Rosinka repeats in Rooney

Rosinka showed no signs of rust from an eight-month layoff when she returned to Delaware Park on Saturday to win the $75,000 John Rooney Memorial Stakes for the second straight year.

Allowed to set soft early fractions of 26.59 seconds, 51.29, and 1:15.02 while opening up by three lengths, the 5-year-old Rosinka ($3.20) held off 10-1 longshot Royalties by three-quarters of a length. It was another length back to Shytoe Lafeet.

Ridden for the first time by Kendrick Carmouche, who picked up the mount because Jeremy Rose was in New York to ride Icabad Crane in the Belmont Stakes, Rosinka completed 1 1/8 miles on a turf course rated firm in 1:52.29.

Carmouche said he was instructed by trainer Graham Motion to nurse Rosinka on the lead if there was no other speed in the race.

"She went along pretty good on the lead," Carmouche said. "When I got to the three-eighths pole, I knew I had a lot of horse and I just let her gather herself back together when she switched her leads. When I asked her, she took off pretty good.

Motion intends to point Rosinka to the Grade 3, $300,000 Robert Dick Memorial at Delaware on July 12, a 1 3/8-mile turf stakes that she won last year. An Irish-bred daughter of Soviet Star, Rosinka is now 7 for 13 lifetime with earnings of $534,226.