Ce Ce headed to Florida for Princess Rooney
Two-time Grade 1 winner Ce Ce was scheduled to arrive Tuesday in South Florida as a confirmed starter in the Grade 2, $350,000 Princess Rooney, the centerpiece of the Summit of Speed card Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Trainer Michael McCarthy said Sunday from his California base that Ce Ce was booked on a FedEx flight and that the 5-year-old mare was to be entered Wednesday, when fields for the Princess Rooney and the rest of the Saturday card were to be drawn at the South Florida track.
Ce Ce, as winner of the Grade 1 Beholder Mile and Grade 1 Apple Blossom in the spring of 2020, figures as a solid favorite in what will be a short lineup of fillies and mares in the seven-furlong Princess Rooney. Bred and owned by Bo Hirsch, Ce Ce had her final pre-race tune-up Saturday at Santa Anita when going five furlongs in 59.80 seconds.
“I thought her work was very good,” McCarthy said.
Ce Ce is expected to have Bronx Beauty among her chief opposition. Bronx Beauty, a 6-year-old mare trained by Anthony Margotta Jr., had her final pre-race work Saturday at Monmouth Park, going a half-mile in 47 seconds, before loading on a van for the long ride south to Gulfstream.
The Princess Rooney, named for the champion mare of 1984, will anchor a busy program that also includes the Grade 3, $200,000 Smile Sprint and the $100,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint. The Summit of Speed is among the richest programs of a six-month spring-summer meet that runs through Sept. 26.
The six-furlong Smile figures to have Chance It and Diamond Oops as favorites in what also should be a fairly short field. Other older horses expected as of Monday were Double Crown, Frosted Grace, Miles Ahead, and Shivaree.
The Umphrey will have the largest field of the three stakes, assuming weather conditions permit the five-furlong race to remain on turf. As of Monday, at least 10 were expected, including Ete Indien, the 2020 Fountain of Youth winner who would be making his 4-year-old debut.
No feature, no jackpot
There’s no real feature on a modest eight-race Thursday card at Gulfstream, unless you count a $60,000 maiden-special (race 3) for Florida-bred 2-year-olds that has had its purse incentivized by a no-Lasix restriction. A $34,000 starter allowance (race 2) and a $50,000 statebred maiden-special (race 5) with Lasix permitted also are on tap. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.
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The jackpot for the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (races 3-8) will start anew after being forced out Wednesday, when the 2020-21 fiscal year for the state of Florida ended.
There is no racing Friday at Gulfstream. After this interrupted week, a three-day schedule (Fridays through Sundays) is being undertaken for most of the balance of the spring-summer meet.