Blind Ambition Returns to Turf, Winner’s Circle in $100,000 Quick Call

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – Gainesway Stable’s Blind Ambition reverted back to his winning ways while returning to the turf in Wednesday’s $100,000 Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Blind Ambition and jockey Javier Castellano broke well, settling in alongside Malraux. The pair raced behind Expedited Vision, who led the field through fractions of :22.42 and :44.76. Spinning just off the inside for home, Blind Ambition rallied with a furlong to go and caught Expedited Vision just before the wire, finishing a 1/2-length ahead. The Todd Pletcher trainee completed the 5 1/2-furlong race in :1:01.52.

“I really like this horse,” Castellano said. “When we got to the top of the stretch, he kept going forward. The 5 (Expedited Vision) set the pace and made the rest of us come at him. I just like the way he did it. He finished really strong, and I’m personally satisfied with the way he did it.”

After beginning his career with two uninspiring dirt performances, Pletcher switched the 3-year-old son of Tapit over to the turf, where he won both attempts. Pletcher had him try dirt once more in the Grade 3 Carry Back, but a lackluster seventh-place effort convinced Pletcher that grass was the surface on which Blind Ambition was born to run.

“He came to us very well bred,” Pletcher said. “We figured we might as well try him on the dirt, but he excelled on the grass, and after the Carry Back, we were pointing for this race and thought it was a good spot for him.”

Expedited Vision finished 6 lengths ahead of The Money Monster, with Mongo Nation, Indy Hill, and Malraux completing the order of finish.

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Blind Ambition returned $4.80 to win, $2.80 to place, and $2.20 to show. Expedited Vision brought back $3.70 to place and $2.80 to show, while The Money Monster paid $3.20 to show.