The Fourstardave Handicap – Grade I [BC]

1 Mile Inner Turf Stake Purse $750.00 Open 3 Year Olds And Up.

1st        Prince Mbilini                Winning Link Stables               Curtis B             1:32.08

This is one of those horses that has been in many stables, won races but has never been considered a stakes winner until he fell in the hands of Winning Link Stables as a six-year-old. He has been in the hands of four of the top stables in the game and none of them entered him in stakes race and to be fair he never really looked like he was up to it. So, at age six Winning Link bought him for just $22 at the auction and after a win in a little optional claimer at TUP took the plunge and has now won his second graded stakes and finds himself in the Breeders Cup.

There is another story here as well, his win at TUP in an optional claimer was pretty much identical to the winning time today, in fact you can go all the way back to his three-year-old days and he was winning mile races in very fast time. So, he clearly had the pace to win at this level just no-one had ever considered it financially viable.

So onto today and as usual most of the time despite the fast pace it still wasn’t strong enough for the closers to beat the speed. Stalking early, he took it up around halfway and just had enough to hold on in a tight finish. Congratulations to the trainer for taking this chance.

2nd       Be A Nice Boy                Maxmillion Farm         Luzzi L J                            1:32.09

Stalked the stalker and kept on really strongly to only just fail. This was the five-year-olds first ever stakes run after nineteen starts and it was in the right race and his first venture nearly paid off. Handicap form can often be difficult to read even though there often isn’t as much weight between them as a normal overnight so it remains to be seen where this one will go now. Has he found some five-year-old improvement or was this just a great effort.

3rd        Saratoga Lake               D J C Racing Stables Elliott S                             1:32.28

A bit slow away bit made good ground to end up third just a length off the first two. Whilst he never really reached a challenging position this was still a solid effort. 

4th        Rearranger                     Our Athletes                  Velazquez J R                1:32.33

Couldn’t get near the speed early as they flew through the first quarter but stayed on well enough without reaching a position to really go for the win.

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES