Saturday night is a big one at Turfway Park where it is the Inaugural Synthetic Championships. A quartet of stakes races over the all-weather highlight a strong 9-race card that gets rolling at 5:55 PM eastern in Florence, Kentucky. Here are a few horses I will be building my wagers around.
Race 5: Holiday Inaugural
#8 B G Warrior was in the Hugo Andrade barn when we saw her last winter, but was purchased for $150k last month at the Keeneland Horses of Racing Age Sale and now appears in the hands of trainer Rodolphe Brisset. Clearly, the purchase was made by Hat Creek Racing with Turfway Park on their minds since this 4YO filly has earned 3 of her 5 lifetime victories over this surface and earned over $318k, while she has proven far less dynamic over dirt and turf. Speed is the name of her game and she has a ton of it. Brisset finds her a good front end rider in Florent Geroux, who should have no issue getting her to the front. Hopefully she has enough left late to spring the upset.
Play: #8 B G Warrior (10-1 ML)
Race 6: Prairie Bayou
A little less than two years ago, #7 Wadsworth (pictured above) bounced back from a couple of disappointing efforts to start his career on the dirt and ran off the screen in his first try over the Turfway all-weather. The Godolphin homebred won by 10 lengths that New Years’ Eve afternoon and followed it up with a victory against allowance foes and a fourth in the Jeff Ruby (G3). The Quality Road gelding had a strong 3YO campaign competing on the lawn after that, but was on the sidelines for 14 months before returning last month in an allowance event in Louisville. He was keen off the long break that day at Churchill Downs, but still almost held off the 7-5-favorite in the lane. The Brad Cox trainee should relax a lot better on Saturday after shaking off the rust in November. If so, he will be very tough to deny.
Play: #7 Wadsworth (3-1 ML)
Race 7: Holiday Cheer
There is little doubt that imports into Kentucky for the big day bring the strongest resumes into this year’s Holiday Cheer. #1 Howard Wolowitz exits a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) where almost everything went wrong and he was beaten just three lengths. He does draw the rail again though without any proven form over this racetrack. #12 Patches O’Houlihan has won 4 of 5 since returning off the break for trainer Robert Tiller, including a trio of graded stakes events and could find himself loose on the lead. However, I struggle trusting Woodbine imports at Turfway Park at short prices. Therefore, I am going to take a swing with #2 Mo Stash. The Mo Town colt tries the all-weather for the first time after 16 starts on the lawn to begin his career for trainer Vicki Oliver. His effort last out over the Keeneland grass was strong losing by just a neck to Arrest Me Red. Oliver legs up Luan Machado for the initial time. The “Ax Man” should be able to save ground in a prominent position early. Hopefully, he is good enough to seal the deal this time around.
Play: #2 Mo Stash (12-1 ML)
Best of luck on a fun Saturday evening card!
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