Hollygrove wires Valdale; Hush of a Storm headlines Dust Commander

Feb 9, 2025 Jennie Rees No Comments

Turfway Park stakes recap and advance by publicist Kevin Kerstein (Coady Media/Turfway Park photo of the Whit Beckman Hollygrove winning the Validate under Joe Ramos)

HOLLYGROVE WIRES FIELD IN SATURDAY’S $122,250 VALDALE STAKES

FLORENCE, Ky. (Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025) – Legion Racing’s Hollygrove broke sharply and never looked back, turning away multiple challengers to secure her first stakes victory in Saturday night’s 38^th running of the $122,250 Valdale Stakes at Turfway Park Racing & Gaming.

Trained by Whit Beckman and ridden by Joe Ramos, Hollygrove completed 6 ½ furlongs over the Tapeta surface in 1:19.41, prevailing by three-quarters of a length. It was Beckman’s sixth stakes victory — all since the fall of 2023 and fourth in the past seven weeks — in a career that just started in late 2021.

Hollygrove broke sharply in the field of seven 3-year-old fillies and was quickly met by pressure from My Lil Punky to her inside, Brindi (IRE) to her outside and Maclean’s Lullaby to the far outside. She maintained a narrow advantage through an opening quarter-mile in :23.32 and continued to lead around the far turn as even-money favoriteMagical Bette advanced into contention after a slow break.

Turning for home, Magical Bette briefly drew even with Hollygrove but the frontrunner dug in at the eighth pole and turned back the heavy favorite. In deep stretch, My Lil Punky launched a late bid but came up just short at the wire.

Grace on Grace closed from well off the pace to finish third and was followed by La Marinera, Magical Bette, Maclean’s Lullaby, and Brindi (IRE).

Sent off at 7-1, Hollygrove returned $16.16, $6.88, and $4.44. My Lil Punky, under Edgar Morales, paid $5.10 and $3.92, while Grace on Grace, ridden by Fernando De La Cruz, returned $4.08 to show.

The Valdale Stakes marked the second career victory for Hollygrove, a chestnut daughter of Complexity bred in Kentucky by Glendalough. She earned $75,760 for the win, boosting her lifetime earnings to $161,283.

Live racing resumes Wednesday-Saturday at Turfway Park, with first posts at 5:55 p.m. For more information, visit www.turfway.com.

MULTIPLE STAKES WINNER HUSH OF A STORM HEADLINES WIDE-OPEN $125,000 DUST COMMANDER STAKES – Sandford Goldfarb’s multiple stakes winner and four-time Turfway Park victor Hush of a Storm will attempt to add another victory to his resume in Saturday’s 34^th running of the $125,000 Dust Commander Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile event for older horses.

Carded as Race 7 at 8:55 p.m. (all times Eastern), the Dust Commander is the featured event on Saturday’s 10-race program. First post is 5:55 p.m.

*Hush of a Storm winning a Turfway Park allowance race last March under Gerardo Corrales. Coady Media/Turfway photo*

Trained by Brad Cox, Hush of a Storm exits a third-place finish in the Prairie Bayou Stakes at Turfway, where he was defeated two lengths by Paros, who set a track record for 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.22 that night. The New York-bred son of Creative Cause has won four stakes victories including the 2021 John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway. Overall, Hush of a Storm boasts a 30-9-3-8 record with earnings of $452,308. He will break from post No. 3 under jockey Vincent Cheminaud.

Cox and Goldfarb claimed Hush of a Storm last July at Saratoga for $45,000.

The Dust Commander lineup includes several accomplished older horses, including 11-time winner Yamato, 2023 Rebel Stakes (GII) winner Confidence Game, 2023 Wise Dan (GII) winner Stitched and recent 1 ¼-mile allowance winner Tapit Shoes.

The field for the Dust Commander in order of post position (with jockey and trainer):