Weekend Hideaway seeks another stakes win in Quick Call

Multiple stakes winner Weekend Hideaway will attempt to remain unbeaten on

the turf when he competes in the $100,000

Quick Call

at Saratoga on Thursday. The Quick Call, a 5 1/2-furlong dash, is restricted to

three-year-olds.

A winner of the David and the Bertram F. Bongard against New York-breds as a

two-year-old, Weekend Hideaway captured his first three-year-old stakes when

trying turf in the Gone Fishin overnight stakes on June 28 at Belmont. In the

Gone Fishin, Weekend Hideaway quickly seized a clear lead and ran away to a 4

3/4-length score.

Jose Lezcano, who was aboard for all three of Weekend Hideaway's stakes wins,

will ride the 3-1 morning-line favorite.

No Distinction, a winner of three straight, will make his turf, New York, and

stakes debut in the Quick Call. After breaking his maiden at Oaklawn Park in

April, the No Distinction rattled off two allowance triumphs at Churchill Downs

The Brothers War, a listed stakes winner in France, will make his first

stateside start in the Quick Call. He was purchased privately by Team Valor and

Allen Stable after taking the Prix Sigy at Chantilly and has made one start for

his current connections, finishing 11th of 21 in the Jersey Stakes at Royal

Ascot on June 19. Rick Mettee now trains the son of War Front.

The field also includes the coupled entry of Salutos Amigos and I'm Wide

Awake, as well as Stage Street, Central Banker, Bernie the Jet, and Strike the

Note. The Truth and K G was entered for the main track only.

Trainer Tom Bush knows he has his hands full Thursday when he sends out his

multiple stakes winner Beautiful But Blue in the seven-furlong, $100,000

Lotsa Talc

for New York-bred fillies and mares.

"You've got Miss Valentine, Clear Pasaj for Bruce Levine, and Willet," Bush

said, rattling off the names of some of the stiff opposition. "It's a tough

race. All those fillies are competitive probably in open races. It's the

improved New York program, for sure."

Something will have to give in the Lotsa Talc, and the horses in the field of

six scheduled to run make few errors. Combine each of the runners' past eight

races and you get a record of 18 wins, 15 seconds and eight thirds from 48

starts with only seven off-the-board finishes.

Beautiful But Blue, a four-year-old daughter of El Corredor, had a terrific

meet at Saratoga last summer, winning the $100,000 Fleet Indian for state-breds

by 2 3/4 lengths at the Lotsa Talc distance and then finishing a close-up third

in the Test.

Since then, she has placed in four of five starts -- all stakes races -- but

hasn't won. Bush said Beautiful But Blue is in strong form, but he dismissed the

suggestion that she might be at her best at Saratoga.

"She's doing very well," Bush said. "I'm tickled to death to run her. The

race, they don't give it away, that's for sure. She won a stake at Belmont and

won a stake here, too. She also won one at Aqueduct. She can run wherever; she's

versatile. She's come back good this year and run very well twice. We're

expecting her to do the same again."

Steeplechase racing kicks off Thurday with the $75,000

Jonathan

Kiser Novice Stakes, one of two Saratoga races for steeplechasing's

rising-star division. A field of 12 was entered for the 2 1/16-mile race over

national fences, with the Jonathan Sheppard-trained entry of Martini Brother,

winner of a Radnor Hunt allowance hurdle in May, and Powerofone, a two-time

winner this spring, listed at 3-1 on the morning line.

Another emerging star is Dr. Skip, who has won his two career starts over

fences by daylight. He most recently won a Parx Racing allowance by seven

lengths on June 25 and is part of a 7-2 entry with Extraextraordinary.

Rounding out the field are Barnstorming, Forgotten Man, Alajmal, Kingdom,

Sulwaan, Constant Contact, Sharp Numbers, and Bodie Island.

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