Heart to Heart Needs to Show Some in Fourstardave

Heart to Heart leads the field in Saturday’s $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap (G1) at Saratoga. (photo credit: © Cheryl Quigley | Dreamstime.com)

The Brian Lynch trainee Heart to Heart looks to get back to his winning ways as the 2-1 morning line favorite in Saturday’s $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap (G1) at Saratoga.

Heart to Heart chased the early pace, grabbed the lead and battled on gamely in the stretch to miss in the Shoemaker Mile (G1) by a neck to Hunt.

The seven-year-old won the Makers 46 Mile (G1) and Gulfstream Park Turf (G1) going gate to wire in his two previous starts and has won 15 of his 36 career starts and has earned nearly $2 million in his career. He has run twice on the Spa turf, winning each, his last win coming in the Bernard Baruch Handicap (G2) last summer.

There is no doubt he does his best running when able to control the early pace and that is a question mark as Voodoo Song (9-2) has some speed, taking the field gate to wire to win the Forbidden Apple at Belmont Park in his last start for trainer Linda Rice. The colt is perfect in his four trips on the Spa turf.

A fast pace could benefit Yoshida (3-1) the most. The Bill Mott trainee was fifth in the Queen Anne Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot in his last outing. He ran second in a couple of stakes at the Spa last year.

Delta Prince (4-1) is no slouch, winning the King Edward (G2) at Woodbine last out off the layoff. The Jimmy Jerkens trainee is the younger brother of $4.8 million earner Royal Delta.

Divisdero (8-1) was cross-entered in the Arlington Million (G1) but his connections elected to ship him to New York despite winning the Arlington Handicap (G2) in his last start.

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Made You Look (4-1) ran second in the Poker (G3) in his last outing to Oscar Performance a major contender in today’s Arlington Million.

There are two other stakes on today’s Spa card—the $100,000 Lure and the stakes action kicks off in the third race which is the $200,00 Adirondack (G2).

The Arlington Million (G1) and Beverly D. (G1) are Breeders’ Cup Challenge races and will be televised on NBCSN at 6:00 ET.

My Best Plays for Saturday includes my nine strongest plays from Arlington Park and Saratoga including all the graded stakes action.

Let’s head out to the Spa for Saturday’s featured race of the day:

Saratoga Race 8 The Fourstardave Hcp G1 (Post time 5:02 ET)

#5 Heart to Heart 2-1

#7 Yoshida 3-1

#4 Made You Look 4-1

#2 Delta Prince 4-1

Analysis: Heart to Heart gets the call in a very competitive edition of this race. The seven-year-old tracked the early pace and battled on gamely in the stretch to just miss winning the Shoemaker Mile (G1) by a neck in his last outing. He won the Gulfstream Park Turf (G1) and Makers 46 Mile (G1) in his two previous starts, both gate to wire. The question mark is whether he can win when he does not get the lead and he likely will not today as Voodoo Song figures to be sent. He has handled ground with some give to it, winning e Bernard Baruch ‘Cap (G2) here last summer over yielding ground. He rarely runs a bad one and his last three speed figs make him tough in this spot.

Yoshida was only beaten 1 1/4 lengths when fifth in the Queen Anne (G1) at Royal Ascot behind longshot winner Accidental Agent. The third-place finisher Lighting Spear came back to win the Sussex Stakes (G1) at Goodwood in his next start while fourth place finisher Century Dream is my top pick in today’s Arlington Million (G1). The Mott trainee ran really well here last summer in runner up finish in the Hall of Fame (G2) and Saranac (G3). He won the Old Forrester Turf Classic (G1) two back at Churchill Downs over yielding footing going nine furlongs.

Made You Look stalked the early pace and made a good late rally to finish in the runner up spot last out in the Poker (G3) at Belmont Park. The winner Oscar Performance is the likely favorite for today’s Arlington Million (G1). He earned a career top speed fig in his second start after going from Pletcher to Brown. He is going to get a good pace set up here and looks capable of moving forward off his last effort as he makes his third start off the bench here for the meet’s leading barn.