If you card it, they will come.
The inaugural Turfway Park Synthetic Championships program Saturday night features four stakes worth a combined $1 million. The races, previously on separate cards during the winter, were shifted to the same date and given robust purse hikes to create a showcase program.
The response at the entry box was also robust. Of the four $250,000 stakes on Tapeta – the Prairie Bayou for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles, the My Charmer at 1 1/16 for fillies and mares, and the Holiday Cheer and sister Holiday Inaugural, both at six furlongs – the My Charmer drew the smallest field, with 11 entrants. The others have overflow fields.
There’s not just quantity, there’s quality. The bevy of stakes winners scattered across the program include three Grade 1 winners, and another nine graded stakes winners.
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“Hugely proud of the team’s effort in recruiting horses of that caliber,” said Gary Palmisano Jr., vice president of racing for the track’s parent company Churchill Downs Inc. “Turfway is known for big fields, but seeing the quality that’s descended is incredibly impactful.”
Palmisano said officials hoped combining the richer stakes on one card would make it logistically easier for trainers to ship in, as they could consolidate travel for multiple horses, rather than shipping a single horse. The inaugural event has entrants from 40 different barns. While some exit recent outings on the Kentucky circuit and synthetic tracks in the East, others have made their most recent starts as far afield as Santa Anita and Del Mar.
California-based trainer Peter Eurton has about 30 horses at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Ky. Those include Exaulted, one of two Grade 1 winners entered in the Prairie Bayou looking to recapture his best form, along with Stilleto Boy for another California-based trainer, Ed Moger Jr.
Exaulted, already graded stakes-placed around one turn on dirt, found a niche as a turf miler in 2023, winning four straight in California, including the Grade 3 American and Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile. His season came to an end in September 2023 following a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile.
Following a 10-month layoff, Exaulted has been unplaced in four starts this year as a 7-year-old, most recently running seventh in the Lure on Oct. 19 at Santa Anita.
“Maybe the change of venue will make the difference,” Eurton said.
“Since he’s been back, he seems like he’s rejuvenated. I still think he’s got the desire to do it. He’s sound. He’s not getting beaten very far. We’re scratching our heads about that, to be honest.”
Although this will be Exaulted’s first start on a synthetic track, he is a regular bullet worker on Santa Anita’s Tapeta training track.
“He trains so well on it,” Eurton said.
Hush of a Storm and Wadsworth, both trained by Brad Cox, have an affinity for Turfway. Hush of a Storm is a local stakes winner and has only missed the board once here. He has good recent form, taking the restricted Ashley T. Cole on the Aqueduct turf two starts back.
Wadsworth won two of three at Turfway early last year before going on to win multiple turf stakes. He recently was second by a head in his first start off a layoff of more than a year. He is likely to be tighter for his second outing, and has a versatile running style that should serve him well.
Potential pacesetters are Wonderful Justice, cutting back slightly after setting a moderate tempo and fading to fifth in the Grade 3 River City, and longshot Midnight West. Wadsworth has shown the ability to be forwardly placed – such as in one of his best career efforts, his maiden win at Turfway – or to sit back should a stronger pace develop.
Millionaire Stilleto Boy seeks his first win since taking the Santa Anita Handicap in March 2023. Dresden Row and Money Supply are both graded stakes winners this year. Dresden Row, a pressing type who could also find the catbird seat, has had an exceptionally consistent campaign on Woodbine’s Tapeta.
My Charmer
The My Charmer features two distaffers with opposing styles who each scored big wins at Turfway in March – Dana’s Beauty and Everland.
Dana’s Beauty prefers to be forwardly placed, a spot where she should be comfortable in the My Charmer, which lacks much speed. The mare won both local starts earlier this year, taking an allowance followed by a win in the Latonia.
Since then, she has competed mainly in turf stakes against some salty company, with stakes scores at Lone Star and Remington. Most recently, she was caught late while second by a head by to Ghostly Gal in the Claiming Crown Jewel on the Churchill Downs turf. That was the third straight win for Ghostly Gal, but the race shape may not favor her here.
Nor, perhaps, does it favor Everland, who cleared to win Turfway’s signature event for sophomore fillies, the Bourbonette Oaks, in March. She is winless in seven starts since, on both dirt and turf.
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