Gulfstream Park: Princess Rooney leads fall stakes schedule
The Grade 3, $200,000 Princess Rooney Invitational, a Breeders’ Cup win-and-you’re In event, will highlight the 2025 fall meet stakes schedule of 17 races worth $1.625 million in purses at Gulfstream Park.
The seven-furlong stakes for fillies and mares, which offers the winner a fees-paid berth in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, will be renewed Sept. 20.
Last year, Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Soul of an Angel captured the Princess Rooney by 3 1/4 lengths before going on to rally from last to prevail in the seven-furlong Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint by a half-length at Del Mar. Michael McCarthy-trained Ce Ce won the 2021 Princess Rooney before scoring in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar. Ce Ce returned to Gulfstream to win the 2022 Princess Rooney but was unsuccessful in her defence of her Breeders’ Cup title at Keeneland. Both Soul of an Angel and Ce Ce were honored with the champion female sprinter Eclipse Award after winning the Princess Rooney and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
The stakes action for the fall meet, which runs Sept. 5 through Nov. 23, will be kicked off by the first leg of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series for 2-year-old Florida-breds. The $100,000 FSS Dr. Fager, a six-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds, and the $100,000 FSS Desert Vixen, a six-furlong dash for juvenile fillies, will be run Sept. 6.
FTBOA FSS action will resume Oct. 18 with the $150,000 FSS Affirmed, a seven-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds, and the $150,000 FSS Susan’s Girl, a seven-furlong stakes for juvenile fillies.
The $100,000 Gil Campbell Memorial, a mile stakes for Florida-bred 3-year-olds and up, will also be featured on the Oct. 18 program. Campbell, the late president of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association, owned Stonehedge Farm South in Williston, Fla., with his wife Marilyn, who is still very much active in breeding and owning Florida-breds.
Seven stakes are scheduled to be conducted on a turf course that is currently undergoing renovation. The $75,000 Bob Umphrey Sprint, a five-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up, and the $75,000 Ginger Punch, a mile stakes for fillies and mares, will kick off the turf-stakes action on the Princess Rooney Invitational undercard Sept. 20.