Charles Town: Fearsome carries high weight against good competition in Holiday Handicap

The Holiday Handicap carries a modest $35,000 purse and is the secondary feature to the Eleanor Casey Memorial Stakes, a $50,000 race for West Virginia-bred juvenile fillies, on Saturday night’s card at Charles Town. But there are some big horses in the small stakes.

Among the seven runners lined up for the 4 1/2-furlong Holiday are Lucy’s Bob Boy, the West Virginia-bred star who cuts back sharply in distance after three consecutive starts at 1 1/8 miles; Jasizzle, who came within a neck of winning the Grade 3 Aristides at Churchill Downs in June; and Brooklyn Cowboy, a daylight winner of a $100,000 stakes on the West Virginia Derby undercard at Mountaineer in August.

Remarkably, none of those three horses is the highweight. That distinction goes to 4-year-old Fearsome, who has won five of nine starts this year including the Charles Town Dash. Fearsome is 5 for 6 in races contested at a half-mile or 4 1/2 furlongs. Assigned 124 pounds, Fearsome will spot two pounds to Lucy’s Bob Boy, three to Jasizzle, and seven to Brooklyn Cowboy.

Fearsome is part of an uncoupled entry for trainer Hugh McMahon with Love to the Max, a 9-year-old with 11 lifetime victories who will be making his first start since winning a second-level optional $25,000 claimer at Laurel Park in January. In contrast, Fearsome’s two-month layoff is miniscule. The last time Fearsome returned from a similar break, he scored by four lengths running a half-mile at Timonium.

Lucy’s Bob Boy, 16 for 20 lifetime at Charles Town, will be running 4 1/2 furlongs for the first time since he won the Coin Collector in June 2012. Although all 10 of his starts this season have been going two turns, Lucy’s Bob Boy does have three wins and a second in his four previous tries going 4 1/2 furlongs.

Kentucky shipper Jasizzle will try a shorter distance after flashing speed and stopping badly in his last two starts. The last time he raced this short of a distance, Jasizzle was fourth, beaten four lengths by Fearsome, in the Charles Town Dash.

Brooklyn Cowboy, winner of the 4 1/2-furlong West Virginia Chairman’s Cup four starts ago, finished third, five lengths behind runner-up Fearsome, when they met two months ago in the Jefferson County Handicap.

◗ Henny’s Princess, part of the exacta in six of 10 starts, is the only multiple winner among nine 2-year-old fillies in the seven-furlong Eleanor Casey. She has won each of the last two times she raced 4 1/2 furlongs, including the Triple Crown Nutrition in mid-October, and finished fourth in the Gin Talking Stakes, her only previous start at the Eleanor Casey distance.