Jean Elizabeth, Rocky Policy among dozen in Holiday Inaugural

The Turfway Park meeting that opened this week under the auspices of Churchill Downs Inc. for the first time is expected to be popular with horsemen. Friday night’s $75,000 Holiday Inaugural is one early indicator that those expectations will become reality.

The first stakes of the meet, the Holiday Inaugural drew 14 entries and 12 are allowed to start. The six-furlong Polytrack sprint for fillies and mares includes a stakes-seasoned pair of runners in Jean Elizabeth and Rocky Policy, both in good form as they ship to Turfway for the first time.

Jean Elizabeth has won three consecutive races and is trained by Larry Rivelli, who also co-bred and co-owns the Illinois-bred filly. Jean Elizabeth won the Sweet Briar Too Stakes and Grade 3 Ontario Fashion Stakes at Woodbine, both sprints on the synthetic main track, followed by the Powerless Handicap at Hawthorne on the dirt. Her Beyer Speed Figure of 89 in the Ontario Fashion is the top figure posted by any member of this field in 2019.

Jean Elizabeth, who has never finished worse than third, has won five stakes and finished second or third in four others. Albin Jimenez has the mount on the filly Friday night.

The 7-year-old Maryland-bred Rocky Policy has competed on 13 tracks in eight states, including a stint in California this year. Rocky Policy won the Turf Amazon Stakes in September at Parx Racing, and most recently was second by a half-length to the multiple graded stakes winner Hotshot Anna in an allowance race in October on the Keeneland turf. She earned a Beyer of 85 in that outing, the top last-out figure in this field.

Martin Garcia, who moved his tack from California to Kentucky this fall, has the mount on Rocky Policy for trainer Bob Hess Jr.

Iva won three of her first four starts, including the Cincinnati Trophy Stakes in February at Turfway. Since then, however, she has finished fifth in the Grade 3 Beaumont Stakes on the Keeneland dirt, eighth in the Tom Ridge Stakes on Presque Isle’s synthetic track against males, and fifth in a Churchill Downs allowance that came off the turf. This will be the filly’s first start since June, and first for trainer Paulo Lobo since moving to his barn from Wesley Ward.

The field also includes Upset Brewing, who ran third in the Grade 3 Winning Colors in May at Churchill.

Still There is trying to find her best form this year, which she sported when finishing second to Marley’s Freedom in the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes last year at Saratoga. She has finished fourth or fifth in three outings since, and this will be her first start on a synthetic track. She was sixth in her only race on turf.