It's Take 2 for Fourstardave Handicap, Adirondack Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainers often say they wish they had one more week or one more work before running their horse in a race.

Trainers who had horses pointed for the Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave got the extra week, and on Monday, many put their horses through an extra work in preparation for the race that will now be run this Saturday.

The Fourstardave was one of six races lost last Saturday when management was forced to cancel the last half of the card after heavy rains made the main track unsafe, according to the riders. At the time of the cancellation, the Fourstardave was still scheduled to be run on the turf.

Bill Mott, the trainer of Fourstardave morning-line favorite Tourist, was glad the one-mile race wasn’t run last Saturday.

“I would rather run on a good-to-firm turf course than a bottomless one,” Mott said Monday. “I can’t imagine there was more than one or two people in that race that were excited to run on that.”

The fourth race on Saturday was run on the turf, and chunks of grass were being kicked up. There was no turf racing here Sunday, though grass racing returned Monday.

“It was ground that was just peeling away,” Mott said. “It happened so quickly, the rain didn’t have time to soak in and become a soft turf course. It was a slippery turf course.”

The field for the Fourstardave is expected to remain virtually intact from last week, when nine horses were entered for turf and Weekend Hideaway was entered for the main track only.

On Monday, Mott sent Tourist out for a half-mile move in 50.67 seconds over a “good” Oklahoma turf course. Tourist got his final quarter in 24.81 seconds.

“I thought it was real good,” Mott said.

Ring Weekend, the 3-1 second choice on the morning line, also got in a work over the Oklahoma turf, going five furlongs in 1:03.77.

Blacktype, coming off a neck victory in the Grade 3 Oceanport at Monmouth on July 31, worked four furlongs in 49.40 seconds, making up two lengths on stablemate Stella Rose. Trainer Christophe Clement had entered Blacktype back in two weeks hoping to catch soft turf.

“The idea was to run him last weekend because he kind of likes soft,” Clement said. “But the plan is to reenter this week. There’s rain in the forecast. As long as the ground is on the soft side, we’ll probably run him.”

Takeover Target and A Lot, trainer Chad Brown’s Fourstardave duo, worked a half-mile in company in 49.54 seconds over the Oklahoma dirt course. King Kreesa, another Fourstardave contender, worked a half-mile in 51.02 seconds over the Oklahoma dirt course.

Romantic Music in Adirondack

The Grade 2, $200,000 Adirondack Stakes for 2-year-old fillies also was canceled last Saturday due to the weather and will now be run Friday as part of an 11-race card.

The Adirondack, at 6 1/2 furlongs, picked up a new player in Romantic Music, a debut winner for trainer Derek Ryan at Monmouth on Aug. 5.
Romantic Music, a daughter of Maclean’s Music, drew the rail and will be ridden by Kendrick Carmouche.

The remainder of the field is the same as it was a week ago. Outside of Romantic Music in post-position order are Nonna Mela, Olive Branch, Dial Me, Ever So Clever, Silvertoni, and Libby’s Tail.

Also on Friday’s card is the $100,000 Skidmore Stakes for 2-year-olds on turf. Wellabled, a debut winner over synthetic at Arlington Park; the debut turf winners Freud’s Friend, Harlan’s Harmony, and Iron Mane; and the maidens Gemologister and Mbrace Grace comprise that field.