Carl Spackler gives Brown first Fourstardave victory
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The heavy rain stopped coming down in Saratoga long enough for Carl Spackler to play his game to a tee, overtaking the pacesetting Strong Quality in upper stretch and bounding home a convincing 3 1/2-length winner of Sunday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap.
More Than Looks rallied from fifth to finish second by 1 1/2 lengths over favored Ottoman Fleet. Strong Quality finished fourth, followed by Major Dude and Money Supply, who leapt in the air at the break and trailed throughout. Master of the Seas was announced earlier in the week as a scratch due to a bruised foot.
Carl Spackler, named for the groundskeeper in the popular movie comedy “Caddyshack,” not only notched his first Grade 1 victory, but also gave trainer Chad Brown his first success in the Fourstardave, a race in which he had finished second six times.
“I haven’t won it because it’s a hard race to win,” Brown said in the winner’s circle. “That makes it even more special. It’s a very challenging race to win.”
Carl Spackler, a multiple graded stakes winner at Saratoga last summer, overcame significant challenges to make it back to the races in 2024. Sent from New York to Keeneland for a stakes last October, Carl Spackler didn’t ship well and eventually needed colic surgery, performed at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington.
“A lot of horses don’t come back the same way,” said Brown, who credited Carl Spackler’s owner Bob Edwards, the staff at Rood and Riddle and Indian Creek Farm and Ian Brennan at Stonestreet Farm in Ocala with rehabbing the horse. “When they gave the horse back to me, I couldn’t believe how much he had matured and he actually had gotten better. Those things don’t often happy after colic surgery.”
Carl Spackler got almost a similar trip in the Fourstardave as he did in the Grade 3 Kelso last month and last year’s Grade 2 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, stalking a speed horse from second, taking over and getting the victory. This looked to be the most visually impressive of his six career wins.
“This sure looked like a horse that was sitting on a big number,” Brown said. “He was capable of it, he had flirted with running a monster number before. He wins, but I had a feeling today - and with a little bit of cut in the ground he’s even a little better - was going to be his day and it was.”
Carl Spackler, a 4-year-old son of Lope de Vega owned by Edwards’ e Five Racing, covered the mile over good ground in 1:36.63 and returned $6.10. The victory earned Carl Spackler an automatic berth into the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
The victory capped a huge week for jockey Tyler Gaffalione, who won 10 races from 29 mounts in the four days of racing this week at Saratoga. There was no racing on Friday at Saratoga due to heavy rains, which also forced the New York Racing Association to run the Fourstardave and the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby on Sunday instead of Saturday as was scheduled.
For Gaffalione, the victory had additional meaning as Edwards is his father-in-law.
“To cap [the week] off with a win like this and celebrate with the family is amazing,” said Gaffalione, whose three wins Sunday give him 27 for the meet, six behind Irad Ortiz Jr. “This is why we do this, this is the place we want to be, and to accomplish these things is truly amazing.”
More Than Looks, making his first start since last November’s Breeders’ Cup Mile, did well to finish second. He had been targeting his return in the Lure Stakes last weekend, but wound up here when that race got rained off the turf.
“It’s great he finished second in a Grade 1 and [we were] not really targeting it and he was closing,” trainer Cherie DeVaux said. “I think he wants a firmer turf course than this, but not taking anything away or making excuses.”
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