Pacific Gale might come down for Princess Rooney
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Pacific Gale was the queen of the filly and mare sprint set here this past winter. So it only stands to reason that her trainer, John Kimmel, is strongly considering shipping her back to South Florida for the richest and most important race in that division here this season, the $350,000 Princess Rooney on July 3.
The Grade 2 Princess Rooney is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, and the only Breeders’ Cup Challenge race on the local stakes schedule.
Pacific Gale cycled back to her top form here this past winter, rallying to convincing victories in the Grade 2 Inside Information, decided at the same seven-furlong distance as the Princess Rooney, and the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie. She was a 16-1 outsider in the Inside Information, and the 4-5 favorite in the Hurricane Bertie.
Kimmel sent Pacific Gale back to Belmont Park with the rest of his stable this spring , and she’s started twice there, finishing third in the Vagrancy and fourth over a sloppy track following a 40-minute rain delay last Friday in the Bed o’ Roses, both Grade 3 events.Kimmel said the assistant starter held on to her head in the stall for the Vagrancy and she missed the break.
In the Bed o’ Roses, Kimmel said, “she came a little unglued waiting in the paddock for so long because of the rain delay, broke to the lead from her outside post, and never could get covered up. Her running style is all about being covered up, sitting in the pocket, shaking free, and giving her late punch – like she did in her two starts this winter at Gulfstream.”
Kimmel’s biggest problem might be getting Pacific Gale back to Florida for the Princess Rooney, with Tex Sutton equine charter flights still grounded because of regulatory issues.
“I’m trying to come up with a plan to get her down there in the best possible condition,” said Kimmel. “I’ve shipped horses down to run in the Florida Stallion series during the fall, but never one in the middle of the summer before. Getting flights could be a problem. The only way might be vanning her to Newark and getting her on a Fed Ex flight.”
Kimmel said that if Pacific Gale does come for the Princess Rooney, he’d like to get either Junior Alvarado or John Velazquez to ride. Alvarado was aboard for her victory in the Hurricane Bertie, Velazquez steered her home in the Inside Information.
The Princess Rooney is an invitational, with the first list of invitees due out on Sunday, according to Mike Lakow, Gulfstream’s vice president of racing. One filly likely to be on that list is the undefeated and virtually untested Chub Wagon, who scratched from the Bed o’ Roses, although her trainer, Guadalupe Preciado, said Wednesday she is being pointed for Sunday’s $100,000 Shine Again Stakes at Pimlico.
“At the moment, the race Sunday at Pimlico is the plan,” said Preciado. “We’ll see what happens and how she comes out of the race. There is still a possibility we could bring her down after that for the Princess Rooney. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
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Among the leading local contenders for the Princess Rooney are Sound Machine, winner of the restricted Musical Romance Stakes, and Hallawallah, who likely earned herself another chance against graded stakes foes with a wire-to-wire 6 3/4-length triumph in a seven-furlong overnight handicap here last Sunday.