Hollywood Park: Slim Shadey will run in Hollywood Turf Cup if conditions are firm

Benoit & Associates

Trainer Simon Callaghan says Slim Shadey is training too well to skip the Hollywood Turf Cup unless rain turns the course too soft.

Slim Shadey has forced his way into Saturday’s $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup at Betfair Hollywood Park.

After an eighth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf on Nov. 3, trainer Simon Callaghan intended to give Slim Shadey a late autumn break and point to the winter-spring meeting at Santa Anita. The way that Slim Shadey has trained in recent weeks has led to a change in plans, provided expected rain Thursday does not leave the turf course too soggy.

“It’s good purse money,” Callaghan said. “Our original plan was to wait for Santa Anita. We’ve been keeping him going with this race in the back of his mind, and he’s doing really well and he’s full of himself.

“I wouldn’t run if it’s going to be generally testing. If we get a little bit of rain and it’s not sticky and not taxing ground, we’ll still run.”

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Slim Shadey has won 4 of 23 starts and $508,600. He has won two stakes in 2012, including the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship over 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 30.

The Grade 2 Turf Cup is run over 1 1/2 miles and has a projected field of 10. Grandeur, winner of the Grade 2 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 and second in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on Nov. 25, may go favored against a field that will include the multiple stakes winner Bourbon Bay and Grassy, who was second in the BC Marathon on Nov. 2.