Chub Wagon, Pacific Gale among early candidates for Princess Rooney

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The first invitation list for the Grade 2, $350,000 Princess Rooney Invitational, the marquee race of the Gulfstream Park spring-summer session, was released on Sunday with 14 filly and mare sprinters having been offered starting slots in the seven-furlong race. The lone Breeders’ Cup Challenge event on the local schedule, the Princess Rooney and the Grade 3, 200,000 Smile Sprint Invitational will highlight the July 3 Summit of Speed program.

Among the most prominent names on the list are Grade 1 winners Bell’s the One, Ce Ce and Kimari; multiple graded stakes winners Frank’s Rockette and Pacific Gale; and Estilo Talentoso, who captured the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses earlier this month at Belmont Park. Thissmytime, second behind Pacific Gale in the Grade 2 Inside Information here on Jan. 23, is the only locally based horse on the list.

:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances - the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures

“Besides this being a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race, we’ve done everything possible this year to guarantee the best possible field for the Princess Rooney,” said Mike Lakow, Gulfstream vice presidnt of racing. We raised the purse to $350,000, positioned it in a prime spot on the calendar four weeks after the Bed o’ Roses and four weeks before the Honorable Miss, and offered financial incentives to owners to bring their horses down here for the race.”

Those incentives include payments of $20,000 to the owners of Grade 1 winners in 2020-21 who run in the Princess Rooney, $10,000 to owners of Grade 2 winners in 2020-21, and $5,000 to owners of graded stakes-placed horses in 2020-21.

“If we can get six horses off this invitation list to come, we’d be pleased,” said Lakow. “We’ll update the list each of the next two Sundays. There is plenty of interest from out-of-town horses not on this first list, as well as from many of the locals, to run in the race.”

Pacific Gale won both the Inside Information and Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie here this winter, and her trainer, John Kimmel, has expressed an interest in shipping her down from New York for the event.

Chub Wagon also might run in the Princess Rooney. Chub Wagon rallied to a game neck victory over Hello Beautiful on Sunday in Pimlico’s six-furlong Shine Again to remain undefeated in seven starts. The following morning, trainer Guadalupe Preciado confirmed he was leaning to bringing his filly back on short rest for the Princess Rooney.

“She ate everything and looks good this morning coming out of the race,” Preciado said. “If everything continues to go well, we’re planning on going there. Three weeks is a little close to bring her back, but I really like the seven-eighths for her.”

Chub Wagon has made just one start going seven furlongs, easily winning a Pennsylvania-bred stakes at Parx by 7 1/2 lengths on April 27 and earning a 94 Beyer Speed Figure. Chub Wagon has never started in a graded stakes.

“Eventually I think she can run up to a mile,” Preciado said. “Every time she runs, she faces tougher and tougher fields. And that’s what we’re expecting if we come down for this race.”

The Smile is also an invitational, with incentives offered to the owners of Grade 1 winners to participate. Nominations for the race close next Sunday.