From the Spa: August 9 Midlantic-breds in Saratoga stakes

I Spent It wins the 2014 Saratoga Special. Photo by NYRA/Adam Coglianese.

by Joseph Aiello

“From the Spa” returns to keep you up-to-date on horses bred in the mid-Atlantic racing in Saratoga stakes.

The ninth race at Saratoga on August 9th is the $100,000 Quick Call Stakes for three-year-olds. Run at 5 1/2 on the turf, this race is named for the gelding of the 1980s and early 1990s Quick Call, who famously won the majority of his races at Saratoga, including two Forego victories in consecutive years, becoming only the second to do so.

Coincidentally, the Mid-Atlantic bred in this year’s Quick Call is also a gelding, and happens to be the only gelding in the race with a small field of only six horses. What Expedited Vision does not have in common with Quick Call yet, however, is a stakes win at Saratoga, or anywhere for that matter. He is two-for-two in his short career, both of which have been resounding victories at Laurel Park, with the last coming by over six lengths. Expedited Vision also maintains jockey Sheldon Russell. With morning line odds of 5/1 for owners D Hatman Thoroughbreds and Phil Schoenthal, who is the trainer, he is second to last choice, and unlikely to receive much interest from the betting public. If Expedited Vision can win here with the odds stacked against him, it would be his first step to becoming a Saratoga star much like the race’s namesake. Expedited Vision is by Hansen – Bang Away, by Sky Mesa, and was bred in Maryland by Mr. and Mrs. Charles McGinnes.