Shamrock Rose playing to strength in Madison Stakes
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Shamrock Rose’s connections hope the third time is her lucky charm Saturday when she starts in the Grade 1, $300,000 Madison Stakes at Keeneland. Last year’s champion female sprinter, Shamrock Rose will be cutting back to a favored distance on a track she is fond of as she looks for her first win of the season in her third outing.
The Madison Stakes is race 8 on an 11-race card highlighted by the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes.
Shamrock Rose began coming into form last summer, when she returned from a break of more than three months to win stakes on synthetic tracks at Presque Isle and Woodbine. She then announced her presence on the national stage when she won the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes going this seven-furlong distance last fall at Keeneland, her first graded stakes victory. She then upset the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint going the same distance at Churchill Downs, earning the Eclipse Award in a wide-open division.
Shamrock Rose finished fourth in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie on a sloppy Gulfstream track in her first start of the season. She then stretched out to 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 2 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park and finished a creditable third behind Grade 1-winning routers Midnight Bisou and Elate, earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 95.
Assistant trainer David Carroll, is supervising trainer Mark Casse’s Keeneland string. Carroll oversaw Shamrock Rose’s first breeze since the Azeri, a half-mile in 48 seconds on March 30 at Keeneland.
“She looks great and we got her back here where she did so well last fall,” Carroll said.
Shamrock Rose has drawn the outside post in the field of nine for the Madison and is reunited with Irad Ortiz Jr., who piloted her to win at the Breeders’ Cup.
Shamrock Rose’s chief rival may be the streaking Late Night Pow Wow, who has won nine consecutive races and 11 of 12 career starts. In her first try at a graded stakes, Late Night Pow Wow won the Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie Stakes in February at Laurel Park, edging fellow Madison entrant Spiced Perfection, winner of the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita.
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Amy’s Challenge is coming off a pair of stakes wins at Oaklawn Park, earning a 96 Beyer while setting a track record for six furlongs in the American Beauty Stakes and a 98 winning the Spring Fever Stakes. Those are the top last-out numbers in this field.
“She’s a little better this year,” trainer Mac Robertson said. “She’s working a little straighter, a little better. She was drifting out a little bit last year. It seems like she’s a little stronger.”
Amy’s Challenge also is entered Saturday in the $150,000 Carousel Stakes at Oaklawn.
America’s Tale is coming off a win in the Grade 2 Inside Information Stakes at Gulfstream. Stakes winner Divine Queen, Grade 3-placed Sultry, American Beauty runner-up Cathedral Reader, and restricted stakes-placed Create a Star complete the field.
In addition to being part of Keeneland’s $400,000 guaranteed all-stakes pick four and $300,000-guaranteed all-stakes pick five on Saturday, the Madison is the first leg of a cross-country pick five that also includes Aqueduct’s Wood Memorial and Carter and Keeneland’s Blue Grass and Ashland.