Forza Di Oro will have a test in his comeback race
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – For the second time, Forza Di Oro is starting over.
Forza Di Oro, last seen winning the Grade 3 Discovery on Nov. 28 at Aqueduct, makes his belated 4-year-old debut in a $110,000 third-level allowance going 1 1/8 miles on Wednesday at Saratoga.
A son of Speightstown, Forza Di Oro went 2 for 2 as a 3-year-old, winning a first-level allowance last October following a 10-month layoff. That respite was precipitated by a hind ankle injury. This time off was due to a front ankle chip fracture that required surgery.
“He’s been a little bit of a project,” trainer Bill Mott said. “I thought at one time he was going to be a horse that could participate at the top end, but they’ve got to prove it.”
Wednesday’s race figures to be a good test for Forza Di Oro with the likes of American Dubai, Empty Tomb, and West Will Power in the field.
American Dubai, an 8-year-old son of E Dubai trained by Robertino Diodoro, won a money-allowance race by seven lengths at Oaklawn in April. In the $150,000 Blame Stakes on May 29 at Churchill, American Dubai set the pace before fading to fourth, 2 1/4 lengths behind 2020 Queen’s Plate winner Mighty Heart, who came back to win the Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes on July 1 at Woodbine.
American Dubai as well as Empty Tomb, who won the third-level condition on May 23 at Churchill, are both in for the optional claiming price of $100,000.
Highest Honors, who won the Curlin Stakes in 2019 for trainer Chad Brown, is coming off a second-level allowance win at Belmont; Core Beliefs, a multiple graded stakes winner in his younger days; West Will Power, fourth last out in the Grade 3 Salvator Mile; and Trident Hit complete the field.