Glamanation the filly to beat in Holiday Inaugural

Headed to warmer spots himself, Steve Asmussen kept one of the newer members of his huge stable behind to run Friday night in the first stakes of the winter at Turfway Park, the $50,000 Holiday Inaugural.

Asmussen, whose best horses will be based primarily at Fair Grounds for the next four months, will be represented at the northern Kentucky track by the synthetic specialist Glamanation as the likely favorite in the Holiday Inaugural, which anchors an eight-race card that starts at 6:10 p.m. Eastern. Post time for the feature is 9:11.

Glamanation only recently came into the Asmussen fold at Churchill Downs, having spent her entire 11-race career at Woodbine in Canada with two other trainers. The Millennium Farms filly’s last two races, both over Tapeta, were particularly sharp and point her out as the one to beat in a full field of 12 fillies and mares in the Holiday Inaugural, which goes at six furlongs over Polytrack.

Luan Machado, a 24-year-old rising star in his native Brazil, has the call on Glamanation, who breaks from post 1.

Primary challengers include the uncoupled Ben Colebrook pair of Parol (post 7, Malcolm Franklin) and Grand Prix (post 6, Orlando Mojica), as well as In the Mood (post 3, John McKee), a last-out winner in a Churchill allowance. One of the more interesting outsiders is Country Chick (post 8, Carlos Esquilin), whose $248.60 payoff in upsetting a Kentucky Downs allowance in September represents the highest win mutuel of the year on the continent.

The Holiday Inaugural is the first of just two stakes at the holiday meet, with the Dec. 28 Prairie Bayou being the other. The stakes schedule at the subsequent winter-spring meet, which starts Jan. 1, will be highlighted as always by the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks, to be run March 9 as a Kentucky Derby qualifying points event.

The Holiday Inaugural, first run in 1986, was won last year by Luckyallmylife, a 27-1 shot ridden by Perry Ouzts.

KEY CONTENDERS

Glamanation, by Point of Entry

Last 3 Beyers: 82-85-50

◗ Three-year-old faces her elders after finishing a head second in a Woodbine stakes, which followed an allowance romp.

In the Mood, by Eskendereya

Last 3 Beyers: 84-62-58

◗ Her recent triumph over Streamline, a multiple graded winner, came going a mile and makes her very live here on the turnback.

Parol, by Mizzen Mast

Last 3 Beyers: 61-83-73

◗ Several good efforts earlier this year going short over turf point her out as a contender, as Colebrook adds blinkers for her synthetic surface debut.