Coltandmississippi looks to find turf footing in Saratoga's Quick Call

Coltandmississippi will look to notch his first career stakes win and continue to make improvement on the grass in the ninth running of the $100,000 Quick Call for 3-year-olds going 5 ½ furlongs on the Mellon turf on Wednesday at Saratoga.

Owned by Teresa Viola Racing and St. Elias Stable, Coltandmississippi, who was a $400,000 weanling purchase, made his first six races on dirt, winning two of his first three starts in his juvenile campaign. As a sophomore, the son of Pioneerof the Nile ran third in the Jerome on January 13 before finishing fourth in his graded stakes debut in the Grade 3 Withers at 1 1/8 miles on February 3 at the Big A.

Trainer Todd Pletcher moved Coltandmississippi to grass, where he ran third in the Bridgetown at six furlongs on April 14 at Aqueduct and third in the Grade 2 Penn Mile on June 2 at Penn National in which he posted a personal-best 82 Beyer Speed Figure. After finishing seventh in the Not Surprising at one mile on July 7 at Gulfstream Park, Pletcher said he should benefit from a cutback.

"We felt he's handled the turf pretty well; we shipped him down to Gulfstream, which turned out to be an error, but based on his decent performance in the six-furlong turf sprint [Bridgetown], we thought we'd give him another try sprinting on the grass," Pletcher said. "There's some turf pedigree there and it was the one thing we hadn't tried. We went short and went long, and we thought he handled it well enough to deserve another opportunity."

Joel Rosario will have the call from post 11.

"I think he's versatile enough in his running style that hopefully he can work out a good trip, but he'll probably be off the pace. In that scenario, you sometimes encounter a little more traffic in a big field. [But] I think the cutback should be in his favor," Pletcher said.

World of Trouble will gain class relief after running fourth in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on June 9, Belmont Stakes Day, which followed his third-place finish in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 10. The Jason Servis trainee won his first start of the year, capturing the Pasco by a whopping 13 ¾ lengths on January 20 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Breaking from the rail, World of Trouble will have Irad Ortiz, Jr. in the irons.

A Different Style will be seeking his second stakes win, adding to his three-length score in the Jimmy Winkfield on February 10 at Aqueduct. Trained by John Servis, he drew post 4 with Kendrick Carmouche aboard. 

Rounding out the field is Like What I See, winner of the Colin on September 2 at Woodbine; Majestic Dunhill, who won his first stakes in the My Frenchman last out on July 14 at Monmouth Park; Fig Jelly; Clouded Judgement; Shangroyal; and Stolen Pistol, off back-to-back wins against allowance company.

Entries making their stakes debuts include Dirty, Totally Boss, and the South Korean-bred New Legend. Soutache is entered for the main track only.