Call Paul, Sombeyay experimenting on turf in Quick Call

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Thursday’s $100,000 Quick Call Stakes is scheduled to be run, weather permitting, at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf. The dilemma for handicappers is figuring out to do with leading contenders Call Paul and Sombeyay, neither of whom have ever raced on the grass. The Quick Call shares top billing on opening day of the 2019 Saratoga meeting with the Grade 3 Schuylerville.

A field of 11 3-year-olds passed the box for the Grade 3 Quick Call, including Releasethethunder who has been entered for the main track only. The long-range forecast called for a 40 percent chance of rain in the Saratoga area on Thursday.

Call Paul is coming off an easy and very popular six-length victory in the restricted Danzig Stakes last month at Penn National. The win was the fifth in nine career starts for the speedy son of Friesan Fire who returns to the scene of his most important victory to date, a one-length, wire-to-wire triumph as the 4-5 favorite last summer in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special.

“He doesn’t have a very good Tomlinson number,” trainer Jason Servis said referring to breeding figures for turf and wet tracks published regularly in Daily Racing Form. “But he has a nice big, round foot on him, he’s got a little pedigree for the turf in the second dam, he’s got some speed, and World of Trouble won the race last year, so we kind of gravitated to it.”

Servis then added several more compelling reasons to try the Quick Call.

“The distance is good, it’s straight 3-year-olds, and if it rains, he still runs,” Servis added. “It’s something we can try, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll have the turf-to-dirt angle going for us next time.”

Sombeyay has made all seven of his starts to date on dirt and, like Call Paul, was a graded stakes winner here last summer having captured the Grade 3 Sanford. He has not won in four subsequent starts and enters his turf debut off a game but frustrating nose setback behind Bronzed after setting a contested pace throughout the six-furlong Lookin At Lucky Stakes on June 2 at Monmouth Park.

Trainer Todd Pletcher has given Sombeyay the opportunity to test the turf on several occasions, including a near bullet half-mile in 48.60 seconds over Belmont’s inner course June 29.

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For those who’d prefer wagering on a proven commodity when it comes to the grass, there are several in the Quick Call field who fit the bill, a group that includes Listing, Gladiator King, Abyssinian, and Elektronic.

Listing returns to New York for the first time since finishing a well-beaten eighth in the Grade 1 Champagne last fall at Belmont Park. The Reddam Racing homebred has been much improved since switching to the turf for the first time launching his 3-year-old campaign on New Year’s Day, and he enters the Quick Call off a 2 1/4-length tally in the five-furlong Desert Code Stakes on June 9 at Santa Anita.

Gladiator King is a versatile sort who won the Grade 3 Hutcheson over the main track this spring at Gulfstream Park but has two wins and a third on his résumé in three lifetime starts on grass.

Abyssinian has been multiple stakes-placed since trainer Wesley Ward first put her on turf this winter at Gulfstream, while Elektronic has captured 2 of his 4 career starts on grass and races with blinkers on for the first time Thursday.