Canada’s star sprinter PATCHES O’HOULIHAN is going on the road for the first time in his career as he has been entered in the $250,000 Holiday Cheer Turfway Park Synthetic Championship on Dec. 14 in Florence, Kentucky. Frank DiGiulio’s 2023 Champion Sprinter won his first races of 2024, all stakes, before he was edged by Grade 1 winner Nobals in the Kennedy Road Stakes (G2) on Nov. 16. Trained by Robert Tiller, Patches O’Houlihan, by Reload, has drawn post 12 in the Turfway stake at 6 furlongs with Sofia Vives riding.
The competition for the Ontario-bred is tough with Hoard Wolowitz, a Grade 1 winner, drawn on the rail, and Nobals’ stablemates One Timer and Dream Shake among the strong contenders.
The Holiday Cheer is one of four stakes races in the Synthetic Championship and the card begins at 5:55 p.m.
Other stars from Woodbine are in the Turfway Stakes races including Mark Dodson’s Ontario-bred A GAME, trained by Josie Carroll and ridden by Fraser Aebly. A Game, entered in the Holiday Inaugural at 6 furlongs, won the Ontario Fashion Stakes (G3) on Oct. 12 and was recently sixth in the Bessarabian Stakes (G3). Love to Shop, trained by Kevin Attard for Repole and St. Elias Stables, is also in the field after three straight second-place finishes at Woodbine.
DRESDEN ROW, a top contender for Canada’s Champion three-year-old Sovereign Award, has post 6 in the $250,000 Prairie Boy for owner Keith Johns and trainer Lorne Richards. Martin Garcia will ride the Kentucky-bred for the first time.
You may also be interested in:
