ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill – The American Derby starts an all-stakes pick four on the Saturday card at Arlington, and multi-race bettors might find a single here to start what could prove to be a tricky sequence. Better yet, potential standout World Approval is 2-1 on the Arlington morning line, and even if he drops shorter in the win pool, he won’t be bet like a standout. His Beyer Speed Figures are middling relative to the competition, and World Approval has yet to win a stakes race, but he looks like a snug fit for the American Derby. While World Approval – a half-brother to the excellent turf horses Za Approval and Miesque’s Approval – actually moves from the ungraded Pennine Ridge into the Grade 3, $100,000 American Derby, he definitely is taking a class drop. At Belmont last out, he finished a close fourth behind Divisdero, Takeover Target, and Startup Nation, all three horses stronger than anything he meets Saturday. Two races ago, World Approval was third in the American Turf at Churchill behind Divisidero and A Lot, the latter subsequently a sharp Belmont stakes winner over seven furlongs on turf.   The competition might have been similar, but the tactics employed by World Approval sharply diverged in the two races. In the American Turf, World Approval rallied from 13th and was passing horses in the homestretch. Last out, he sat second and was mildly outfinished late. “That was kind of planned,” said trainer Mark Casse. “There wasn’t any speed in the last race, and I didn’t want to come from last. He ran hard. When they quickened, they were a little too fast for him.” Casse considered returning to Belmont for the $1.25 million Belmont Derby but wanted to find a softer race that World Approval could win and has done so. The colt has worked strongly between starts, posting near-bullet dirt drills at Churchill. “The last work especially, that’s not like him since he’s not much of a work horse,” said Casse. Arlington-based Nun the Less probably is better than his sixth-place finish in the American Turf and has trained with verve recently, trainer Chris Block said. The rail-drawn Crittenden has won 3 of 4 grass starts and was just up over another Block horse, Oak Brook, in an Indiana Grand turf stakes last out. Firespike will attract some betting support but ran his best race on Polytrack, not turf. :: DRF Live: Get real-time updates and insights from DRF reporters and handicappers on Saturday The Pizza Man finds soft spot The Pizza Man was cross-entered in the Arlington Handicap and the Stars and Stripes. Since he carries a lighter weight in the Stars and Stripes and would face what looks like softer competition, as of Thursday, his connections were leaning toward running in the Stars and Stripes, a race The Pizza Man won in 2014. The 12-furlong distance of the race is no impediment as The Pizza Man won the $400,000 American St. Leger over nearly 1 3/4 miles on Arlington Million Day last summer. He had a strong 2015 comeback race, winning the Opening Verse at Churchill, and since then has worked strongly for trainer Roger Brueggemann at the Churchill Downs training center in Louisville, Ky. Xtra Luck exits a victory in the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap and has thrived since being stretched to 12 furlongs this year. “He’s one of those horses that has thrived with more distance,” said trainer Neil Howard, who believes Xtra Luck is coming into this race as well as he entered his last. Dramedy might have been a player in the Stars and Stripes, but his connections probably are starting him instead in the Arlington Handicap. Mister Marti Gras, meanwhile, was cross-entered at Canterbury Park, but as of Thursday, he was perhaps slightly more likely to run here. Versatile and consistent, Mister Marti Gras never has raced beyond 1 1/4 miles, but trainer Block thinks the long trip might suit him and has the same hope for his longer-priced entrant in the race, Afortable. The filly Three Hearts, taken out of her best pace-tracking game last out with a slow start in the Grade 1 Gamely, should race with Xtra Luck not far off the pace of Roman Approval and benefits from a significant break in the weights because of her sex.