Comeback continues for Holiday Star in Laurel Turf Cup

 

Augustin Stable’s two-time Grade 3 winner Holiday Star, fourth in his return from a 21-month break between races last month, finds himself back in stakes company in the $100,000 Laurel Turf Cup.

 

A gelded 7-year-old son of Harlan’s Holiday, Holiday Star had been training steadily at Fair Hill for trainer Graham Motion prior to his return, where he was fourth throughout in a 1 1/8-mile allowance Aug. 16 at Saratoga.

 

“He’d been off almost 2 years so I was very happy with the way he ran. It was a very competitive race and I thought he ran very respectably coming off that long of a layoff, probably as well as they could have hoped him to,” Motion said. “It’s tough to find races to come back in for horses that kind of want to go a distance of ground like that. If he can return to his old form I think it puts him in the mix on Saturday, but he’s a couple of years older so we’ll see. He’s done well in the morning. I’ve been very happy with his works.”

 

Holiday Star went five furlongs in 1:02.60 Monday following a pair of six-furlong breezes, all over Fair Hill’s all-weather track, prompting Motion and owner George Strawbridge to delay retirement. Three of his six career wins have come in six tries at the Turf Cup distance, including back-to-back victories in the Sycamore (G3) at Keeneland.

 

“He had some old issues and we just decided to give him a lot of time. We even considered retiring him but he just seemed to be doing so well that Mr. Strawbridge wanted to give him another chance,” Motion said. “I’ve been very happy with how he’s trained. I think he really thrives going this distance. I think it’s what he wants. Hopefully having the race under his belt will really help him. He had a nice work on Monday so hopefully this is something that should be a good opportunity for him.”

 

Dr. Michael J. Harrison’s veteran Maryland homebred Talk Show Man will make his 31st career start in the Turf Cup. Trained by Ham Smith, the 7-year-old gelding won a one-mile allowance by a head July 22 and got caught inside on a soft turf in the Aug. 19 Find, finishing fifth, beaten just 2 ¼ lengths.

 

“He’s doing fine. He came out of the last race real good,” Smith said. “The better part of the racetrack was further out and we got stuck down inside which didn’t help us much. It got a little tight around the far turn there and it cost him a little bit and the horses on the outside had free run and they finished 1-2.

 

“I’m not worried about the distance or anything like that. I think he’ll run good,” he added. “He’s going into this one as good as he’s gone into any of them. He’s doing real good right now so I expect him to run good. He’s always been a nice horse and very good to us.”

 

An unknown in the Turf Cup field is Guy Pariente’s Canessar, making his North American debut after winning five of 10 starts in his native France. He joined trainer Arnaud Delacour’s Fair Hill string this summer. His wins have come at distances of 1 ¼, 1 ¾, 1 7/8 and 1 9/16 miles.

 

“He came in about a month and a half ago and he’s done well. He’s breezed every week and seems to have acclimated every well. It’s going to be the first time on Lasix so I hope that he can perform well,” Delacour said. “Going by watching him in the mornings he could be pretty close to the pace but we’ll see. He’s a nice prospect for me.

 

“I put him in my routine and he has done everything well so far,” he added. “We’ll see when we run, really, if he likes that kind of race. The main thing is we run on the flat ground here where in Europe it goes up and down. That’s going to be different.”

 

Renown and St. Albans Boy, winners of the 2016 and 2015 Turf Cup, respectively, are also entered in an attempt to become the first repeat winners in its history. Renown went on to win the Sycamore (G3) and 2017 Secretariat at Great Meadow but is winless in his last three, while St. Albans Boy has not reached the winner’s circle since the Turf Cup, returning from a 13-month layoff to run seventh Aug. 11 at Monmouth.

 

Infinite Wisdom, winner of the John’s Call Aug. 23 at Saratoga last out; Find runner-up Ghost Bay; Highly Prized, Manitoulin, Motivational and Pizmo Time complete the field.