One of the highlights of Saratoga Race Course’s summer meet is set for Saturday, when the $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap will be run on the inner turf course. The Fourstardave is held at one mile and offers an automatic berth to the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park as part of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series. The race is named after a New York-bred gelding who won at least one race at the Spa every meet from 1987 to 1994, including two wins in this race.

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The Fourstardave has been won by some of the top grass racehorses of the past quarter-century-plus, including such standouts as Lure (1993), Da Hoss (1996), Leroidesanimaux (2005), Wise Dan (2012, 2013), Tourist (2016), World Approval (2017), and Got Stormy (2019, 2021).

This year’s 39^th renewal is headlined by Casa Creed, who won the 2022 Fourstardave and has earned more than  $2.1 million in six years of racing. The Fourstardave will be televised nationwide on FOX as part of the three-hour “Fox Saratoga Saturday” show. It has a scheduled post time of 5:44 p.m. ET.

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Read on for information about all of the Fourstardave starters:

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1. Emmanuel

Jockey: Jose Ortiz

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Owners: Siena Farm and WinStar Farm

Career record: 11 starts – 6 wins – 0 seconds – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $587,950

Earnings per start: $53,450

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 109

Pedigree: More Than Ready – Hard Cloth, by Hard Spun

Age: 4

Color: Bay

Running style: Stalker

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Emmanuel enters the Fourstardave off of a rallying neck score in the one-mile Poker Stakes at Belmont Park June 10. He was switched from dirt, where he made his first four career starts, to turf in June 2022 and won his very first win on that surface – the Pennine Ridge Stakes at nearly 1 1/8 miles – by a length. Since then, the More Than Ready colt has tallied three more graded stakes wins, including the Poker, and only finished off the board twice, being eased in the 2022 Caesars Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes and then finishing seventh in the Maker’s Mark Mile Stakes back in April after starting slow. Both of those were Grade 1 stakes, and this colt’s overall résumé positions him a rank below Fourstardave favorites Annapolis and Casa Creed. On the other hand, despite employing a stalking running style in his last several races, Emmanuel has experience winning on the front end, including his Pennine Ridge score last year. It would not be a surprise to see jockey Jose Ortiz put him on the lead early, get into a comfortable rhythm, and then try to open up on his opponents in early stretch in a grand theft attempt. Both So High and My Sea Cottage have early speed as well, but they are a couple of rungs (at least) below Emmanuel in terms of class. Todd Pletcher’s prior Fourstardave wins came with Red Giant (2008), Sidney’s Candy (2011), and Halladay (2020). 

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2. Full Screen

Jockey: Manny Franco

Trainer: Mark Casse

Owners: Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, and Gary Barber

Career record: 13 starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $129,585

Earnings per start: $9,968

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 99

Pedigree: Big Screen – Lyndenshire, by Langfuhr

Age: 4

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Stalker/closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Longshot Full Screen enters the Fourstardave off of a fifth-place finish in a 1 1/16-mile allowance-optional claiming race on Saratoga’s outer turf course, where he was bumped at the start and was rank in the early stages but made up some ground in the stretch to finish four lengths behind the winner. This gelding won two stakes races on Woodbine’s synthetic Tapeta Footing surface for Mark Casse in 2022, and his only win on turf came way back in his second career start when he held on by a neck in a 1 1/16-mile race at Tampa Bay Downs. He showed speed on occasion as a 3-year-old but this year has come from well back in the field in all three starts and his lowest post-time odds during that span are 26.80-1. Add it all up, and filling out the Fourstardave superfecta should be considered a success for this late runner. Mark Casse has enjoyed success in the Fourstardave recently and has three horses entered this year. He’s won the race three times in the past six years with World Approval in 2017 (who won the Breeders’ Cup Mile that fall) and then twice with fan favorite filly Got Stormy in 2019 and 2021. Manny Franco was aboard World Approval in 2017 for Casse.

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3. My Sea Cottage

Jockey: Dylan Davis

Trainer: Mark Casse

Owner: Gary Barber

Career record: 15 starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 6 thirds

Career earnings: $131,435

Earnings per start: $8,762

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 98

Pedigree: Shalaa – Shim Sham, by Danehill Dancer

Age: 5

Color: Bay

Running style: Pacesetter/press the pace

Notable achievements and interesting facts: This gelding could very well be entered in the Fourstardave as a pacesetter in order to help boost the win chances his stablemates Ice Chocolat and Full Screen – especially the former. My Sea Cottage exits a one-mile starter allowance race at Saratoga (restricted to horses that had run in a claiming race during a specified period of time) that he won by 2 ½ lengths after leading at every point of call. That followed four starts earlier this year at Belmont Park and Gulfstream Park in which he either led or vied for the early lead and fought well enough to finish second once and third three times. He’s been in career-best form over the past nine months while competing at a significantly lower level than the Grade 1 field he’ll face Saturday, so it’s safe to say that his win chances are remote. Look for Dylan Davis to be aggressive with My Sea Cottage and give Emmanuel and So High company in the front rank early on with the goal of setting a solid early pace. Mark Casse will attempt to win the Fourstardave for the fourth time in seven years, adding to World Approval’s win in 2017 and Got Stormy’s two memorable victories in 2019 and 2021.

