Princess Rooney Highlights Stakes Action at Gulfstream

The $250,000 Princess Rooney Invitational Stakes (G2) highlights the spring/summer stakes action at Gulfstream Park, where the seven-furlong stakes for fillies and mares will be featured during Summit of Speed Weekend.

Eventual champion female sprinter Ce Ce  captured the "Win and In" event last year before going on to win the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Del Mar. 

The Princess Rooney will be renewed July 2, kicking off a Fourth of July Celebration that will also feature over that weekend the $100,000 Smile Sprint (G3), a six-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up, and the $100,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint, a 5 1/2-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up that will be renewed on the synthetic Tapeta course.

Before maintenance work on the turf course begins, 10 of the 16 stakes during Gulfstream's Spring Meet, which continues into the summer months, are scheduled to be run on turf.

On May 7, Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs, two stakes are scheduled to be renewed on the turf course to kick off Gulfstream's spring schedule—the $75,000 Honey Ryder Stakes, a mile race for 3-year-old fillies, and the $75,000 English Channel Stakes, a mile race for 3-year-olds. The May 8 Mother's Day program will feature the $75,000 Monroe Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile turf event for fillies and mares.

On May 21, Preakness Stakes Day at Pimlico Race Course, Gulfstream's program will feature the $75,000 Mr. Steele Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race on turf for 3-year-olds and up, and the $65,000 Musical Romance Stakes, a 6 1/2-furlong stakes for Florida-bred fillies and mares on the main track.

The June 11 card at Gulfstream on Belmont Stakes Day will feature a pair of 3-year-old stakes—the $75,000 Not Surprising Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile turf race, and the $75,000 Martha Washington Stakes, an 8 1/2-furlong turf race for fillies.