dear on synthetic last July at Woodbine.

Ilchester Cheetah is a five-time winner making her first start on turf. Her sire, Itsmyluckyday, is getting about 12 percent winners on the grass. Her dam, Margaret Lillian, was a two-time winner on turf.