Rhetorical gets back to work with Fourstardave the goal

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Rhetorical, the two-time Grade 1-winning New York-bred, returned to the work tab on Wednesday at Churchill Downs and if all continues to go well he will make the Grade 1 Fourstardave here on Aug. 8, trainer Will Walden said Thursday.

Rhetorical had been dealing with a fungal infection on his foot when he finished fourth, beaten 1 1/4 lengths, in the Grade 1 Manhattan here in June. Rhetorical returned to Churchill and was off the work tab for a month before Wednesday when he breezed a half-mile in 49.60 seconds.

“As long as we hit every mark from here on out, he’ll come up the week of the Fourstardave,” Walden said. “He’s doing great.”

Walden said he was hoping to have gotten Rhetorical back to the work tab a week earlier, “but he does enough in his work and he’s fit. He didn’t lose too much [conditioning]. We’ll tighten him up over the next couple [of weeks] and he’ll be ready.”

Rhetorical won the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill in May before he finished fourth in the Manhattan. He was beaten by Deterministic, who is also being pointed to the Fourstardave.

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