by Tom De Martini

Team Valor International’s and Vision Racing’s Visionaire overcame a slow start and a wide trip to sweep by a bevy of horses and score an impressive 2¼-length victory in the $250,000 NetJets King’s Bishop Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday.

Visionaire, sent off at 6.80-to-1, broke slowly under jockey Alan Garcia and was reserved at the back of the ten-horse field on Saratoga backstretch while longshot Gentleman James pressed 1.70-to-1 favorite J Be K and Golden Spikes through testing fractions of :22.39 and :44.73 for the King’s Bishop’s initial half-mile.

Garcia swung Visionaire into position on the far turn and needed to veer seven wide as six contenders turned into the stretch in near unison.

Garcia steered Visionaire clear of horses bumping to his inside in upper stretch, but once clear, the Kentucky-bred Grand Slam colt unleashed a powerful turn of foot and left the field of nine three-year-olds in his wake.

“Alan [Garcia] is riding very well right now, and the horse just has that one style of running,” winning trainer Michael Matz said. “It can get a little nerve-wracking. When I saw him that far behind after the first quarter, I said, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ “

Visionaire covered seven furlongs on a track rated as fast in 1:21.94. The win was the fifth on the Travers card for Garcia.

Centennial Farms’ Desert Key prevailed in a three-way photo finish for second, besting John Oxley’s I’m So Lucky by a nose. I’m So Lucky nipped Vinery Stable’s Lantana Mob by a nose for third.

Visionaire, out of the stakes-placed French Deputy mare Scarlet Tango, was a $220,000 purchase at the 2007 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. June sale of two-year-olds and horses of racing age sale.

The King’s Bishop was Visionaire’s second graded stakes victory of the year and his fifth win in ten starts. The $150,000 winner’s share boosted his career earnings to $462,287.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Tom De Martini is a New Jersey-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent