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Paul Pompa Jr.'s Turned Aside had seen Jack and Noah win the three previous races in which the two matched up entering the Grade 3, $100,000 Quick Call at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. But Turned Aside ensured he would earn the trip to the winner's circle on Friday, making a strong move from the outside coming out of the turn and charging home a 1 ¾-length victor in the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-olds.

Turned Aside broke sharp under jockey Jose Lezcano, tracking in third position as Jack and Noah, who broke awkwardly led the six-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 21.32 seconds on the Mellon turf coursed labeled firm. Lezcano pressed his charge up from the outside, where he overtook his budding rival before hitting the stretch, posting the half-mile in 44.01.

Lezcano kept Turned Aside's attention when straightening for home, repelling Old Chestnut's late move for second, completing the course in a 1:01.99 final time.

“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.”

The Linda Rice trainee ran second to Jack and Noah in his second career start in September at Belmont Park and also was the runner-up last out, finishing one length back in the Sir Cat going six furlongs on Belmont's firm turf. He also ran seventh in the Atlantic Beach in November at Aqueduct Racetrack. A son of 2015 Triple Crown-winner American Pharoah, Turned Aside improved to 3-2-1 in seven career starts.

“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.”

Off at 2-1, Turned Aside returned $6.50 on a $2 win wager. He improved his career earnings to $179,992.

“There were a couple other horses [of concern] in this race – Old Chestnut and I thought Doug O'Neill's horse [Fore Left] showed promised as well, but this horse has trained well and shows no quit in his workouts. Once we were on a clear lead, I thought we'd get it done.”

Old Chestnut, who like Jack and Noah is trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, edged Fore Left by a neck for second. The 11th running of the Quick Call featured the top-three finishers of the Sir Cat, as Old Chestnut earned third in that contest under jockey Junior Alvarado, who had the return call Friday.

“I wish the number two [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,” Alvarado said. “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 made his first turf appearance in 11 career starts, earning black type in his first start since a ninth-place effort in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 20.

Flap Jack, 4-5 favorite Jack and Noah and High Cruise completed the order of finish. Power Up Paynter was scratched, as was main-track only entrant Sky of Hook.

Live racing resumes Saturday at Saratoga with an 11-race card that includes the Grade 1, $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt for 3-year-olds and up in Race 10 at 6:16 p.m. and the Grade 2, $200,000 Ballston Spa for older fillies and mares on the inner turf in Race 3 at 2:18 p.m. First post is 1:10 p.m.

The post A Horse For The Course? Turned Aside Wins Quick Call At Saratoga appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Country Grammer dueled Caracaro in the stretch and held firm from the inside position, edging his rival by a neck to win the Grade 3, $100,000 Peter Pan for 3-year-olds on Thursday, Opening Day of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Owned by Paul Pompa, Jr., Country Grammer broke his maiden traveling nine furlongs at second asking in November at Aqueduct Racetrack for his only previous victory. After running fifth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in November at Gulfstream and third against allowance company on June 4 at Belmont, Country Grammer returned to 1 1/8 miles and responded with his first career stakes score. His win earned 50 qualifying points to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in September at Churchill Downs.

Updated Kentucky Derby leaderboard

Under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who won the Belmont spring/summer meet riding title, Country Grammer stalked in fourth position as Mo Hawk led the nine-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 23.24 seconds, the half in 48.13 and three-quarters in 1:12.35 on the fast main track.

Out of the final turn, Ortiz, Jr. angled Country Grammer near the rail, while Caracaro made a strong bid under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano from his outside. The duo linked up in the stretch for an exciting final furlong before the Chad Brown trainee prevailed, hitting the wire in a final time of 1:49.79.

“Irad gave him a beautiful ride. He took advantage of his inside post,” Brown said. “He trains that way and he's a bit of a grinder. He's a long-distance horse and we've been wanting to get him back out to a mile and an eighth.”

While Country Grammer earned points to go to Kentucky, Brown said he could be staying at Saratoga in the immediate future with a spot in the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers on August 8 a likely spot.

“Obviously, the logical thing is to point him to the Travers at a mile and a quarter,” Brown said. “I don't think he'll have a problem with the distance. We'll have to see if he's good enough. He hasn't run many times and there's room for improvement there. It's a race we hoped to get him to, and I'll talk to Mr. Pompa about it.”

Brown is coming off another title as the leading trainer in the Belmont spring/summer meet and has also captured the Saratoga training crowns the previous two summer meets. Though this year's lid-lifter at the Spa was different without spectators in attendance in compliance with New York State guidelines, Brown said it's always special to win at a track that dates its history to 1863.

“It's really nice to win this race but definitely a bittersweet day when this beautiful place is empty where I grew up,” said Brown, a native of nearby Mechanicville, N.Y. “We'll try to get through the meet and hold out hope that maybe it will open more during the meet, but there's no guarantees about that. We'll do the best we can and we're grateful they're running here. Hopefully, this is the only year we have to do this.

“NYRA has really done a good job,” he added. “It feels very safe on the backside training in the morning. It's well organized and I think it's a very safe environment.”

Off at 4-1, Country Grammer returned $10.20 on a $2 win wager. The bay colt is a son of Tonalist, who won the 2014 Belmont Stakes in upsetting California Chrome's Triple Crown bid.

“He's a fighter. He has a great trainer and he [Country Grammer] had something left at the end,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “Chad's horses finish really good. I never gave up and I was lucky he came back.”

Caracaro, conditioned by Gustavo Delgado, was making his first stakes appearance and just his third start overall. The Uncle Mo colt finished 3 ¼ lengths in front of 8-5 favorite Mystic Guide for second, racking up 20 qualifying points for the runner-up effort.

“I had a beautiful trip. I like the way it set up. My horse usually likes to go to the lead and tries to dictate the pace,” Castellano said. “He broke a little sideways out of the gate. I decided not to rush and put him in the lead, and just let him develop himself. I think he got tired the last part of the race, he hadn't run in such a long time. I'm very satisfied with how he did it today. He was only beat a little bit and I'm not disappointed at all. I'm excited for his future.”

Mystic Guide, trained by Michael Stidham, earned 10 points for third.

Celtic Striker finished fourth, garnering five points. Modernist, Chestertown, Candy Tycoon, Mo Hawk and Katzarelli completed the order of finish.

Handle on the 10-race Opening Day card was $19,100,297, a 21 percent increase over the 2019 Opening Day handle of 15,754,227.

Live racing resumes Friday with a 10-race card featuring the $85,000 De La Rose for older fillies and mares in Race 7 and the $85,000 Shine Again, also for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up, in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

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