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4. Annapolis

Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Owner: Bass Racing

Career record: 10 starts – 6 wins – 3 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $1,376,370

Earnings per start: $137,637

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 114

Pedigree: War Front – My Miss Sophia, by Unbridled’s Song

Age: 4

Color: Bay

Running style: Stalker

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Annapolis has finished either first or second in nine out of his 10 career starts, the only poor effort coming in last year’s FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF when he had a rough start and had to race wide late, finishing 11^th. Otherwise, he’s shown up big in every race with three graded stakes wins to date and has in fact been sent off as the post-time favorite seven out of 10 times, including both of his starts as a 4-year-old in 2023. Annapolis kicked off his campaign with a game head win in the listed Opening Verse Stakes at Churchill Downs in May as the 0.83-1 choice, and then rallied late but was outfinished by Casa Creed in the Kelso Stakes July 15 at Saratoga, settling for second by a length at 0.95-1 odds. This son of top turf sire War Front could very well be favored again in the Fourstardave despite the presence of defending winner Casa Creed, and he is obviously a big threat to win. Expect him to sit just off of the early leaders – and ahead of Casa Creed – for the first half-mile and then angle out for a stretch drive under Saratoga leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr.  Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has won this race three times with Red Giant (2008), Sidney’s Candy (2011), and Halladay (2020). 

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5. So High

Jockey: Ruben Silvera

Trainer: Naipaul Chatterpaul

Owner: Naipaul Chatterpaul

Career record: 22 starts – 3 wins – 4 seconds – 1 third

Career earnings: $161,300

Earnings per start: $7,332

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 111

Pedigree: Nathaniel – Fugitive Angel, by Alphabet Soup

Age: 7

Color: Chestnut

Running style: Pacesetter/press the pace

Notable achievements and interesting facts: So High’s presence in the Fourstardave field should ensure that the early fractions are honest at the very least. In his last start, the Nathaniel gelding bolted out to a five-length lead after a half-mile in the 1 3/8-mile United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 22 and remained in front after a mile before tiring in early stretch to finish seventh of nine runners. He has not won a race with his current owner and trainer (last visiting the winner’s circle in November 2020) but has, on occasion, shown enough fight to pick up a decent-sized check against tough company, his best career race coming back in May 2021 when he finished fifth by two lengths in the Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park and earned a 111 Equibase Speed Figure. He’s actually used to going longer, and the presence of My Sea Cottage and especially Emmanuel, who possess graded stakes-caliber turf speed, might empty his tank quicker than usual. So High will be prominent early, and very likely backtracking late.

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6. Casa Creed

Jockey: Luis Saez

Trainer: Bill Mott

Owners: LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable

Career record: 32 starts – 8 wins – 5 seconds – 5 thirds

Career earnings: $2,185,308

Earnings per start: $68,291

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 117

Pedigree: Jimmy Creed – Achalaya, by Bellamy Road

Age: 7

Color: Bay

Running style: Closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Still going strong at age 7, this throwback type seeks a repeat win in the Fourstardave after fashioning a record of one win, one second, and a third in his three prior starts and running very well in each of them. Casa Creed kicked off 2023 by shipping to Saudi Arabia and starting in the $1.5 million 1351 Turf Sprint Presented by STC held at about seven furlongs on turf, where he finished second by a head. He then returned to his Belmont Park base and tried for a third consecutive win in the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes, a six-furlong turf dash that’s a “Win and You’re In” race for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. He could not accomplish that impressive feat and finished third behind star filly Caravel and Big Invasion, a length out of first and a neck out of second. The Jimmy Creed horse next stretched out to a mile on Saratoga’s inner turf course and took the Kelso Stakes July 15 by a length over Annapolis in his prep for Saturday’s repeat bid for the Fourstardave. Casa Creed has excelled on the Spa’s inner turf course, having won the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes on it in 2019 and also finishing third in the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Fourstardave prior to last year’s 1 ½-length win. As a closer, he’ll need a solid pace to run into Saturday, and he will probably be trailing his two biggest threats, Annapolis and Emmanuel, when the field turns for home. Luis Saez knows this horse well, however, and should keep him in touch with that pair – close enough to give him a chance to unleash his patented late kick in the stretch. Saez was aboard Casa Creed for the win last year and has also won the Fourstardave on Grand Arch in 2015 and Halladay in 2020. In addition to 2022, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott won the Fourstardave with Hap (2000), Silver Tree (2007), Seek Again (2014), and Tourist (2016). His five Fourstardave wins are the most by any trainer.

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7. Ice Chocolat

Jockey: Joel Rosario

Trainer: Mark Casse

Owners: Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Peter Deutsch

Career record: 17 starts – 5 wins – 5 seconds – 1 third

Career earnings: $176,718

Earnings per start: $10,395

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 113

Pedigree: Goldikovic – Amor Chocolat, by Northern Afleet

Age: 5

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Ice Chocolat may be somewhat overlooked in the wagering pools come post time, but this Brazilian-bred gelding showed promise in his first Saratoga start last month in the one-mile Kelso Stakes. He was bumped and pinched after the start but recovered to save ground through most of the race and finish well to end up fourth, 2 ¼ lengths behind winner Casa Creed. That followed a better-than-it-looks sixth-place finish in the Jaipur Stakes at Belmont Park back in June, where Ice Chocolat outran his 63.50-1 odds to end up only three lengths out of first, and two lengths behind third-place Casa Creed. He won three out of four starts in Brazil before relocating to North America, where he’s done most of his running for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse at Woodbine with two runner-up finishes in graded stakes on the all-weather main track there. Based on his current form, Ice Chocolat should be making up ground in the stretch in the Fourstardave, and having stablemate My Sea Cottage entered should help ensure an honest pace – perhaps enough to get him in the exacta. Elite finishing rider Joel Rosario gets abord for the first time Saturday, another plus. Casse has won three out of the last six editions of the Fourstardave, with World Approval in 2017 (who won the Breeders’ Cup Mile that fall) and then twice with Got Stormy in 2019 and 2021. Rosario won the Fourstardave in 2014 with Seek Again and in 2016 with Tourist.

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