He died of a heart attack in October 2002 at the age of 17 while preparing for a parade of retired New York bred horses at Belmont Park and was buried in Clare Court at Saratoga Race Course.
[1] His sire was Compliance, a son of Northern Dancer out of Sex Appeal, and thus a full brother to champions El Gran Senor and Try My Best.
[3] Compliance was himself winless in only three starts, but his breeding made Bomze buy him from Windfields Farm as a stallion prospect.
Bomze purchased her for only $2,500, but when mated with Compliance, Broadway Joan produced an impressive string of winners that earned her the title of New York Broodmare of the Year three times.
Fourstardave was her second foal; Fourstars Allstar, the first American-based horse to win a European classic, was her fourth.
He was sometimes almost claustrophobic in the stable though, so O'Brien cut a window in the side of his stall so Fourstardave could look at his brother Fourstars Allstar.
I would go to Saratoga and look up in the stands and tell my wife, 'You know something, honey, there are a few thousand people here who have a heck of a lot more money than I do, but, boy, they'd give their right arm to have a horse like we've got.
[1] The Saratoga win streak started on August 28, 1987, when Fourstardave won the 6-furlong Empire Stakes for New-York bred two-year-olds.
[1] He also finished second in the Daryl's Joy to Lure, two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf[6] and was controversially disqualified from winning the West Point Handicap.
[11] He then started in the Bernard Baruch Handicap on August 12, in which he finished third behind Lure and eventual champion grass male Paradise Creek.
His connections believed he would have won if he had not stepped in a hole while leading the race at the top of the stretch, injuring his ankle.
[15] Starting in 1996, O'Brien brought Fourstardave back to Saratoga for "a well-earned vacation", where he would jog each morning but otherwise relax.
In 1997 (at the age of 12) Fourstardave was entered in the High Hope Steeplechase at the Kentucky Horse Park, an amateur event for charity, and finished second.
[14] Fourstardave died on October 14, 2002, at the age of 17 after having been shipped to Belmont Park to take part in a parade of retired New York-breds on New York Showcase Day.