After a weekend featuring one of the most important prep races for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic wrapped up with White Abarrio winning the Whitney Stakes, attention turns to turf racing this upcoming weekend with three Challenge Series preps on the schedule. The 39^th running of the Fourstardave Handicap is set for Saturday, Aug. 12 at Saratoga; the one-mile turf event is an automatic qualifier for the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF. Also on Saturday, the Beverly D. Stakes will be held for the first time at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va. The 1 3/16-mile test grants its winner a “Win and You’re In” berth in the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. One day later and overseas in France, the Prix du Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard Jacques Le Marois held at Deauville Racecourse is also a Challenge Series qualifier for the FanDuel Mile.

The Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf and FanDuel Mile will both be run on the second day of the two-day World Championships this fall, scheduled for Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park.

In addition to those races, several other graded stakes on tap this week in the U.S. have influenced the Breeders’ Cup through the years, starting with the Arlington Million Stakes, which will also be held for the first time at Colonial Downs on Saturday.

Read on for a preview of what should be an exciting weekend of racing on the road to the 40^th Breeders’ Cup.

Fourstardave Handicap

Where: Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

When: Saturday, Aug. 12

How to watch: FOX

“Win and You’re In” for: FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF

Why it’s important: First run in 1985 as the Daryl’s Joy Stakes, the Fourstardave was renamed to honor its two-time race winner (known as “The Sultan of Saratoga”) in 1996. Six horses have won the one-mile

Fourstardave and the Breeders’ Cup Mile in the same year, and many others have run well in both races. Overall, the Fourstardave is neck-and-neck with the Ricoh Woodbine Mile as the most influential domestic prep race for turf milers pointing to the Breeders’ Cup. The six dual winners are: Steinlen (1989), Hall of Famer Lure (1993), Da Hoss (1996), Wise Dan (2012, 2013), Tourist (2016), and World Approval (2017).

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Best winner during the Breeders’ Cup era: Fourstardave victors Lure and Da Hoss both won two editions of the Breeders’ Cup mile overall, and Da Hoss came back from nearly a two-year layoff to secure his second in 1998. That being said, the clear choice is Wise Dan, who strung together an absolutely dominant sequence of races for over three years. It started in his first turf start and the 10^th of his career, when he won a Grade 2 grass race at Churchill Downs in July 2011. The gelding then switched back and forth between turf, dirt, and all-weather racing and picked up several prestigious wins before being moved permanently to turf (except for one rained-off race) by trainer Charles LoPresti. That move occurred in the 2012 Fourstardave, which Wise Dan won by a comfortable five lengths. Three starts later, he captured his first BC Mile at Santa Anita Park by 1 ½ lengths.

By summer 2013, Wise Dan was on a seven-race winning streak that started the year before in the Fourstardave, and he tallied a repeat at Saratoga to extend it to eight. He’d win a second consecutive Woodbine Mile as well before finishing second in a Keeneland Grade 1 that was, as mentioned above, washed off the grass and moved to a synthetic track, but Wise Dan rebounded to win his second consecutive BC Mile back at Santa Anita by three-quarters of a length. Morton Fink’s popular gelding was a runaway winner as Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards for both 2012 and 2013, a rare accomplishment for a turf miler, and he entered the Racing Hall of Fame in 2020.

Last year’s winner: Casa Creed rallied in the stretch to win the Fourstardave by 1 ½ lengths over 1-2 favorite Regal Glory, improving off of a third-place finish in the race in 2021. The Bill Mott trainee then finished fifth in the Coolmore Mile Stakes at Keeneland and was shortened up for a try in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, where he finished a puzzling ninth out of 14 starters.

2023 field: Casa Creed has rounded back into good form in his three starts this year at age 7, finishing second in a turf sprint in Saudi Arabia, third in the Jaipur Stakes at Belmont Park (losing his bid for a three-peat) and then first in the one-mile Kelso Stakes at Saratoga on July 15, a race that like the Fourstardave is held on the Spa’s inner turf course. Casa Creed aims to notch his second win in the Fourstardave this Saturday.

Beverly D. Stakes

Where: Colonial Downs, New Kent, Va.

When: Saturday, Aug. 12

How to watch: FanDuel TV

“Win and You’re In” for: Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf

Sistercharlie in 2018. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Why it’s important: The Beverly D. was first run in 1987 and was arguably the second most prestigious race of Arlington International Racecourse’s summer meet (it was named after Arlington founder Richard Duchossois’s wife). The 1 3/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares often sent contestants on to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf after that race was launched in 1999, and there have been two dual winners within the same year: Dank in 2013 and Sistercharlie in 2018. After Arlington closed permanently in 2021, the Beverly D. was held at Churchill Downs (parent company of Arlington) last summer and will be held at Colonial Downs (acquired by Churchill last fall) this year.

Best winner during the Breeders’ Cup era: Sistercharlie gave fans a thrill nearly every time she raced after moving from France to the U.S. in 2017. The late-running filly had already won two Grade 1 stakes by the time she appeared in the 2018 Beverly D., and she unleashed her patented closing kick to win by a half-length under regular rider John Velazquez. Trainer Chad Brown rested Sistercharlie for 2 ½ months before bringing her back in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs, and once again she rallied furiously late to get up and win, this time by a neck. Owner Peter Brant brought his newly minted Eclipse Award-winning champion turf female back for a 5-year-old campaign in 2019, and Sistercharlie won the Beverly D. again but could not repeat the double in the Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita Park, finishing third.

