Artie's Princess streaks into Holiday Inaugural

There are plenty of fillies and mares, led by recent Grade 2 winner Artie’s Princess, who are willing to line up for Turfway Park’s first stakes of the meet, the $65,000 Holiday Inaugural sprinting on the new Tapeta surface Friday night. An overflow field of 14, of which 12 may start, has been entered. And there will be plenty of speed in the race, as several in the field are confirmed front-runners.

The standout in the Holiday Inaugural, the fifth race on an eight-race card that begins at 6:15 p.m., is Artie’s Princess, one of three entrants for trainer Wesley Ward, along with Cambria and Stillwater Cove. Unlike her stablemates, who are both unplaced this year, Artie’s Princess comes in on a roll. The 3-year-old filly, who has won 5 of 7 lifetime starts, is coming off consecutive victories at Woodbine, which also utilizes a Tapeta main track. She won the Ruling Angel Stakes on Sept. 12 with a Beyer Speed Figure of 90, and then took the Grade 2 Bessarabian Stakes on Nov. 21 with a Beyer of 96.

She not only has the highest last-out Beyer in this field, she is the only member of the field to break the 90 threshold in 2020.

Kazushi Kimura, who rode Artie’s Princess for the first time in the Bessarabian, retains the mount Friday. The filly typically stalks and pounces from just off the pace, but may find herself farther back than her customary second or third. The field is full of speed both inside of her – as Sold It and Sunny Dale have both shown the propensity to lead early – and outside of her.

Outburst, drawn in post 7 under Declan Cannon, will be making her first start on a synthetic track and is stepping down somewhat in class after spending the majority of this year running in graded stakes on turf for Eddie Kenneally. The filly, who won the Grade 3 Florida Oaks earlier this year at Tampa, was most recently sixth in the Grade 3 Valley View in October at Keeneland after setting the pace. She is cutting back in distance from that 1 1/16-mile race and could again flash that speed.

Outburst could get company from, just outside of her, Tomlin, a stakes winner earlier this year sprinting on the Golden Gate turf. She most recently set the pace in a Keeneland allowance before finishing fourth. Also drawn nearby are Krunch, who has won three straight races on or near the lead, and A Thousand Reasons, coming off a claiming victory at Churchill Downs in which she held a clear lead throughout. A Thousand Reasons was claimed out of that race by trainer John Ortiz and is trying synthetic for the first time for her new barn; she has been unplaced in two starts on turf.

Trying to work out a trip from off the pace while also trying to get back in the win column will be New York Groove, breaking from the rail. The filly won all four starts of her juvenile campaign racing on Tapeta, including stakes at Woodbine and Presque Isle. She finished well back in graded stakes on turf and dirt to start the season before running fifth in the Star Shoot in June at Woodbine, her most recent outing.