Will Call Whisks Away in G3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint

LOUISVILLE, KY – Klein Racing’s homebred Will Call saved his best for when it counted, whisking away late to win Friday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes presented by Twinspires.com at Churchill Downs.

Breaking evenly from post 10 under Shaun Bridgmohan, Will Call settled between rivals early while the trio of Latent Revenge, Riser, and Restless Rambler pushed each other through opening splits of :21.92 and :44.81. Coming under a ride halfway through the 5-furlong distance, Bridgmohan angled Will Call out well into the clear, allowing him to reel in the leaders and clear away late to win by 1 1/4 lengths in a final time of :56.68.

“It worked out good,” Bridgmohan said. “From an outside post, I had to take a little hold. Going into the turn, I didn’t want to get forced very wide. Once I came out of the turn, I got him back to the outside. He switched leads and finished very nicely.”

Longshot Kid Perfect was able to get up late for second by a neck past Bucchero after the latter was bumped around slightly in the stretch. Another head back came Delectation while Frisky Magician took fifth by a head over the 2-1 favorite Vision Perfect. The rest of the field came across as Sonic Boom, Riser, Latent Revenge, and Restless Rambler. Flashaway was scratched.

Will Call’s win was his first graded stakes score in his second graded attempt, having run a troubled ninth last out in the Grade 2 Shakertown Stakes at Keeneland. The 4-year-old son of Country Day improved his record to 9-5-1-1 with career earnings of $232,521 for trainer Brad Cox.

“He was training extremely well and I had a lot of confidence in him going into that Keeneland race,” Cox said. “For whatever reason, it just didn’t work out that day. But, he really showed up today. I really liked him coming into the race. His two works over this course have been fantastic. He broke off, settled and fired home, just like he did today. It was a huge effort.”

Will Call returned $15.60 to win, $7.20 to place, and $4.20 to show. Kid Perfect brought back $13.40 to place and $7 to show, while Bucchero paid $3.80 to show.