Last year’s winner: Dalika won the Beverly D. at Churchill Downs by a pace-controlling half-length for trainer Al Stall Jr. but did not contest the Filly and Mare Turf.

Prix du Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard Jacques Le Marois

Where: Deauville Racecourse, Deauville, France

When: Sunday, Aug. 13

How to watch: FS1

“Win and You’re In” for: FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF

Why it’s important: The Jacques Le Marois, held at 1,600 meters (about one mile) was added to the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series in 2010. But its influence on the World Championships goes back over 20 years earlier, as the legendary Miesque won both the Jacques Le Marois and the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 1987 and 1988. The daughter of Nureyev won Eclipse Awards both of those years in the U.S. to accompany multiple champion titles in England and France.

Two more European stars won the Jacques Le Marois and BC Mile in same calendar year before it became a “Win and You’re In” race: Spinning World in 1997 and Six Perfections in 2003. In addition, the regally bred Banks Hill won the two races in separate years, capturing the BC Mile in 2001 and the Jacques Le Marois in 2002.

The great Goldikova in 2009. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Best winner during the Breeders’ Cup era: Only one mare has won the Jacques Le Marois and Breeders’ Cup Mile in the same year since the former race was added to the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, but Hall of Famer Goldikova would be a good bet to earn this designation even if several other females qualified. The Irish-bred daughter of Anabaa trained by Freddy Head (who was Miesque’s jockey) won an incredible three consecutive editions of the Breeders’ Cup Mile from 2008-10, and nearly won a fourth in 2011 only to yield late in the stretch at Churchill Downs. Goldikova won the 2009 Jacques Le Marois by a dominant six lengths two starts prior to her second BC Mile win at Santa Anita. She also finished second in the Jacques Le Marois in both 2010 and 2011.

2023 starters: Last year’s Jacques Le Marois winner Inspiral (who did not ship to the U.S. for the Breeders’ Cup) is listed as a probable for this year’s renewal on Sunday, as is Modern Games. That world-traveling star won last year’s FanDuel BC Mile at Keeneland by three-quarters of a length to accompany his win a year before in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar. 

Other weekend races:

The Arlington Million Stakes has been a cornerstone of American racing since its inaugural running in 1981 due to its record-breaking seven-figure purse and its first winner, future Hall of Famer John Henry (who also won the 1984 Million). The first Arlington Million winner to train on and win a Breeders’ Cup race in the same year was the abovementioned Steinlen, who won the 1 ¼-mile Million in 1989 and was shortened up two starts later for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, which he won by three-quarters of a length at Gulfstream Park.

Little Mike wins the Million. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Thereafter, most Arlington Million runners who trained on to compete in the Breeders’ Cup did so in the 1 ½-mile Turf, but despite several near-misses no horse was able to win both races in the same year until 2012, when the hard-knocking gelding Little Mike accomplished the double for co-owner and trainer Carlo Vaccarezza. Little Mike made his first start at a mile and a quarter in the Million and carried his speed under Ramon Dominguez to win by 1 ½ lengths. After finishing fifth by 28 ½ lengths in his next start, the 1 ½-mile Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Stakes, Little Mike was sent off as a 17.30-1 odds when trying that distance again in the BC Turf at Santa Anita Park. He switched tactics and came from off the pace to pull the upset, with Dominguez in the saddle again.

Seven years after Little Mike broke through, another horse won both the Arlington Million and the Longines Turf in the same year, and this one took home Horse of the Year honors. Bricks and Mortar completed a 6-for-6 campaign that year with a thrilling head victory over longshot United in the Longines Turf at Santa Anita Park, which came after a nearly three-month layoff following his rallying three-quarter-length score in the Million.

Like the Beverly D., the Arlington Million was held at Churchill Downs in 2022 and will be held for the first time at Colonial Downs Saturday.

Among other graded stakes this weekend, the Saratoga Special Stakes for 2-year-olds was won way back in 1987 by Favorite Trick as part of that colt’s unbeaten 8-for-8 campaign that included a win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and netted him Horse of the Year honors as a juvenile.

Out in California, the Yellow Ribbon Handicap for turf females at Del Mar was won in 2005 by Intercontinental, a Bobby Frankel trainee who two starts later upset superstar Ouija Board and several other top-class runners in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Belmont Park.

Also at Del Mar, the six-furlong Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies served as the coming-out party for Champagne Room in 2016, as the Peter Eurton-trained filly broke her maiden in the Grade 2 event, making her second career start. Three races later, Champagne Room scored a 33.60-1 upset win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Park en route to receiving an Eclipse Award as divisional champion. Del Mar’s companion race for 2-year-old males, the Best Pal Stakes, was won in 2015 by Nyquist. That supremely talented colt then took the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland that fall as part of an eight-race winning streak to start his career which included, as a final tally, the 2016 Kentucky Derby.