Marquee Cal Gal carries family's hopes in Holiday Inaugural

A racing rarity occurred last December in the Holiday Inaugural at Turfway Park when full sisters finished one-two in the six-furlong Polytrack race.

Marquee Miss outkicked her older sister Marquee Cal Gal, but with Marquee Miss absent from the Holiday Inaugural this year, trainer Phil Sims is hoping Marquee Cal Gal will have the headlines to herself.

“We just hope she runs her race again because she’s doing awfully well,” Sims said.

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The $50,000 Holiday Inaugural will be run for the 32nd time Friday night at Turfway in northern Kentucky, with Marquee Cal Gal likely to come favored in a race that includes Conquest City Girl and Sentence as her chief threats.

Bred and owned by David Jacobs, Marquee Cal Gal has earned nearly $250,000 during a 29-race career and has done her best racing over synthetics. Sims tried the 6-year-old mare on turf for her last three starts, with decent results, but her overall record over synthetics – 10 wins and 4 seconds from 18 starts – speaks to an obvious preference.

“She just loves it,” Sims said. “She looks great right now, too. She’s a 6-year-old but looks like she’s 3.”

Marquee Cal Gal, a Kentucky-bred by Cowboy Cal out of Marquee Delivery, will have Jon Court aboard when she breaks from post 8. In all, 14 are entered in the Holiday Inaugural, but only as many as 12 can start.

Conquest City Girl (post 5, Channing Hill) has arrived here from Canada for trainer Mark Casse, while most of his horses are otherwise transitioning to Florida or Louisiana. The 4-year-old filly was a last-out winner over the Tapeta surface at Woodbine and clearly fits with this caliber.

Sentence (post 2, Malcolm Franklin) has won 3 of 7 starts, all for owner-breeders Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, and although the 4-year-old daughter of Blame has raced exclusively on dirt, she trains daily on the Pro-Ride synthetic at Skylight in Goshen, Ky., under the supervision of Tom Drury.

A handful of fringe contenders all drew outside posts – Miner’s Cat (post 10, Leandro Goncalves), Fiesta (post 11, Alex Canchari), and Grace’s Treasure (post 12, Jesus Castanon).

First post for an eight-race Friday card is 6:15 p.m. Eastern, with the feature, the fifth race, set for 8:15.

The Holiday Inaugural and the $50,000 Prairie Bayou on Dec. 29 are the only two stakes at the holiday meet. The Grade 3 Spiral anchors the winter-spring meet on March 17.

Turfway long held its stakes on Saturdays, but with Friday nights customarily drawing larger ontrack crowds through live music and food/drink specials, management has moved most stakes to Fridays.