Ce Ce tops 18 invitees to the Princess Rooney

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Defending champion Ce Ce tops a list of 18 filly and mares invited for the $250,000-guaranteed Princess Rooney Invitational at Gulfstream Park on July 2.

The seven-furlong fixture, whose purse also includes a $50,000 Florida bred “win only” bonus, is a Win and You’re In challenge race for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and highlights a card that also includes the Grade 3, $100,000 Smile Sprint.

Trainer Michael McCarthy shipped Ce Ce cross-country from her home base at Santa Anita to rally to an easy, 3 1/4-length victory in the 2021 Princess Rooney. Three months later she registered a similarly impressive and relatively one-sided decision over Edgeway and odds-on favorite Gamine at Del Mar in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint to sew up division honors for McCarthy and her owner-breeder, Bo Hirsch LLC.

Ce Ce has started three times in 2022, the last two outings around two turns at Oaklawn Park where she won the Grade 2 Azeri before finishing third behind Letruska in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom.

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Ce Ce is one of three Grade 1 winners who have been invited to compete in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney along with trainer Steve Asmussen’s Kalypso and Kimari from the barn of trainer Wesley Ward.

Other notable names on the Princess Rooney invitation list include the Bill Mott-trained pair of Frank’s Rockette and Caramel Swirl, multiple graded stakes winner Glass Ceiling, trainer Brad Cox’s Grade 3 Go For Wand winner Lady Rocket, and the locally based 3-year-old filly sensation Spirit Wind, one of two horses eligible for the Florida-bred bonus.

Entries for the Princess Rooney will be drawn on June 29.