Curlin's Approval targets repeat in Princess Rooney Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Curlin’s Approval will attempt to become the first horse to win back-to-back renewals of the $250,000 Princess Rooney Stakes since Gold Mover in 2002-03 when she faces seven rivals in the headliner on Saturday’s 14-race Summit of Speed program at Gulfstream Park.

The Princess Rooney also is the fourth leg of a Rainbow 6 sequence that must have its pool disbursed Saturday, the final day of the spring meeting. The Rainbow 6 is likely to offer a pool of about $5 million if it is not hit Thursday or Friday.

The Grade 2 Princess Rooney is the first of three Breeders’ Cup Challenge races offering a berth to the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs. Curlin’s Approval earned her Breeders’ Cup spot last year by virtue of her 4 1/2-length victory in the seven-furlong Princess Rooney, for which she earned a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure.

Curlin’s Approval, a daughter of Curlin, has captured just one of three starts this year, returning from a 3 1/2-month freshening to win the Ana T overnight stakes by three lengths June 3. She had finished fifth, beaten nine lengths by winner Martini Glass, in defense of her title in the Grade 3 Royal Delta here in her previous start. Curlin’s Approval is trained by her breeder, Happy Alter, who also owns the mare with Bridlewood Farm.

“The time off after the Royal Delta really seemed to do her a lot of good,” Alter said. “She really blossomed out . . . and I believe she’s coming into this race as good as she did when she won it a year ago. The only difference is that she’s 5 now, and the 4-year-old season is usually a horse’s prime year.”

Alter also said he believes seven furlongs is the optimum distance for Curlin’s Approval, despite her 13th-place finish at the distance in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, when her chances were compromised after she stumbled at the break.

“Although she’s won at a mile and one-sixteenth, seven-eighths is best for her,” Alter said. “Actually, with her breeding, being out of a With Approval mare, I think she could be even better on the turf. But I don’t want to change anything while she’s still running so well on the dirt.”

Curlin’s Approval will likely be under the gun from the outset of the Princess Rooney. She breaks from the rail under Luis Saez, who rode her to victory in the race a year ago.

“I don’t mind the rail going six furlongs,” Alter said. “But I hate it the most at seven-eighths. You have to be much the best to win from the rail going seven furlongs.”

Although Curlin’s Approval will likely go postward the solid favorite, it is actually Ms Locust Point who will carry high weight of 123 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Princess Rooney. She figures to control the pace stretching out to seven furlongs off a third-place finish in the six-furlong Skipat over a sloppy track May 18 at Pimlico.

Ms Locust Point is the only other Grade 2 winner in the field, having captured the Barbara Fritchie at Laurel, also at seven furlongs, on Feb. 17. She finished a tiring fifth in her only local appearance, which came as a 3-year-old in the 2017 Forward Gal.

Trainer Todd Pletcher is hoping the home-field advantage will help the lightly raced My Miss Tapit prove competitive against her more experienced competition. My Miss Tapit has won 3 of her 5 starts, with all of those victories coming locally, including an easy-as-can-be 6 3/4-length optional-claiming win off an eight-month layoff April 14 that makes her a serious contender on Saturday. My Miss Tapit is perfect in two starts at seven furlongs.

“She runs well fresh, obviously loves the track, and this looks like a good spot to get some black type on her résumé,” Pletcher said. “The Win and You’re In would be a bonus if she were to win.”

Treble ships in from Churchill Downs off a second-place finish behind her recent nemesis Miss Kentucky in the Grade 3 Winning Colors five weeks ago. She also had finished second, beaten just a neck, by that same rival under allowance conditions in her previous start. That loss snapped a two-race win streak for Treble, a much-improved daughter of Macho Uno who’ll compete with blinkers for the first time in the Princess Rooney.

Completing the field are Grade 3 winner Rich Mommy; She Takes Heart, who has been blazing in the morning since being claimed for $62,500 earlier in the meet; restricted stakes winner Stormy Embrace; and Spanish Harlem.