FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 8th, 2019

BREEDERS’ CUP CHALLENGE SERIES CONTINUES FROM SARATOGA LIVE THIS SATURDAY AT 5 P.M. ET ON NBC

NEW YORK (Aug. 8, 2019) – Led by the Chad Brown-trained trio Uni (GB), Raging Bull (FR) and Made You Look, a field of 10 runners has been entered for the one-mile, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap, which will be broadcast live this Saturday, Aug. 10 from Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. at 5 p.m. ET on NBC.

Saturday’s show marks the sixth of 11 telecasts in the “Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Win and You’re In Series – Presented by America’s Best Racing” on NBC and NBCSN from some of America’s most iconic racetracks. The series leads to the 36th Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. on Nov. 1-2, airing on NBC and NBCSN. The series’ complete TV schedule can be accessed here: http://www.breederscup.com/challenge-series The Grade 1 Fourstardave, new to the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series this year, will give the winner an automatic berth into the Grade 1, $2 million TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile, which will be run at one mile on the turf course at Santa Anita.

NBC Sports’ coverage of the Fourstardave will feature commentary and discussion led by Laffit Pincay III, Randy Moss, Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, Britney Eurton and Matt Bernier.

The Fourstardave is a race rich in Breeders’ Cup history, as six of its winners have gone on to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile, including two in the last three years: Tourist in 2016 and World Approval in 2017. The two-time Horse of the Year, Wise Dan, won both the Fourstardave and the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 2012 and 2013, as did the venerable Da Hoss in 1996, Lure in 1993 and Steinlen (FR) in 1989.  Reigning Eclipse-Award winning trainer Chad Brown, seeking his first Fourstardave winner, has a talented 5-year-old mare in Uni, who is riding a five-race winning streak dating back to last year, which includes the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar. Owned by Michael Dubb, Robert LaPenta, Head of Plains Partners and Bethlehem Stables, Uni is 6 of 9 since coming from France to the US in the summer of 2017. On Jun. 29, Uni, making her first start in six months, won the one-mile Perfect Sting Stakes at Belmont Park by one length.  The 4-year-old Raging Bull had two stakes wins at Saratoga last summer, taking the Hall of Fame Stakes and Saranac. Owned by Peter Brant, Raging Bull closed out last year winning the Grade 1 Hollywood at Del Mar. He finished third last time out in the Manhattan at Belmont Park. Brown’s third starter, the 5-year-old Made You Look, finished fourth in last year’s Fourstardave and was most recently fourth in the Forbidden Apple Stakes at Saratoga on Jul. 12.

Trainer Mark Casse has entered the 4-year-old filly Got Stormy, who has finished in the top three in all four of her starts this year. She comes into this year’s race with a striking four-length win at Saratoga on Aug. 3 in the one-mile Fasig-Tipton De La Rose Stakes against fillies and mares. Casse, who trained Live Oak Plantation’s World Approval to win the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Mile, also has entered Live Oak Plantation’s 4-year-old gelding March the Arch. March the Arch has won two of four starts this year, including the Wise Dan Stakes at Churchill Downs on Jun. 15. Casse also won the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile with the filly Tepin.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has won the Fourstardave four times, most recently with Tourist. His starter this year is William Schettine’s 5-year-old Krampus, who won the Canadian Turf Stakes at Gulfstream Park in April.     From Europe, making his US debut, comes the Simon Crisford-trained 4-year-old Ostilio (GB), whose two wins last year included the one-mile Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Daniel Wildenstein at ParisLongchamp. The Fourstardave is named after one of Saratoga’s most popular racehorses. Nicknamed the “Sultan of Saratoga,” Fourstardave won at least one race every year at Saratoga from 1987 until 1994, including this one in 1990 and 1991 when it was called the Daryl’s Joy. The race was renamed the Fourstardave in 1996.

About Breeders’ Cup

The Breeders’ Cup administers the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing’s year-end Championships. The Breeders’ Cup also administers the Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying series, which provides automatic starting positions into the Championships races. The 2019 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, consisting of 14 championship races (13 Grade 1 events and one Grade 2 race) with purses and awards totaling more than $30 million, will be held on November 1-2 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., and will be televised live by the NBC Sports Group. Breeders’ Cup press releases appear on the Breeders’ Cup website, www.breederscup.com. You can also follow the Breeders’ Cup on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

NBC SPORTS GROUP AND HORSE RACING: NBC Sports Group is the exclusive home to the most important and prestigious events in horse racing, including the Triple Crown, the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Royal Ascot, and Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series. NBC has been the exclusive home of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes since 2001, and the Belmont Stakes since 2011, when NBC Sports Group reassembled the Triple Crown. The 2019 Kentucky Derby posted a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 16.5 million viewers across NBC and NBC Sports Digital platforms – up 10% from last year’s race (15.0 million) featuring eventual Triple Crown winner Justify and marking television’s largest Saturday audience since the NFL Divisional Playoffs (Jan. 12, 2019).

 

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