Turfway Park: Ire shooting for overdue stakes win in Holiday Inaugural

For a filly as accomplished as Ire, it’s no wonder that trainer Al Stall Jr. calls her “very unlucky” to not be a stakes winner. She has done most everything else, winning 4 of 14 races, including three times at Keeneland on Polytrack, and she has placed in four stakes, including the Grade 3 Arlington Oaks last summer.

Entered Saturday in the $50,000 Holiday Inaugural Stakes at Turfway Park going six furlongs on Polytrack, she needs her luck to change – first to overcome Mother Nature, and then defeat a full field of runners.

Freezing rain and several inches of snow are forecast for the northern Kentucky area Friday, which is expected to be followed by bitter cold Saturday, putting the day’s races at risk of cancellation.

Even if racing is conducted, winning the Holiday Inaugural will be a challenge. Twelve fillies and mares are in the body of the field, and two more sit on the also-eligible list. Twelve others were excluded from the race entirely when it overfilled.

Despite the depth of the opposition, late-running Ire looks formidable based on a successful 2013. In four starts this year she has an allowance win at Fair Grounds, a third in the Mardi Gras Stakes there, an allowance win at Keeneland on Oct. 5, and a fourth in the Grade 2 Chilukki at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.

“She might not have been as battle tested as she needed to be for a Grade 2, though for a second there watching it I thought she might be third,” Stall said.

The Chilukki form has stood up, with runner-up Wine Princess coming back to win the Falls City Handicap at Churchill over Chilukki winner Don’t Tell Sophia.

Victor Lebron rides Ire, a 4-year-old daughter of Political Force owned and bred by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider.

Following the Holiday Inaugural, Ire will join Stall’s winter string in New Orleans, Stall said.

The opposition is headed by Lady Diva Ga Ga, a three-length winner of a Churchill allowance Oct. 30, and the quick-returning Purely Hot, who finished fourth Sunday in the Grade 2 Bessarabian Stakes at Woodbine.

A synthetic specialist, Purely Hot finished second to champion Groupie Doll in the Presque Isle Masters on Sept. 9 before finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America at Keeneland on Oct. 5.