Grade 1 winner Howard Wolowitz will try to repeat in the $250,000 Holiday Cheer Stakes Dec. 13, one of four stakes offered in the second year of the Turfway Park Synthetic Championships.
As it did in 2024, the card consists of four $250,000 races, with each race including $50,000 in Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Funds that only registered Kentucky-breds are eligible to win.
There are two 6-furlong races and two at a mile, all on Turfway's Tapeta track. The four races have proved popular with horsemen, as evidenced by one 11-horse field and three capacity 12-horse fields, plus four also-eligible entries. All four races attracted graded stakes talent.
"If you put the money up, people are going to come," said trainer Brendan Walsh, who has three horses entered in two stakes Saturday at Turfway. "The incentive isn't there to get everything out of Kentucky anymore after Churchill Downs. With the purses, you have to take a good look at Turfway."
The Holiday Cheer for 3-year-olds and up going 6 furlongs is the Race 9 feature. Gold Square's Howard Wolowitz, winner of the 2024 Franklin-Simpson Stakes (G1T) at Kentucky Downs, will be shortening up off a seventh-place finish in the Turf Mile Stakes (G1T) Oct. 4 at Keeneland. He is undefeated in two career starts sprinting on a synthetic track and won last year's edition by 1 1/2 lengths in a sharp final time of 1:08.10, just barely off the track record of 1:08.03.
Irad Ortiz Jr. has been named to ride the 4-year-old Munnings colt for trainer Jose D'Angelo. Howard Wolowitz will need to be on his game, as the competition runs deep and is led by 2023 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) winner Nobals.
A 6-year-old Noble Mission gelding owned by Patricia's Hope and trained by Larry Rivelli, Nobals has extensive experience sprinting on synthetic tracks with seven wins and four seconds in 12 starts. He sports a 2-2-0 record from four starts at Turfway and is coming off a half-length victory in Woodbine's Kennedy Road Stakes (G2), a race he also won in 2024.
Lucky Score, who crossed the line second in the Kennedy Road but was placed fourth by the stewards, invades from Woodbine for trainer Mark Casse.
My Charmer Stakes
The stakes action begins with the My Charmer Stakes for fillies and mares going a mile in Race 6. WinStar Farm's Caitlinhergrtness, Canada's champion 3-year-old filly of 2024, could be favored off her strong 3-year-old form of 2024 that included a third-place finish in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (G1T) and what has been a solid 4-year-old campaign this year in Canada.
The Omaha Beach filly trained by Kevin Attard has two wins and three seconds in seven starts this year, all in graded company.
Holiday Inaugural Stakes
The Holiday Inaugural Stakes—for fillies and mares going 6 furlongs—drew a pair of 3-year-old fillies from the Godolphin barn. Civetta (Into Mischief ), a stakes winner on the turf at Gulfstream Park as a 2-year-old, tries synthetic for the first time after capturing a turf-sprint allowance race Nov. 1 at Churchill Downs.
Godolphin's Pondering won the 7-furlong Bessarabian Stakes (G3) last out at Woodbine, where she defeated Caitlinhergrtness by three-quarters of a length. By Hard Spun , Pondering also is a stakes winner going 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.
"When (Pondering) is good, she's very good," trainer Walsh said. "She ran a great race at Woodbine. She's a very, very talented filly. She's been at Turfway all year, and she works very well over the surface there. If she runs her best race, it should make her very competitive.
"The 6, 7 furlongs is probably her distance, with plenty of pace in front of her. But that's an awkward distance (on turf) in this country. This is a nice distance for her.
"I don't think there is much between the two of them. (Civetta) is a half sister to Santin, with whom we won a couple of grade 1s, so she's a valuable filly as she is."
LNJ Foxwoods' Ellen Jay, a 4-year-old Constitution filly, has run on a synthetic track only once, but it was a wide, eye-catching performance for second in the Sept. 19 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes (G2). She comes in off a form-darkening sixth sprinting on the dirt, a surface she is winless on in three starts, but the Brad Cox trainee has attracted the services of 2024 Eclipse Award-winning jockey Flavien Prat and should be one of the favorites.
Prairie Bayou Stakes
The Cox-Prat pairing also could be one of the main choices in the 1-mile Prairie Bayou Stakes with Godolphin's Encino, though he did draw the outermost 12-post. The 4-year-old Nyquist colt won the Presque Isle Mile Stakes on synthetic two back, and his 2-2-0 record from four starts at Turfway includes a win in the 2024 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes and a second in this year's Kentucky Cup Classic Stakes (G3).
"We got him back up to Turfway the other week and he put in a solid work over the track," Cox's local assistant Trace Messina said. "He's obviously run well at Turfway in the past and we're really looking forward to getting him back over the surface for Saturday's race."
True North Stable and Bloom Racing Stable's Dresden Row finished second, beaten just a head, in last year's Prairie Bayou, and he returns for another shot. The Canadian shipper trained by Lorne Richards won the Autumn Stakes (G3) at Woodbine in his most recent start in a return to his top form.
