Shamrock Rose pointing to Madison

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.--The champion Shamrock Rose is heading back to Kentucky.

Trainer Mark Casse said Tuesday that Shamrock Rose is being pointed for the Grade 1, $300,000 Madison on April 6 at Keeneland. She won at the Lexington, Ky., track a year ago, taking the Grade 2 Raven Run one start before capturing the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs.

Irad Ortiz Jr., who was aboard for the Breeders’ Cup, has the mount in the Madison, said Casse.

Shamrock Rose is coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri at a mile and a sixteenth March 16 at Oaklawn, a race in which she finished two lengths behind winner Midnight Bisou. Shamrock Rose earned a career-high Beyer Figure of 95.

“I thought she ran extremely well,” said Casse.

Casse said the Madison was an appealing next-race spot because of Shamrock Rose’s record at Keeneland.

The Madison will come over the same seven-eighths distance as both the Raven Run and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

Shamrock Rose, who races for Conrad Farms, has been based at Casse’s division at Oaklawn.

Wonder Gadot, the barn’s other top older female, will remain in town for the Grade 1, $750,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on April 14, said Casse.