Sweet Cassiopeia looks to end career on high note in Holiday Inaugural

Horseplayers can be a hardened lot, but no one could begrudge the sentimentality that would result Saturday night at Turfway Park if Sweet Cassiopeia wins the 33rd and final start of an outstanding career.

Sweet Cassiopeia, by far the leading earner in the lineup, looms a major contender among an oversubscribed field of fillies and mares in the $60,000 Holiday Inaugural at the northern Kentucky track.

“It’s like losing an old friend,” trainer Bill Connelly said this week from Ocala, Fla., where he has set up shop for the winter with a 13-horse string. “She’ll be bred after this.”

Bred and owned by Steve Snowden and Dan Considine, Sweet Cassiopeia will start from post 1 under Didiel Osorio in the six-furlong Holiday Inaugural. Connelly’s brother-in-law, trainer Bruce Waltermire, will handle the saddling duties in his stead.

The main opposition appears to be Shrinking Violet (post 11, Albin Jimenez), returning from a layoff of almost eight months for owner-trainer Wesley Ward.

The Holiday Inaugural, first run in 1986, is the first of two stakes at a holiday meet that runs through Dec. 31; the remaining stakes is the $60,000 Prairie Bayou on Dec. 20. The winter-spring meet starts Jan. 1.

First post is 6:15 p.m. Eastern, with the Holiday Inaugural, the sixth of nine races, set for 8:40. Saturday nights, like the traditional Friday nights at Turfway, also will feature live music for ontrack fans this winter.

KEY CONTENDERS

Sweet Cassiopeia (Last 3 Beyers: 82-86-86)

◗ This remarkably versatile mare has racked up more than $650,000, with at least two career victories each over turf, dirt, and synthetics; her rail draw is no bad deal given her come-from-behind style.

Battlefield Angel (Last 3 Beyers: 73-75-77)

◗ This 3-year-old facing her elders exits three straight two-turn turf stakes but does so while lightly raced, having started just once since mid-August; trainer shows above-average numbers in the relevant categories.

Soft Whisper (Last 3 Beyers: 83-89-70)

◗ Third in this race last year, this steady mare enters in good form after winning a Keeneland optional claimer and finishing second in an overnight stakes at Churchill; she certainly belongs.

Miss Super Quick (Last 3 Beyers: 69-74-72)

◗ Three-year-old filly from California sports an intriguing look, having been trained out West by Richard Mandella before recently shipping into the Wayne Catalano barn; she’s still eligible for easier conditions but has hinted at her class nonetheless.

Shrinking Violet (Last 3 Beyers: 85-94-95)

◗ Fresh, fit, and eager, she’s liable to come out winging off the eight-month layoff for Ward, who shows sensational percentages in all the categories that apply here.

◗ The chestnut filly comes favorably drawn toward the outside with Jimenez, who’s odds-on to be the leading jockey again here this winter.