Photo Call stalks and scores in Violet

Photo Call, winless in five starts since clearing her first allowance condition in her United States debut last October at Keeneland, earned her first graded stakes victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Violet at Monmouth Park.

Trevor McCarthy, riding the Graham Motion-trained 4-year-old filly Photo Call for the first time, put her in stalking mode, sitting just off the pace set by American Girl, part of an uncoupled entry for trainer Alan Goldberg in the field of five fillies and mares. Photo Call ($6) took the lead at the top of the stretch and scored by three-quarters of a length over the Christophe Clement-trained Cushion. Granny’s Mc’s Kitten finished third as the 9-5 favorite.

“She was a little rank the whole way,” McCarthy said. “Around the three-quarter pole she finally kind of relaxed. Around the far turn, I had to swing her out and she really ran on after that.”

A daughter of Galileo owned by Phillipa Cooper, Photo Call was making her first start since finishing a close third in the Perfect Sting at Belmont Park in early July. She is now 3 for 12 lifetime.