Trip to Florida if job is well done

Beer seems the most sought-after commodity on a Friday night of live racing at Turfway Park, where many of the local patrons come for the party atmosphere long fostered by track management.

Mike Maker, however, will be at Turfway for something else. Having amassed 143 wins and stable earnings of nearly $4.3 million through the first 11 months of 2009, the 40-year-old trainer already has surpassed his career highs in those respective categories - and so everything in December is gravy.

Maker will make the 80-minute drive north from his home in Louisville, Ky., to run Mr All American in a third-level optional $50,000 claiming race that anchors a 12-race Friday card.

Maker is preparing to send about 40 horses to south Florida for the winter, and how Mr All American performs Friday could determine whether he stays or goes.

"I'll have about 40 in Florida, 40 in Kentucky, and maybe a dozen in New York," said Maker. "Mr All American has had some problems focusing," referring to several races in which the 3-year-old colt has either bore out or lugged in noticeably. "I'm thinking about taking him to Florida, depending on how he does Friday."

Five opponents will face Mr All American in the 10th race, a one-mile Polytrack race on a card that begins at 5:30 p.m. Eastern.

Mr All American, with Victor Lebron to ride, will start from post 2. He has won back-to-back starts, having barely hung on to prevail in a turf allowance at Churchill Downs. That Nov. 8 triumph came just a couple of hours after Maker had landed from California, where he had sent out Furthest Land to win the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile the previous day.

Strike Impact (post 4) and Ok Nothanksforaskn (post 5) look like the main threats Friday because of their experience on synthetics.

* The lone stakes at Turfway this weekend is the My Charmer, one of five $50,000 stakes scheduled for the holiday meet. The My Charmer, for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles, will be run Saturday.

The holiday meet runs through Dec. 31, with the winter-spring meet following Jan. 1 to April 1.