Ce Ce confirmed for Princess Rooney; Kimari unlikely to run
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The big mare is coming back!
Ce Ce, who shipped cross-country to South Florida to capture the 2021 Princess Rooney as a prelude to her victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint four months later, will in all likelihood make the same trip to Gulfstream Park to defend that title here July 2, her trainer, Michael McCarthy, confirmed earlier this week.
Ce Ce rallied to a convincing 3 1/2-length victory a year ago in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney, a Win and You’re In race that earned her an automatic, all-expenses-paid berth into the BC Filly and Mare Sprint. And she made the most of that opportunity, using similar tactics to post a 2 1/2-length decision over Edgeway to sew up championship honors in the female sprint division.
“Nothing is set in stone and we’ll know more after she works next weekend, but at the moment the Princess Rooney is the priority now and her target as long as we can make the proper flight arrangements,” McCarthy said.
Ce Ce was one of 17 horses invited to the Grade 2 Princess Rooney, which will be decided at seven furlongs for a $250,000 purse with a $50,000 additional bonus for Florida-breds. She is one of three Grade 1 winners on that list along with Kimari and Kalypso.
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Kimari, who captured the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland in 2021, was an easy allowance winner here earlier this season, but trainer Wesley Ward said Wednesday she is not likely to return for the Princess Rooney.
“I think seven furlongs is a little bit of a stretch for her against those caliber of mares,” Ward said. “She ran very well over that track, but it was against a much lesser quality field.”
The Princess Rooney will highlight the Summit of Speed card on July 2 that also includes the Grade 3, $100,000 Smile Sprint, part of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen, which will offer incentive fees to the top three finishers for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. The 14 horses nominated to the Smile are all based in South Florida, but the race is topped by world traveler and Grade 1 winner Drain the Clock, who is scheduled to make his first start in the six-furlong fixture since his seventh-place finish in the Dubai Golden Shaheen on March 27.
Zayas makes return
Racing resumes here Friday with a 10-race program highlighted by a $51,000 allowance race for 3-year-old fillies over the Tapeta surface along with the return of jockey Edgard Zayas, South Florida’s most dominant rider on a year-round basis over the past several seasons. Zayas’s mounts will be his first since having shoulder surgery in December.
Zayas captured both the spring/summer and fall meet riding titles here last year while posting 211 victories overall in 2021. He is named on three horses Friday, including first-time starter Flag Woman for trainer Ralph Nicks in the third race and Li Li Bear for his main client, Saffie Joseph Jr., in the eighth event.
The headliner lured a wide-open field of seven with Sequin Lady, coming off a second-place finish against similar in her 2022 debut, perhaps destined to go postward a tepid choice. Sequin Lady earned a career-best 70 Beyer Speed Figure while making her first start in six months and proving for a second time that she is quite fond of the Tapeta surface.
Graceleadsushome, who turns back to perhaps a more suitable distance after contesting a grueling pace going a mile on the main track in her local bow, is among the other key contenders along with Bunnynotbeast, Joseph’s Strategy Queen, and synthetic specialist I Said Hey.