Johnny's Red Storm, Ewing Among Returnees in Quick Call

There is no shortage of 3-year-olds preparing to compete over 5 1/2 furlongs on turf July 19 in the $225,000 Quick Call Stakes (G3T) at Saratoga Race Course, which should set up for an exciting display of speed. Twelve horses can start, with M Racing Group's El Magnate waiting for a dropout to draw in off the also-eligible list. He could potentially get that from the 9-5 morning-line favorite, 2025 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T) winner Cy Fair, who is cross-entered at the same distance against the fillies July 18 in the Coronation Cup Stakes (G3T). "We're just playing the weather," Phillip Shelton, racing manager for Cy Fair's co-owner Medallion Racing, told New York Racing Association publicity. "Our first choice is the Coronation Cup against the girls, but there's obviously some rain forecast on Saturday, so we are just giving ourselves a secondary option in case Saturday becomes a washout and comes off the grass. We won't run if it comes off and we'll just default to Sunday." Favoritism would then fall to Cy Fair's George Weaver-trained stablemate Johnny's Red Storm, who sits at 5-1 from post 10. John Cronin Jr. and RAP Racing's Twirling Candy colt was perfect at 2, sweeping a Saratoga maiden by 4 lengths and the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint Stakes by 2 lengths in late August. The colt then went to the sidelines, returning to the work tab June 12 and entering Saturday's contest off five recorded breezes. He's not the only promising 2025 2-year-old returning for his first start of the year. Dale Romans and Steve Berg's Bobrovsky also comes off the bench after being unraced since a fourth, beaten just three-quarters of a length with some trouble, in Keeneland's Indian Summer Stakes in October. He traveled to Del Mar for the Breeders' Cup, but failed to draw in off the also-eligible list. Like Johnny's Red Storm, he sports a win over the surface which came in last summer's Skidmore Stakes. Co-owner Romans trains the Daredevil colt, and also enters longshot Rockies Balboa for his turf debut. Also making his turf debut is D. J. Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Kenneth Freirich's Ewing. The speedy son of Knicks Go impressed the Saratoga crowd last year with a 12-length maiden victory and a 1-length score against Obliteration in the Saratoga Special Stakes (G2). He makes his first start after a freshening since running a disappointing sixth in Oaklawn Park's Ozark Stakes in February. West Point also has the field's third graded winner in Intricate Spirit, whom they co-own with Madaket Stables and Kenneth and Gail Beitz. The son of Complexity corrected a four-race losing streak that followed his October Futurity Stakes (G3T) triumph May 23 with a sharp gate-to-wire performance in the Paradise Creek Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack. Stakes winners Throckmorton, who shifts from trainer Jose D'Angelo to Chad Summers, and Unwritten Rule also are among the field.