Coglianese /NYRA Photo Photo

G2 King Edward winner Delta Prince fires a bullet for G1 Fourstardave

by NYRA Press Office

• Made You Look to step up in Fourstardave; Brown finalizes Arlington contingent
• Heart to Heart, Oscar Performance breeze for respective Grade 1 starts
• Accomplished field takes aim at Friday’s Tale of the Cat
• Cupecoy’s Joy rematch on tap in Thursday’s NYSS Statue of Liberty

Stronach Stable’s Delta Prince turned in a sharp, five-furlong breeze Monday morning ahead of his expected bid in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap at a mile on the turf at Saratoga Race Course.

The 5-year-old half-brother to three-time Eclipse Award winner Royal Delta, Delta Prince breezed in company with 3-year-old maiden Timber Ghost over the Oklahoma training track for trainer Jimmy Jerkens. The pair completed the move in 1:00.31 seconds, the fastest of 20 at the distance.

It was Delta Prince’s third work – all at Saratoga – since returning from a nearly 10-month layoff to win the Grade 2 King Edward by 1 ¾ lengths on June 30 at Woodbine. Last Monday, the son of Street Cry breezed five furlongs over the Oklahoma turf course in 1:03.19.

“He seems like he’s come out of his last race pretty good,” said Jerkens. “I hope by then the turf course firms up a little bit. He ran good [in the in the King Edward]; the turf was nice and firm. When they’ve been out that long, that helps you when it’s not fighting against you.”

Delta Prince didn’t start until the fall of his sophomore year and broke his maiden in his third try that December. Last year, Delta Prince won a pair of allowance races and finished second in the Grade 3 Appleton. He closed out his season with a third-place finish behind Heart to Heart and Forge in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap on closing day of Saratoga.

“He always was very honest, very professional. We just had to give him time,” said Jerkens. “He had a lot of little things go wrong and it just went against him for a while. When he got to Florida, it just looked like he needed time off, so he went back to the farm in Ocala and that did him a lot of good.”

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Made You Look to step up in Fourstardave; Brown finalizes Arlington contingent

Klaravich Stable’s multiple graded stakes winner Separationofpowers has emerged from her neck victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Test in fine fettle, said trainer Chad Brown, who added that the connections will take their time deciding her next assignment.

“I was really pleased with her performance,” said Brown said of the 3-year-old Candy Ride filly. “She ran super and she showed a lot of heart through the stretch. [We] still have no plans for her as of yet going forward, but she’s exited in good order.”

Brown also lauded the efforts of Uni and Precieuse, who finished first and second, respectively, in Saturday’s Fasig-Tipton De La Rose.

“They both ran terrific,” said Brown. Uni was in a perfect position and she wasn’t going to be a loser there. Precieuse had been off for 13 months and really ran a great race and hopefully she’s on to bigger and better things.”

Brown said Backyard Heaven is no worse for wear following his seventh-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney and noted that the 4-year-old Tiznow colt didn’t seem able to put in his top effort over the sloppy and sealed track that resulted from a late deluge of rain in the afternoon.

“He came out of the race fine so far,” said Brown. “He just didn’t handle the track, which is disappointing. Two starts in a row where it wasn’t the best conditions to try to run in. That being said, the winner was ultra-impressive. We’ll just regroup with our horse.”

With a warm and rain-free Monday morning, Robert Bruce and Almanaar breezed four furlongs in 49 seconds on Oklahoma turf course Monday morning. Brown said the duo are on point for Saturday’s Grade 1 Arlington Million.

“The weather forced me to just stretch their legs five days out, but they will join Money Multiplier in the Million,” he said.

Made You Look, who is looking to improve off a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Poker June 17 at Belmont, is expected to enter Saturday’s Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap. The 4-year-old colt More Than Ready posted his final workout in preparation for the race Friday, breezing four furlongs on 48.71 seconds on the Oklahoma training track.

“He’s doing well,” said Brown. “It’s a big step up for him. It’s a tough race, but the horse is training super. I thought he ran a great race the last time out and it’s worth a shot. It’s a great purse in a Grade 1 race at Saratoga and the horse seems to be improving.”

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Heart to Heart, Oscar Performance breeze for respective Grade 1 starts

Heart to Heart continues to train well at Saratoga and remains on target for the Grade 1 Fourstardave on Saturday, trainer Brian Lynch said Monday.

Earlier in the morning, Heart to Heart put in his second and final work before the one-mile race over the inner turf, going four furlongs in 50.44 seconds on the Oklahoma turf track.

“He’s a model of consistency,” Lynch said. “He breezed today. Everything shows me that he’s on schedule.”

An 11-time graded stakes winner, Heart to Heart is coming off a second-place finish to Hunt by a neck in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on May 28 at Santa Anita. The 6-year-old son of English Channel will try again to notch his third Grade 1 win of the year, adding to victories in the Gulfstream Park Turf on February 10 and the Maker’s 46 Mile on April 13 at Keeneland. Heart to Heart has recorded triple digit Beyers in each of his last seven races at one mile.

