Voodoo Song undefeated at Saratoga now eyeing Breeders’ Cup after Fourstardave
NYRA SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Barry K. Schwartz’s Voodoo Song came out of his gateto-wire win in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap in good order, trainer Linda Rice said Sunday morning. The 4-year-old English Channel colt bested a sixhorse field over a one-mile inner turf course that has taken heavy rain throughout the Saratoga meet, earning his first career Grade 1 win.
“He came out of the race really well and is happy and healthy this morning,” Rice said.
The Fourstardave featured other contenders with speed, including Heart to Heart, but Voodoo Song was sent to the lead by jockey Jose Lezcano before fending off Delta Prince’s stretch-drive charge to win by a neck.
“If it’s a speed horse, people think that you should be nursing him or easing him back to the rest of the field, but in some cases that works against you,” Rice said. “Establishing a clear lead can be a positive thing. When he was five [lengths] in front [after a half-mile], I said ‘I hope this works on the soft turf.’ We were a little concerned with fractions with the turf yielding, but he’s a real fighter and he got there first.”
The win by Lezcano was the first of two stakes on the day, as the jockey piloted Inspector Lynley to a victory in the Fasig-Tipton Lure later in the card. Rice credited Lezcano with knowing Voodoo Song’s strengths.
“At the three-eighths pole, the whole field was closing in on him and he responded well. Around the turn, once Jose switched to his right lead, he finished up nicely,” she said. “I thought Jose Lezcano rode him fantastic. He knows the horse well; he has a few quirks and likes to lug in a little on the first turn. In the stretch, Jose drifted him out just enough to get close to the other horse [Delta Prince] so that he would dig in and try hard. He responds well to the competition.”
The New York homebred improved to 5-for-5 in his career at Saratoga, fittingly winning a prestigious race named after one of the Spa’s most enduringly popular horses in Fourstardave, who won at least one race at the historic track every year from 1987-94 and earned the nickname “The Sultan of Saratoga” for his efforts. Last year, Voodoo Song won four races on the Saratoga turf, including the Grade 3 Saranac.
“I think we need those type of horses, someone to root for,” Rice said. “Last year, starting out in a $40,000 claimer, he’s become a fan favorite. It’s unreal. Everyone who’s been to Saratoga in the last few decades is a fan of Fourstardave.”
Voodoo Song started his 4-year-old campaign with a fourth-place finish in an allowance race on the new outer turf Aqueduct on April 11 before posting a win against allowance company on May 12 at Belmont. Returning to stakes company, he ran third behind Oscar Performance and Made You Look in the Grade 3 Poker on June 17 at Belmont before winning the Forbidden Apple on July 14.
“He ran great there and learned to rate a little bit,” Rice said about his effort in the Poker. “As a 4-yearold, he’s matured. We went on in the Forbidden Apple and he ran great and now he caps it off with a Grade 1 at Saratoga. It’s like writing a movie.”
Rice said Voodoo Song could next be targeting the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, on September 15 and could also start in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile in October at Keeneland leading up the Breeders’ Cup in November at Churchill Downs.
“We’re going to race him a little less frequent,” Rice said. “This year, we’ve spaced him out a little bit more. Now, we’ve mapped out a plan. That’s our optimistic, exciting schedule. I don’t know if we’ll make all three, but I looked at it before I came to Saratoga and said if he’s at the top of his game, I’d have to decide. In his case, he performs better if I run him once a month versus too much time between races. He’s not a horse that you can keep at his ‘A game’ in the mornings.”