Stidham may send Saguaro Row, Proforma in for Summit of Speed

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Summit of Speed program on June 29 figures to have a distinct local flavor. Although trainer Michael Stidham is stabled outside South Florida, he is considering shipping horses to town for the two main events on the card, the Grade 2 Princess Rooney and Grade 3 Smile Sprint.

Stidham said he is looking at the Princess Rooney with his lightly raced but steadily improving Saguaro Row and the six-furlong Smile for his sprint specialist Proforma. Both horses are stabled with Stidham at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.

“I’ll be talking with both owners today and tomorrow and we’ll probably have a decision in a couple of days,” said Stidham. “It looks like we’ll be able to fly there, which makes it a bit simpler, although it’s still a lot of travelling and that’s a lot of the consideration. So too is the heat down there at that time of year. I was raised in Miami, so I know what it can be like, although you never really know how a horse will handle it until you try it.”

One factor tipping the scales in favor of sending Saguaro Row to town for the Princess Rooney is the fact the winner of the seven-furlong event gets an expenses-paid starting berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

“Surely, the Win and You’re In is a big reason to come,” said Stidham.

Saguaro Row won her career debut with Stidham at Laurel during the fall of 2017 and then was sold privately and turned over to trainer Brendan Walsh by her new owners. She returned to Stidham’s barn earlier this year and has won a pair of allowance races since, the first at Keeneland the most recent at Belmont Park.

“The bottom line is what she really wants to do is sprint and so we’ve focused on sprint races since we got her back,” said Stidham. “I think she’s a real quality filly as long as you keep her around one turn.”

Proforma is coming off a second-place finish behind New York Central in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint while making just his second start of the season. The 5-year-old is equally at home on dirt, turf, or over wet surfaces.

“His record speaks for itself,” said Stidham. “He can run on anything and he’s held his own against some pretty nice sprinters throughout his career.”

Stidham said if he comes, jockey Albin Jimenez would likely ride his horses. Jiminez guided Classic Fit to an upset victory at odds of 13-1 for Stidham here last December in the one-mile Hut Hut Stakes.

“She’s a very nice filly who unfortunately chipped a hind ankle after that race,” Stidham said of Classic Fit. “But she’s close to being ready to go and we’ve got her nominated to the Mother Goose.”

Bitacora favored in feature

A field of six fillies and mares is entered to go a mile on the turf in Friday’s $48,000 headliner, to be decided under allowance and optional claiming conditions.

Bitacora will likely go postward the favorite off her second-place finish in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf in January, although she’s winless since capturing the Ginger Punch Stakes here one year earlier for trainer Peter Walder.

Other key contenders in the main event, which goes as the third event on a nine-race program, include recent allowance winner Cha Cha Heels and the stakes-placed Camila Princess, who will be returning from an 11-month hiatus.

Post time for the first race Friday is 2:15 p.m.