Johnny's Red Storm appears sharp for return in Quick Call
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – George Weaver will almost certainly scratch the morning-line favorite from Sunday’s Grade 3, $225,000 Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga, but he’ll still have the horse to beat in the 5 1/2-furlong turf stakes for 3-year-olds.
Weaver entered the filly Cy Fair in the Quick Call as insurance in case Saturday’s Coronation Cup was rained off the turf, which despite a forecast of rain was not expected to be the case. So, if as expected, he scratches Cy Fair, Weaver will still be well represented by Johnny’s Red Storm, who will be making his first start in 11 months after going 2 for 2 last year.
Even without Cy Fair, the Quick Call looks to be deep, with a competitive 12-horse field and the unbeaten El Magnate likely to draw in from the also-eligible list.
Johnny’s Red Storm won both of his races in a four-week span last August, taking a Saratoga maiden race by four lengths at the beginning of the month and the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint at the end.
Johnny’s Red Storm, a son of Twirling Candy, needed and received plenty of time off due to a soundness-related issue that took longer than anticipated to resolve, according to Weaver. The trainer wasn’t necessarily pointing Johnny’s Red Storm to the Quick Call but opted to enter after the colt worked a fast five furlongs in 58.60 seconds over the Oklahoma turf course last Sunday.
“He just worked faster than I wanted here the other day, but he did it and came back and wasn’t that taxed,” Weaver said. “My opinion was I don’t need to be waiting on this horse to run, especially if we want to run at Kentucky Downs.”
There are two stakes, each worth seven figures, the first weekend of September to which Johnny’s Red Storm would be eligible. Weaver felt this race was better spacing than the Mahony on Aug. 16.
Johnny’s Red Storm has won both of his starts on the lead, but it’s not clear if he’ll be fast enough to secure the front on Sunday with Monster in the field. Johnny’s Red Storm does break from an outside post under Flavien Prat, while Monster is several stalls to his inside. There are other early speed types such as Intricate Spirit, Learntodiscover, and Longshoreman in the field.
“The Quick Call’s a deep race, he might not find himself on the lead,” Weaver said. “Who knows what he’ll do not on the lead.”
Unwritten Rule defeated Monster in the Roar Stakes, a five-furlong race run over Gulfstream Park’s Tapeta surface in May. Unwritten Rule, a son of Justify, has finished first in three of his first four starts though he was disqualified from a victory in a first-level allowance at Tampa Bay Downs.
Trainer Tom Proctor tried to run Unwritten Rule on turf, but twice the races came off the turf and one of those times he scratched the horse.
“He runs good enough on the dirt and the Tapeta but I think he’ll run good over the grass, being by Justify,” Proctor said. “He looks like he can run on anything so far.”
Throckmorton, a stakes winner at 2 who has finished in the money in three stakes tries at 3, is another who may benefit from a contested pace.
Ewing is making his first start on turf as well. Last year, he went 2 for 2 on dirt here, including a victory in the Saratoga Special. He was off for a long time before returning in the Ozark Stakes at Oaklawn Park in February, where he finished sixth before being laid up again.
Trainer Mark Casse worked Ewing on the turf and liked what he saw, but he always likes what he sees from Ewing.
“Ewing always looks good,” Casse said.
El Magnate won both of his starts at Woodbine, overcoming trouble in two spots to win his debut.
“He’s going to need to break better, he broke slow both times,” Casse said. “We breezed him twice now over the turf and I think he’s gotten over it pretty well.”
Bobrovsky, trained by Dale Romans, won both his maiden and the Skidmore Stakes here last summer. He has not run since a narrow fourth-place finish in the Indian Summer Stakes at Keeneland last October. Bobrovsky was sidelined thereafter due to a knee chip that needed to be surgically removed.
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