Red Rifle will stretch out in distance in John's Call
Twin Creeks Racing Stables' Red Rifle will stretch out in distance in headlining a field of seven in the $100,000 John's Call for 3-year-olds and up at 1 5/8 miles on the Mellon turf on Wednesday.
Red Rifle rallied for second last out in the Alydar on August 6 at the Spa, overcoming a bump at the start to tie a season-high Beyer Speed Figure of 97. The Todd Pletcher trainee finished in the money in a stakes for the first time since a runner-up effort in the 2016 Mountainview at Penn National.
The 7-year-old son of Giant's Causeway is the 9-5 morning-line favorite and will break from the outside with jockey Jose Ortiz.
Amerman Racing's Infinite Wisdom will make the first stakes start of his 6-year-old campaign following back-to-back second-place finishes in optional claimers, including last out when Mugtaser beat him by a head in the final jumps on July 21 at the Spa.
Trained by Brian Lynch, Infinite Wisdom, a son of Smart Strike, will run at the John's Call distance for the first time in 16 career starts.
"We're excited about running him over that distance; he certainly as the pedigree that says he can stay on," Lynch said. "I think he's ready to win and I'm ready to win one myself."
Listed at 2-1, Infinite Wisdom will break from post 3 with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard.
Nessy returns to stakes company for the first time since a sixth-place performance in the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap. After consecutive starts in allowance races, trainer Ian Wilkes will run the 4-year-old Flower Alley gelding at 1 5/8 miles for the first time.
"He's made a few mistakes in his races, but he's learning," said Wilkes. "He's won at a mile and a half and he can stay all day. For this horse, the longer the better."
Hall of Famer Javier Castellano will be in the irons of the 4-1 morning-line choice from post 6.
Trainer Elizabeth Voss will saddle a pair of entries in Mr Singh and Renown. The English-bred Mr. Singh is looking for his first win in four starts since arriving in North America. His American debut was a second-place finish in the Secretariat on May 6, and Voss said the Group 3-winner will be looking to impress in his Saratoga debut.
"He's just a horse who runs all day at one pace, last race out they ran slow, which didn't help, but he kind of kept plugging away," Voss said.
Mr Singh drew post 2 at odds of 15-1. Jockey Chris DeCarlo will ride.
Renown, who beat his stablemate in the Secretariat, has experience at long distances, competing in the two-mile Grade 3 Belmont Gold Cup on June 9. The 6-year-old, who is also English bred, finished sixth last out in the Cape Henlopen onJuly 8 at Delaware Park but was sharp in his first breeze at Saratoga on August 14, according to Voss.
"He loves it up here and kind of likes to show himself off and has been training great here," she said. "He worked really well the other day. I'm very happy with him."
Julien Leparoux will have the call for the first time from post 5. Renown is 10-1 on the morning line.
Rounding out the field is St. Louie, for trainer Mike Maker, who drew the rail, and the Irish-bred Montclair, trained by George Weaver, who will exit post 4.
Source: NYRA Communications