Turned Aside Captures First Stakes in Quick Call
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Turned Aside wins the Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Turned Aside, turned back in two previous stakes attempts, picked up his first stakes victory with a 1 3/4-length score in the $100,000 Quick Call Stakes (G3T) for 3-year-old turf sprinters July 24 at Saratoga Race Course.
Sent off as the second choice in the field of six, having lost three times to 4-5 favorite Jack and Noah, Turned Aside ran as though he deserved top billing. He broke sharply—unlike Jack and Noah, who started a step or two behind the field—and after pressing the pace on the outside proved best under Jose Lezcano down the stretch.
Turned Aside raced 5 1/2 furlongs on a firm turf course in 1:01.99 after fractions of :21.32, :44.01, and :55.79. Paul Pompa Jr.'s homebred son of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah returned $6.50 for a $2 win wager.
"I had a very good trip," Lezcano said. "My horse broke very sharp and was right there when I asked him. The horse on the lead was lugging out a little bit, but I held my position and when I asked him, he gave me everything."
It was the second Quick Call victory for Lezcano and trainer Linda Rice—their first with the same horse—since the race was inaugurated in 2008. Lezcano won the race in 2014 aboard the Christophe Clemente-trained Pure Sensation, and Rice took it in 2009 with Awakino Cat under Alan Garcia.
Turned Aside was second in his season debut in the June 19 Sir Cat Stakes at Belmont Park behind Jack and Noah, beaten a length after chasing that rival throughout.
"Paul and I discussed it and we felt if we didn't engage early we were just going to hand it over to Jack and Noah and we've done that enough already," Rice said. "Sometimes you change courses and one horse prefers Belmont and one horse prefers Saratoga, and I thought our horse has been training great all spring and maybe we could turn the tables on him on a different course."
Old Chestnut closed from last down the center of the course under Junior Alvarado to grab second, a neck ahead of Fore Left in third.
"I wish (Jack and Noah) would have broke a little sharper, so it would have made the winner chase a little harder and I'd have even more pace to finish," said Alvarado. "Other than that, I had a great trip and saved as much ground as I could. Turning for home, he gave me a nice kick."
Fore Left outfinished Flap Jack, who was a head back in fourth. A well-beaten Jack and Noah and High Cruise completed the order of finish.
Sky of Hook and Power Up Paynter were scratched.
Bred in Kentucky, Turned Aside became the first stakes winner for his dam, the stakes-placed War Front mare Sustained. The mare has a yearling colt by Quality Road and foaled a son of Connect this year.
Like Sustained, who ran second in the 1 1/16-mile Miss Grillo Stakes (G3T) in 2012 for Pompa and trainer Dale Romans, Turned Aside has shown an affinity for turf, though he has more speed than his dam. All of his races have come on grass at six furlongs or shorter.
Turned Aside has $179,992 in earnings from a 3-2-1 record in seven starts.