Team Valor International and Vision Racing’s Visionaire had run third to Pyro in his only start around two turns and was something of a mystery horse when he went to the starting gate Saturday afternoon at foggy Aqueduct for the 56th running of the Grade 3, $250,000 Gotham for three-year-olds at a mile and a sixteenth.

But the Grand Slam colt established himself as a clear contender in the three-year-old picture as he handled the distance and thee sloppy track and collared Texas Wildcatter in the final jumps to win the Gotham by nose in 1:44.60. He returned $11 to win.

The Gotham was a racecaller’s nightmare, as the thick fog forced 3,271 on-track fans to watch the race unfold through various television angles. But when track announcer John Imbriale finally picked up the 10-horse after favored Saratoga Russell got the first quarter in :23.78, he said merely: “. . . At the back, Visionaire.”

“We went in the TV room and couldn’t see a darn thing,” said Team Valor’s Barry Irwin. “We couldn’t see anything until the stretch. That’s the way to watch a horse race: just watch the last eighth, then you don’t get nervous. We were very nervous because of the way the track was playing.”

The source of the worry was rain that started Friday night and washed out Saturday, leaving a sloppy/sealed track in its wake. When it wasn’t raining, the fog rolled in and the fans figured such conditions favored Saratoga Russell, who they made the post-time favorite.

Saratoga Russell appeared to relish the role, and went to the lead under jockey Eibar Coa, setting the pace of :23.78, 46.37 and 1:11.40. But while the track appeared to take its toll on the leaders, Texas Wildcatter was taking it all in.

Equipped with blinkers since his third-place finish here in the Whirlaway back on February 2, Texas Wildcatter moved to a clear lead under jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. and seemed to have the race in hand in the lane.

Suddenly, Visionaire came out of the fog under jockey Jose Lezcano to win in 1:44.60.

“I knew there was some speed in the race, and I was in no hurry to ask my horse,” Lezcano said. “My plan was just to make one move and come with a strong finish. I felt I had a lot of horse coming off the turn. I think he showed how good a horse he was today. He handled everything.”

Team Valor, who won the 1997 Wood Memorial with Captain Bodgit in the slop, may point Visionaire to the 84th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial for three-year-olds at nine furlongs will be run on Aqueduct’s main track on Saturday, April 5. The Wood Memorial is New York’s last major prep for the Kentucky Derby, which will be run on May 3.

The Wood Memorial could mean a rematch for Visionaire and Texas Wildcatter.

“The horse ran well,” said Seth Benzel, assistant to Texas Wildcatter’s trainer, Todd Pletcher. “He made a lot of improvement off his last race. It looks like blinkers were a success. We’ll look toward the Wood Memorial and hopefully take ‘em on again.”

Larrys Revenge was a distant third, followed by Roman Emperor, Ling Ling Qi, Holidaze, Southern Terminus, Saratoga Russell and the previously unbeaten New York-bred Giant Moon.

“The first quarter was great, but they went a :23 flat second quarter and that might have been his undoing,” said Rick Violette Jr., trainer of Saratoga Russell. “Eibar (Coa, jockey) said he heard some noise galloping out, so he could have displaced or he could just have been really tired. We might go back to sprinting before stretching him out again to give him some confidence back. This is a setback and I’m not sure the first Saturday in May is in our sights.”

The first Saturday in May has also eclipsed Giant Moon.

“He was very upset with the surface,” said trainer Richard Schosberg. “You can tell he was not handling it at all. He’s obviously better than that. We’ve got a lot of thinking to do now. Obviously, the main concern is to make sure he’s okay.”