Encino, Pondering & Civetta try again at Turfway Park
Graded Stakes winners Encino and Pondering line up alongside last-time-out scorer Civetta in the Turfway Park’s rescheduled Synthetic Championships fixture on Sunday, 21 December.
The US$1m racecard was originally due to take place on Saturday, 13 December, but extreme temperatures and snow prompted a switch in date.
Successful on dirt in the 2024 G3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland, the Brad Cox-trained Encino seeks a fifth Stakes win in the Prairie Bayou Stakes, having also captured Stakes races on turf and Tapeta.
Encino has yet to finish out of the first two in four appearances at Turfway Park, with the Nyquist colt winning last year’s John Battaglia Memorial Stakes and filling the runner-up spot in this season’s G3 Kentucky Cup Classic.
Brendan Walsh sends out two Godolphin fillies for the Holiday Inaugural Stakes headed by Pondering, who made an impressive transition to Tapeta when winning last month’s G3 Bessarabian Stakes at Woodbine.
Fellow three-year-old Civetta makes a first all-weather appearance on the back of several strong turf efforts, most recently taking a Churchill Downs allowance race at the start of November.
