SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Cathkin Peak and Andthewinneris, two horses with plenty of back class but question marks around three turns, will take on proven stayers Foreign Relations and Six Minus going 1 5/8 miles over the turf, weather permitting, when racing resumes Wednesday at Saratoga in the $135,000 John’s Call Stakes.
Nine horses were entered for the John’s Call, three of those designated for the main track only. The long-range weather forecast was calling for nearly a 50 percent chance of rain on Wednesday.
Cathkin Peak has proven to be a popular item at the claim box thus far in 2024, having been haltered three times in his four starts this season, each time for $80,000. He will fly the colors of the meet’s leading owner, Flying P Stable, for the first time when he makes his local debut in the John’s Call. Cathkin Peak is currently trained by Mike Maker, whose Girl Dad won this event when taken off the turf and decided at 1 1/4 miles in 2022.
Cathkin Peak kept a steady diet of stakes company earlier in his career, finishing third in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby in his 3-year-old finale while also being graded stakes-placed on three consecutive occasions during his 4-year-old campaign in 2022. Now 6, Cathkin Peak has won just twice in 11 starts dating back to June 2022, his most recent victory coming at nine furlongs against allowance/optional-claiming competition in March at Santa Anita.
Distance will be the key Wednesday for Cathkin Peak, who has only started once beyond 1 1/8 miles in 19 previous outings but did turn in a creditable effort when finishing sixth while beaten less than three lengths in the 1 3/8-mile Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap a year ago.
Trainer Chad Brown will seek to win the John’s Call for a record fifth time with Andthewinneris. He was a Grade 2 winner during his 2-year-old campaign but has yet to compete beyond the nine furlongs he traveled finishing sixth while making his first start for Brown in a high-priced optional-claiming and allowance event earlier in the meet. Andthewinneris joined Brown’s stable for the current campaign after having made his first 10 starts with trainer Wayne Catalano.
“This horse strikes me, if he settles, he’ll run all day and it’s an interesting idea to run him this far,” Brown said. “He just gives me that feel. I’m still getting to know the horse.”
The grueling distance of the John’s Call should not be an issue for Foreign Relations who will make just his second start since October and first since finishing second under second-level allowance conditions traveling 1 1/2 miles on April 14 at Keeneland. Foreign Relations notched the most important victory of his career in May 2023 at Churchill Downs when rallying to capture the 12-furlong Grade 3 Louisville by 1 1/2 lengths for trainer Conor Murphy.
Six Minus is another who should relish the long journey, having already proven competitive on a couple of occasions going as far as two miles. He was third at that distance, beaten just a neck, in the Allen Jerkens last winter at Gulfstream Park and fifth in the Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup here on Belmont Stakes weekend. Six Minus will look to snap a 10-race winless streak that dates to February 2023 at Gulfstream.
Trainer Christophe Clement sent out Tawny Port to win this race a year ago and will look to go back-to-back with Winning Spirit, who makes only his second start in this country. Winning Spirit, a German-bred who will be equipped with blinkers for the first time, finished a distant seventh and last at 1 3/8 miles in his lone start in the United States in the Chorleywood Stakes on June 15 at Churchill.
– additional reporting by David Grening
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