Turfway Park-loving Encino scored a big win in the $250,000 Prairie Bayou Stakes on Sunday evening at the Florence, Ky., track. The Prairie Bayou was one of four $250,000 stakes on the track’s second annual Synthetic Championships program. Favored Encino ($3.36), a Godolphin homebred trained by Brad Cox, scored his fifth career stakes win. Although the Nyquist colt is a Grade 3 winner on dirt and a stakes winner on turf, he loves synthetic surfaces – particularly the Tapeta of Turfway Park, on which he has won three times, and never finished worse than second. Jockey Flavien Prat hustled Encino from post 8 in the starting field of nine to establish position in the short run into the first turn of this one-mile race. The colt still got away with a moderate opening quarter of 24.33 seconds and a half in 47.95. Class told from there, as Encino had enough to pour it on in the lane, winning by 1 1/2 lengths and stopping the clock in 1:36.37. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “He’s a very classy horse and clearly loves this racetrack,” Cox’s local assistant Trace Messina said. “It’s a quick run into the turn, but Flavien did a great job to get from the outside to the rail. You could tell he was traveling very well the entire time.” Horsepower, who stalked throughout, was second, 1 3/4 lengths clear of Cameo Performance, who rallied for third. In other stakes on the card: Joe Shiesty ($21.08) set the pace and held firm against favored Howard Wolowitz, who had tracked in second throughout, for a head upset win in the Holiday Cheer Stakes for sprinters. With Fernando De La Cruz in the irons for trainer and co-owner Eric Foster, he stopped the clock in 1:09.05 for the six furlongs. Joe Shiesty is a multi-time winner at Turfway Park, and was stakes-placed here in 2024. He won this year’s Mighty Beau Stakes at Churchill Downs, and was Grade 3-placed on the Keeneland turf. However, a recent allowance loss sent him off as a longshot in this field, in which Grade 1 winner Howard Wolowitz was favored. Canadian champion Caitlinhergrtness became a millionaire by rallying seven-wide for a 1 1/2-length victory in the My Charmer Stakes for fillies and mares. Favored Caitlinhergrtness ($3.10), who had Prat in the irons for trainer Kevin Attard, covered the mile in 1:36.74. Caitlinhergrtness finished second in the 2024 Woodbine Oaks before taking the Canadian classic King’s Plate against males at Woodbine. She subsequently finished third in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, her efforts earning her the Sovereign Award as Canada’s champion 3-year-old filly. This year, the filly won the Grade 3 Belle Mahone and Grade 3 Ontario Matron, and had placed in three other graded stakes at Woodbine before her return to Kentucky. Mink’s Palace, last of eight after the opening quarter under Walter Rodriguez, rallied to a 2 1/4-length victory in the Holiday Inaugural Stakes, a sprint for fillies and mares. She covered the six furlongs in 1:09.48. This was the second stakes win of the year for Mink’s Palace ($26.28), who is trained by Eddie Kenneally. She won the Roxelana Stakes on dirt at Churchill Downs in April. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.