"Saturday is another example of Kentucky's racetracks working with the horsemen to find ways to strengthen the product throughout the state," said Alex Foley, executive director of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association. "The Synthetic Championships will put the focus on Turfway Park this weekend, providing one of the winter's best betting cards. We see the event only growing each year."
Turfway Park, Saturday, December 13, 2025, Race 6Entries: My Charmer S. Presented by Claiborne Farm
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Crosley (IN) Joseph D. Ramos 121 John L. Langemeier - 2 Caitlinhergrtness (ON) Flavien Prat 125 Kevin Attard - 3 Literate (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 125 Brad H. Cox - 4 Queens Command (IRE) Ryan Munger 121 Martin Drexler - 5 Nanabush (ARG) Victor R. Carrasco 121 Horacio De Paz - 6 Landed (NY) Walter A. Rodriguez 125 Wesley A. Ward - 7 Vina Arana (IRE) Adam Beschizza 121 Jack Sisterson - 8 Next Up (KY) Dylan MacHado 118 Matthew P. Sims - 9 She's Lookin Lucky (KY) Luan Machado 121 Matt A. Shirer - 10 Trial (KY) Irving Moncada 121 Thomas Drury, Jr. - 11 Louder Than Words (IN) Samuel E. Bermudez 125 Anthony J. Granitz -
Turfway Park, Saturday, December 13, 2025, Race 7Entries: Holiday Inaugural S. Presented by Claiborne Farm
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Ms. Tart (KY) Adam Beschizza 124 John Ennis - 2 Ellen Jay (KY) Flavien Prat 120 Brad H. Cox - 3 Pondering (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 122 Brendan P. Walsh - 4 Lithe Spirit (KY) Joseph D. Ramos 124 Steven M. Asmussen - 5 Shezafunkydrummer (KY) Dylan MacHado 118 George R. Arnold II - 6 Uphill Dance (KY) Irving Moncada 120 Rachel Halden - 7 Civetta (KY) Luan Machado 118 Brendan P. Walsh - 8 Gata Brazil (KY) Walter A. Rodriguez 122 Michael J. Maker - 9 Nice as Pie (KY) Gabriel Saez 120 Kelsey Danner - 10 Mink's Palace (KY) Edgar Morales 124 Eddie Kenneally - 11 Niki Nine Doors (KY) Vincent Cheminaud 120 Christopher Davis - 12 Girl of My Dreams (KY) Danny Sheehy 120 Anna M. Meah - 13 Johanny (AR) Vincent Cheminaud 120 Eoin G. Harty -
Turfway Park, Saturday, December 13, 2025, Race 8Entries: Prairie Bayou S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Wagstaff (KY) Orlando Bocachica 118 Paul McEntee - 2 Horsepower (KY) Samuel Marin 121 Joseph F. Orseno - 3 Cameo Performance (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 121 Brendan P. Walsh - 4 Theismann (KY) Danny Sheehy 123 Peter Eurton - 5 Dresden Row (KY) Ryan Munger 125 Lorne Richards - 6 Best Actor (KY) Rodolfo Guerra 121 Ed Moger, Jr. - 7 Quatrocento (KY) Julien R. Leparoux 123 Fausto Gutierrez - 8 Henro (KY) Joseph D. Ramos 121 Chris A. Hartman - 9 Otago (FL) Adam Beschizza 125 Kelsey Danner - 10 Chiron (KY) Gabriel Saez 125 Richard Estvanko - 11 Surly Furious (KY) Luan Machado 121 Glenn S. Wismer - 12 Encino (KY) Flavien Prat 125 Brad H. Cox - 13 Naptown (ON) Victor R. Carrasco 121 Jose J. Magana -
Turfway Park, Saturday, December 13, 2025, Race 9Entries: Holiday Cheer S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Coming in Hot (KY) Edgar Morales 122 John Ennis - 2 Run Carson (KY) Adam Beschizza 120 Kelsey Danner - 3 Howard Wolowitz (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 124 Jose Francisco D'Angelo - 4 Out On Bail (NY) Flavien Prat 122 Michael J. Maker - 5 Arrest Me Red (KY) Luan Machado 124 Wesley A. Ward - 6 Lucky Score (ON) Irving Moncada 120 Mark E. Casse - 7 Roll On Big Joe (FL) Julien R. Leparoux 124 Robert B. Hess, Jr. - 8 Nobals (KY) Rafael Manuel Hernandez 124 Larry Rivelli - 9 Run Curtis Run (NY) Vincent Cheminaud 120 Michael J. Maker - 10 Lofty Adjudicator (KY) Walter A. Rodriguez 120 Anna Navarrete - 11 Joe Shiesty (KY) Fernando De La Cruz 124 Eric N. Foster - 12 Script (KY) Danny Sheehy 120 George R. Arnold II - 13 Incinerator (KY) Victor R. Carrasco 120 Jose J. Magana - 14 Wound Up (KY) Flavien Prat 120 Librado Barocio -
