Learntodiscover comes flying late to upset Quick Call

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − In a race that appeared loaded with speed, the plan for Learntodiscover in Sunday’s Grade 3 Quick Call Stakes was to lay just behind the speed.

Learntodiscover was behind all right. Going into the far turn of the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint, Learntodiscover was last, nearly 10 lengths back, having been bumped at two different points down the backside. But taking advantage of a torrid pace, Learntodiscover demonstrated a terrific turn of foot that carried him from last to first in the $225,000 Quick Call, a neck in front of Throckmorton, who finished a head in front of Monster.

It was the first win for Learntodiscover in four starts since owner Mark Dobbin brought him from Ireland and transferred him to Brendan Walsh. It was his second win from eight career starts.

Walsh wasn’t expecting Learntodiscover to be on the lead like he was in an allowance race at Aqueduct where he finished sixth, but he wasn’t expecting to be last either.

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“The last day he was probably a little too prominent, he broke well and got on the lead and was going a tick too fast,” Walsh said. “It looked today there was tons of speed in there, we said we’d try and sit right behind the speed. We were a little farther back than that, thankfully, they flew up front and they came back to us.”

Breaking from post 2 under Tyler Gaffalione, Learntodiscover took a bump from Throckmorton, who was bumped by Monster coming out of the gate. Then Learntodiscover took another bump from Longshoreman who got pressure from his outside by a rank Intricate Spirit. After the opening quarter Learntodiscover was last, about 10 lengths behind Monster, who ran an opening quarter in 21.18 seconds.

Gaffalione guided Learntodiscover from the rail to the four path entering the far turn, and he was wider still when the field turned into the lane.

With Monster still going on the front end through a half-mile in 43.93 seconds, Gaffalione had Learntodiscover in the seven path and on the move. He gobbled up the stretch of the turf course in the final three-sixteenths and went by Monster late.

“The idea was to sit in the pocket, let him use some of that speed but just try to get him contained, but there was a lot of commotion coming out of the gate just a lot of maneuvering and a lot of horses,” Gaffalione said. “Didn’t get the position we wanted but he settled great and when we found room at the top of the lane he really exploded.”

Learntodiscover, a Great Britain-bred gelding by Havana Grey, covered the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:02.69 and returned $49.96 to win.

Learntodiscover made his first four starts in Ireland and was Group 3-placed going six furlongs at The Curragh. When Walsh got him, he tried Learntodiscover two turns on turf at Gulfstream, then an elongated sprint over Woodbine’s synthetic before sprinting him on turf at Aqueduct, getting a trip that wasn’t going to allow him to show his best.

“This is probably as sharp as he needs to go,” Walsh said. “[In Europe], he’s a six-furlong, 6 1/2-furlong type horse. Sometimes they’re a difficult horse to place here because they’re kind of inbetweeners. Thankfully, he found his niche and I think he’ll only improve.”

There was a claim of foul from Manny Franco, the rider of fifth-place finisher Intricate Spirit against Edgard Zayas, the rider of third-place finisher Monster for actions coming out of the gate. The foul claim was dismissed by the stewards.

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