Oscar Performance also breezed Monday over the Oklahoma turf track, going four furlongs in 49.92 seconds as he readies for the Grade 1 Arlington Million on Saturday at Arlington Park.

Lynch said Oscar Performance’s two works since arriving at Saratoga, including a bullet five-furlong work in 1:00.66 on the Oklahoma turf on July 30, has given him confidence before shipping Oscar Performance back to the Chicago-based track where he won the Grade 1 Secretariat last August.

“He looked good, he had his last little blowout and I thought he looked excellent,” Lynch said. “His second-to-last work was a much more serious work and I think he looked impressive. Today was just to open up the carburetors a little bit and let him stretch his legs being five days out from the race. He looked great doing it and Saturday can’t come quick enough for me.”

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Accomplished field takes aim at Friday’s Tale of the Cat

Jim and Susan Hill’s Silver Ride returned from an 11-month layoff to post a win against allowance company last June at Belmont Park. The 6-year-old Candy Ride gelding will now look to take a step up in class as part of a small but accomplished five-horse field in the fifth running of the $100,000 Tale of the Cat for 3-year-olds and up on Friday at Saratoga Race Course.

Trainer Brian Lynch said Silver Ride suffered a small hairline fracture in his shin that required multiple screws following a fourth-place finish in an optional claimer in May 2017 at Belmont Park. He finally returned nearly a year later, edging Wonderful Light by a nose to win a six-furlong optional claimer on June 22 on Big Sandy. Silver Ride, owned by Jim and Susan Hill, will now stay at that distance in the Tale of the Cat for his first stakes appearance in his 19th start.

“He has been a horse over the years where if you give him some time between races – though not by design a year – he always runs big when he’s fresh,” Lynch said. “He beat Stallwalkin’ Dude and a classy field of older allowance horses that day. He really gutted it out and I thought it was a courageous effort.”

Luis Saez, who was aboard for Silver Ride’s last start, will have the return call. Silver Ride will be making his first start at the Spa since winning an allowance race in September 2016.

“Sometimes, I’ve found that when you put screws in them, they come back better,” Lynch said.

Always Sunshine has a graded stakes to his credit, winning the 2016 Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Handicap at Pimlico. The Edward Allard trainee has continued to face challenging competition in his 6-year-old campaign, running fourth in the Grade 2 True North on the day before the Belmont Stakes, June 8, before capitalizing on a drop in class, winning the Hockessin last out on July 14 at Delaware Park.

Jockey Frankie Pennington will make his first start at Saratoga of the meet when he rides Always Sunshine.

My Boy Tate will look to come back strong from a six-month layoff looking to extend a five-race winning streak that stretches back to his last Saratoga appearance, when he broke his maiden at fourth asking on August 13, 2017. The New York-bred ended the year with back-to-back allowance wins at Aqueduct Racetrack before posting victories in the Say Florida Sandy on January 13 and the Hollie Hughes on February 19, with both of those wins coming at the Big A.

Trained by Michelle Nevin, My Boy Tate is 5-1-1 in eight career starts with earnings of $252,300. Manny Franco will be in the irons.

Mr. Crow has already made an appearance at Saratoga in the meet, running fourth in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap on Jim Dandy Day July 28. His best performance in a stakes came with a runner up effort in the Grade 3 Aristides on June 2 at Churchill Downs.

Trained by Ben Colebrook, Mr. Crow will have Jose Ortiz in the saddle.

Pop the Hood, trained by Rodrigo Ubillo, will make his stakes debut with Abel Lezcano aboard.

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Cupecoy’s Joy rematch on tap in Thursday’s NYSS Statue of Liberty

The top four finishers of the NYSS Cupecoy's Joy will meet again for Round 2 as part of a 10-horse field in Thursday’s $100,000 NYSS Statue of Liberty for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on the inner turf, led by Gerald and Susan Kresa’s Kreesie.

Trained by David Donk, the gray Cosmonaut filly posted a late-running half-length win in her stakes debut over Goodbye Brockley on June 24 at Belmont Park. Kreesie returned from that effort to finish fifth in a New York-bred optional claimer against older horses, where she was beaten 2 ¼ lengths on July 13.

Goodbye Brockley, owned by Hilly Fields Stable and trained by Phil Serpe, won a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance for 3-year-olds and up on May 28. By Cosmonaut, Goodbye Brockley followed up in the Cupecoy’s Joy, where she raced six wide and was just outkicked by Kreesie in the final strides.

Lindy Farm’s Mentality pressed the pace early for trainer Wesley Ward in the Cupecoy’s Joy and took the lead midstretch but couldn’t hold off the top two and crossed the wire a length behind the winner.

Jeremiah Englehart-trained Wegetdamunnys, fourth in the Cupecoy's Joy, will return to the turf following her sixth-place finish in the New York Oaks on July 21 at Finger Lakes, finishing 3 ½ lengths behind Split Time.

Also entered in the Statue of Liberty are Byself, Miss Jen, Crashing Connie, Codrington, Barrel Destiny, and Starlite Mission. Aunt Babe and My Roxy Girl are entered for the main track only.