Shipping in from all over

MIAMI, Fla. - Horsemen traditionally have had an aversion to shipping their good horses to run in south Florida during the height of summer. So Calder management came up with one million reasons to change that thinking, and called it the Summit of Speed, a day that includes five sprint stakes with purses totaling more than $1 million. The Summit of Speed will have its second running here Saturday.

Nearly two dozen horses from all over the country are shipping in for Saturday's races. Among them are Dream Supreme, one of the nation's premier distaff sprinters, who heads a field of nine in the $400,000 Princess Rooney Stakes, and City Zip who will be favored to beat 10 other 3-year-olds in the $250,000 Carry Back Stakes.

The Princess Rooney, the richest sprint stakes for fillies and mares in the country, and the Carry Back will be joined on the 13-race program by the $250,000 Azalea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, the $100,000 Calder Turf Sprint handicap at five furlongs on the grass, and the $50,000 Rocket Man Handicap, a quarter-mile dash for 2-year-olds and up. The first race on the card is the $25,000 Challenge, a half-mile race which drew a field of four Quarter Horses and four Thoroughbreds.

The card will also offer a $100,000-guaranteed pick four comprising the Princess Rooney, Carry Back, Azalea, and Turf Sprint.

Last year's inaugural Summit of Speed established an all-time total handle record for Calder of more than $8 million.

The presence of Dream Supreme will draw national attention to the Grade 3 Princess Rooney. A daughter of Seeking the Gold, Dream Supreme is trained by Bill Mott for George Steinbrenner's Kinsman Stable. Last year she won two Grade 1 races at Saratoga, the Test Stakes for 3-year-olds and the Ballerina Handicap for 3-year-olds and up. She has already won two Grade 2 stakes this year.

Regular rider Pat Day will ride Dream Supreme, who breaks from post 2 in the six-furlong Princess Rooney.

Among the others shipping in for the Princess Rooney are speedsters Hidden Assets and Tugger as well as the California-based Wired to Fly. The local contingent is led by Precious Feather and also includes Penny Blues, Sugar N Spice, Vague Memory, and Dynamite Diablo.

City Zip comes down for the Carry Back on just nine days' rest, after having defeated Songandaprayer to win the Jersey Shore Breeders' Cup at Monmouth on July 4. Last summer City Zip swept all three major 2-year-old stakes at Saratoga, the Sanford, Saratoga Special, and Grade 1 Hopeful (in a dead heat).

City Zip drew post 1 for the Carry Back, with Jorge Chavez to ride. The other invaders for the six-furlong dash are Red's Honor, One By the Knows, Illusioned, and Beyond Brilliant. The locals include Tarek and Gallant Frolic.

The six-furlong Azalea may provide the home team with its best chance of winning one of the four major stakes, with stablemates Silk Concorde and Valid Forbes heading the field. Also in the race are Hattiesburg and Extreme Bid, both of whom are riding four-race win streaks, and the undefeated Southern Tour.

Texas Glitter and Morluc, two of the premier turf sprinters in the country, bring their road show to town for the Calder Turf Sprint. They will encounter the locally based Honorable Pic, who is undefeated in four tries over his home course.