Finnegans Wake meets Holiday Star in Hollywood Turf Cup
Finnegans Wake and Holiday Star meet for the first time in Thursday’s $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar as stakes winners with differing form.
Finnegans Wake was 10th of 12 as a 55-1 outsider in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. The Hollywood Turf Cup is a chance to end a three-race losing streak for the 5-year-old.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Finnegans Wake. Trainer Peter Miller is 47-1-5-5 with a $0.08 ROI over the past five years in graded stakes on turf. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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“We’re certainly getting some class relief,” trainer Peter Miller said.
Holiday Star will start in a Grade 2 race for the first time, having won his first stakes in the Grade 3 Sycamore over 1 1/2 miles on soft turf at Keeneland on Oct. 16.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Holiday Star and No. 7 Alakazan Alakazan. Trainer Graham Motion is 16-7-1-1 with a $10.24 ROI over the past two years in turf route graded stakes of 12 furlongs and longer. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
“This will be a step up for him,” trainer Graham Motion said. “I always thought he’d be this kind of horse.”
Finnegans Wake and Holiday Star are part of a field of 11 in the Turf Cup, a race transferred to Del Mar following the closure of Hollywood Park in 2013. The Turf Cup drew a solid field, including Irish Surf and Patrioticandproud, who were second and third in the Las Vegas Marathon over 1 3/4 miles on dirt at Santa Anita on Oct. 31; Bench Light, who was second in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on turf in August; and The Pizza Man, who won the American St. Leger and two other stakes at Arlington Park during the summer.
KEY CONTENDERS
Finnegans Wake (Last 3 Beyers: 96-93-92)
Finnegans Wake won the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap in July when trained by Dale Romans. After a fifth-place finish in the Arlington Million, Finnegans Wake was sent to Miller. Finnegans Wake was second in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, which led to the start in the BC Turf.
Finnegans Wake was beaten 5 1/4 lengths by Main Sequence, the top turf horse in the United States, in the BC Turf.
“He ran his race against the best turf horses in the world,” Miller said. “Either of his last two races puts him right there.”
Finnegans Wake has raced for breeder Jerry Crawford’s Donegal Racing throughout his career. Gary Hartunian’s Rockingham Ranch became a part-owner before the John Henry Turf Championship.
Holiday Star (Last 3 Beyers: 95-94-93)
Owned by Augustin Stable, Holiday Star was beaten a nose in two stakes before the Sycamore, losing the John’s Call Stakes at Saratoga in August and the PTHA President’s Cup at Parx Racing on Sept. 13.
“He’d been a little unlucky in his previous two races,” Motion said. “Running these longer distances has been key. He’s pretty straightforward.”
Holiday Star will be ridden for the first time by Mike Smith, the seventh different jockey in as many races this year for the 4-year-old gelding. Rosie Napravnik rode Holiday Star in the Sycamore but announced her retirement Oct. 31, stating that she is pregnant.
“I couldn’t get Rosie to come out of retirement,” Motion said.
The Pizza Man (Last 3 Beyers: 99-89-99)
After a win in the American St. Leger over 1 11/16 miles on turf, The Pizza Man was beaten in two Grade 1 stakes at Woodbine, finishing fifth in the Northern Dancer Stakes on Sept. 14 and fourth in the Canadian International on Oct. 19.
A 5-year-old gelding, The Pizza Man should race near the front in his first start in California.