Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Four-way rematch in Princess Rooney
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It was hard to imagine when Distinta, Wheatfield, Dearest, and Curlin’s Approval met here last winter in the Grade 2 Inside Information that the race might be a harbinger of things to come. On Saturday, the same quartet squares off again with an even bigger prize on the line in the $250,000 Princess Rooney for fillies and mares.
The seven-furlong, Grade 2 Princess Rooney is one of two Breeders’ Cup Challenge races on Saturday’s Summit of Speed program at Gulfstream Park, along with the Grade 3 Smile Sprint. The winner of the Princess Rooney will receive a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar in November.
Distinta came out a halflength best over the laterunning Wheatfield, with the pace-dueling Dearest finishing a head farther back in third in the seven-furlong Inside Information on March 18. Still, it likely will be Curlin’s Approval, fifth as the 3-5 favorite that day, who receives the most attention when the group meets again Saturday. They’ll be joined by seven others, including Grade 1 winner Birdatthewire and Grade 1-placed Lightstream, in one of the most wide-open renewals in the history of the Princess Rooney, first run in 1985 at the old Calder Race Course.
Curlin’s Approval moved into the upper echelon of her division with easy wins here in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie and Grade 2 Royal Delta to open her 2017 campaign last winter. But following her poor effort under Luis Saez in the Inside Information and a seventh as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 3 Matron on May 20 at Churchill Downs, Curlin’s Approval suddenly finds herself in the position of having to prove herself all over again.
“In the Inside Information, the jockey said he rode her a little overconfident,” said owner and breeder Happy Alter, who oversees the majority of Curlin’s Approval’s training. “She was coming off a big win at a mile and 70 yards, and she just got back a little too far.
“Then she had two months between that race and the one at Churchill Downs, and sometimes when you freshen a horse after they bounce like that, they’ll come up a little short. She really had no other excuse in Kentucky. She made a move like she was going to blow by everybody and just flattened out. She needed the race.”
Curlin’s Approval has worked like she’s ready to bounce back in a big way, turning in several bullet works in June, including five furlongs in 57.56 seconds over a wet track June 20.
Distinta has not started since posting a career-best effort at 11-1 in the Inside Information. Trainer Victor Barboza Jr. said she needed a freshening after running four times in less than 10 weeks to start the year.
Wheatfield, trained by Nick Zito, has been off the board in three starts since the Inside Information. She finished three lengths behind Lightstream when a tiring fifth in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses on June 9 at Belmont Park.
Dearest was hard used on the lead and opened up a seemingly insurmountable lead near midstretch before faltering late in the Inside Information, and like Distinta, she has not raced since then. Dearest, who has never finished worse than third in her eight starts, won the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl here in December.
Lightstream had little excuse when third after moving within easy striking distance of the leaders through midstretch in the seven-furlong Bed o’ Roses. The outing was just the second this year for Lightstream, a twotime graded stakes winner who finished second last summer at Saratoga in the Grade 1 Test.
Birdatthewire has lost 10 races in a row since upsetting the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita in her 3-year-old finale last year. Among those losses was a third-place finish behind the stakes-record performance of Spelling Again in the 2016
Princess Rooney. Both the La Brea and Princess Rooney efforts came for trainer Dale Romans. She is now in the barn of Tom Proctor.
Kinsley Kisses is perfect in two starts over this track and was third to Lightstream in the Grade 3 Beaumont last year at Keeneland.
KEY CONTENDERS
Curlin’s Approval, by Curlin Last 3 Beyers: 70-84-96
◗ Her trainer of record, Marty Wolfson, has won the Princess Rooney four times, most recently in 2013 with Starship Truffles.
Lightstream, by Harlan’s Holiday Last 3 Beyers: 92-85-76
◗ She is perfect locally, having captured her debut in impressive fashion with a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 103.