Last year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) favorite Sweetnorthernsaint returns from a seven month layoff Dec. 29, taking on 10 rivals in the $50,000 Holiday Cheer Stakes at Turfway Park.

A runaway winner in the 2006 Illinois Derby (gr. I), Sweetnorthernsaint will cut back to six furlongs in the Holiday Cheer, the first time since breaking his maiden that the 4-year-old gelding will try that distance. The race, to be held on the Turfway Polytrack, will also be Sweetnorthernsaint’s first try on an artificial surface.

Trainer Michael Trombetta said the distance and surface changes are all part of his master plan to run the son of Sweetsouthernsaint in next month’s $1-million Sunshine Millions Classic on the Santa Anita Cushion Track. In January he placed third in the event, but it was on the dirt at Gulfstream Park.

“I sent him up to Graham Motion about three weeks ago to work over the Fair Hills synthetic surface,” Trombetta said. “He’s been training good. He doesn’t necessarily have to win this race for us to go to the Sunshine Millions. We just want to see if he handles the surface