It's Foley's birthday - so beware

Over the last few years, no trainer has been more dominant at Turfway Park than Greg Foley. In 2005 and 2006, Foley sent out the highest total of winners across each year's three meets, and overall, he has won five individual meet titles at the Florence, Ky., track.

This winter, however, Foley will move his best horses out of Kentucky for the first time in years. He had racked up his impressive numbers by consolidating his entire stable between Turfway and the Trackside training center in Louisville, but soon Foley will be taking his first string to Oaklawn Park in Arkansas while leaving another string behind.

Before he leaves for Oaklawn, which starts Jan. 18, there would be no more appropriate gift for Foley than a victory in the Thursday feature at Turfway. Foley will celebrate his 50th birthday that day, and he has one of the prime contenders in Hayden Valley, one of seven fillies and mares in a $26,000 allowance governed by a "two other than" restriction.

Hayden Valley, bred and owned by longtime client Donamire Farm, enters off a decent third-place finish in a Dec. 7 sprint at Turfway. She will be stretching out Thursday to 1 1/16 miles, and considering her grinding style and the fact she probably needed that last race following a five-month layoff, she figures to be prominent under apprentice Fernando de la Cruz.

The main challengers figure to be Angelica Delight, an impressive allowance winner over Polytrack at Arlington Park in September, and Luna Dorado, a stakes-seasoned 3-year-old who stands to benefit from her last race at Churchill Downs.

Foley has three other starters earlier on the card: Acallaway in race 4, Print the Legend in race 5, and Transpose in race 6.

* The next stakes at Turfway comes Saturday with the 19th running of the $50,000 Holiday Cheer, a six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up. Sweetnorthernsaint and Junior College are the notables among the 45 nominees. Entries were to be drawn Wednesday.

* Turfway will run every day through Tuesday, New Year's Day, before going dark Wednesday, Jan. 2. Racing then resumes the afternoon of Jan. 3.