Synthetic lover Visitant tops Holiday Cheer Stakes

After returning from a layoff for a December allowance win, Visitant steps back into stakes company in the $125,000 Holiday Cheer Stakes on New Year’s Day at Turfway Park. The Holiday Cheer, a six-furlong race for older sprinters, anchors a 10-race Sunday afternoon card.

Visitant, a 7-year-old homebred Ghostzapper horse owned by Williamson Racing and trained by Bill Morey, has put together a record of 9-7-1-1 at Turfway. Last winter at Turfway, he ripped through three consecutive wins on the Tapeta by a combined 13 lengths, taking an allowance event, the Forego Stakes, and the Big Daddy Stakes with a 105 Beyer Speed Figure. He then finished second in April when seeking a repeat in the Kentucky Cup Classic, beaten three-quarters of a length by King Cause, who went on to win a graded stakes in 2022.

Visitant sat out the rest of the spring and summer, and returned to the work tab in October. He won his comeback race in a Dec. 16 allowance/optional event at Turfway, rolling home by 3 1/4 lengths with a 102 Beyer, the top last-out figure in this field.

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Visitant, who will have regular rider Gerardo Corrales in the irons, usually runs on or just off the lead. The speed in the Holiday Cheer will probably be provided by Nobody Listens from the rail and perhaps Outadore, who breaks from the outside post in the field of eight.

Outadore, a multiple stakes winner on turf and synthetic, won his only start on Turfway’s Tapeta, the Animal Kingdom Stakes in March 2021. He is coming off a front-running turf sprint score in a Keeneland allowance with a 96 Beyer.

Kent Desormeaux picks up the mount on Outadore for Wesley Ward. Desormeaux is named on three horses Sunday, all for Ward, his first mounts in Kentucky since September 2021.

Nobody Listens is coming off a 9 1/2-length allowance victory against Indiana-breds at Horseshoe Indianapolis in November with a 100 Beyer. He has never run on a synthetic surface, but has won on turf.

Ready for a Fight raced for trainer Steve Miyadi in California into April 2021, then was sidelined for 18 months. Mark Casse took over as trainer when Ready for a Fight returned Oct. 23 with a third-place finish in an allowance sprint over the Tapeta at Woodbine. He finished second in an allowance sprint at Woodbine in November, then broke through for a victory in a similar race there on Dec. 11 with a 90 Beyer.

Droppin G’s is also coming off a win in his third start off a layoff. He cut back in distance from a series of routes to win an allowance/optional race on Dec. 21 at Turfway.

Johnny Unleashed, graded placed this year, and Thanks Mr. Eidson, a stakes winner two back at Horseshoe Indianapolis, are both accomplished turf sprinters.

The purse for the Holiday Cheer includes $45,000 from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.

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