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Summit of Speed boasts Work All Week, competitive fields

Work All Week (right) denied defending champion Secret Circle in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Sprint (Wendy Wooley/EquiSport Photos) Gulfstream Park plays host to the $1.175 million Summit of Speed program on Sunday featuring 12 races, including the $250,000 Smile Sprint S. (G2) and $250,000 Princess Rooney S. (G2) sending runners six furlongs. Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) hero and Eclipse champion Work All Week (City Zip) figures to be the most accomplished performer in the Smile Sprint while Merry Meadow (Henny Hughes) returns to the site of her Hurricane Bertie S. (G3) tour de force in the Princess Rooney. Each race is a "Win & You're In" to their respective Breeders' Cup sprint divisions for the winners. Work All Week is seeking a return to the winner's circle after bruising a foot while running second in his 2015 debut, the Aristides S. (G3), on May 30 at Churchill Downs. The six-year-old gelding went 5-1-0 from six starts last year, including victories in the Breeders' Cup Sprint and Phoenix S. (G3), and will be making his Gulfstream bow in this spot under Florent Geroux for trainer Roger Brueggemann. The homebred chestnut, who is campaigned by Richard and Karen Papiese's Midwest Thoroughbreds, readied for the Smile Sprint with a swift :46 1/5 breeze on June 28 under the Twin Spires, his second straight bullet move after going in :59 2/5 on June 21.

"We weren't looking for him to work that fast, but he did it all on his own," Richard Papiese said. "We hope it's an indication that he is going to run a big race this weekend."

Also of note in the Smile Sprint is Alsvid (Officer), who defeated Work All Week when taking the Aristides by two lengths. The Chris Hartman-trained gelding brings a three-race win streak into the event after taking an allowance/optional claimer in March prior to a three-quarter length score in the Count Fleet Sprint H. (G3) about two weeks later.

Chris Landeros has been aboard for Alsvid's current win streak and retains the mount.

Grande Shores will be competing over his home track in the Smile Sprint, having recorded 13 in-the-money finishes from 16 career tries at Gulfstream. The seven-year-old Jacks or Better homebred seemingly has gotten better with age after his career had been compromised by a chronic digestive disorder that is under control but still demands constant monitoring.

"I know he's going to run his heart out," trainer Stanley Gold said. "There's going to be plenty of speed in it and he'll be coming. I'd rather see it be seven (furlongs) instead of six. He's going to have to be coming faster and start sooner. He's earned the shot. You hate to possibly get overmatched, but I can't say he is overmatched."

Eddie Castro, who rode Grande Shores to a three-quarter length victory in the Parrot Key S. last out, has the call.

Merry Meadow is no stranger to winning at Gulfstream (Lauren King/Adam Coglianese Photography) The Princess Rooney takes place one race before the Smile Sprint and has attracted Merry Meadow, who will ship in from New York following a subpar sixth in the seven-furlong Inside Information S. (G2) on March 21. "It was the distance and the way the race unfolded," trainer Mark Hennig revealed about the Inside Information. "She isn't really one that wants to be up there fighting for the lead. It's not her style. Knowing it was seven-eighths, it was the worst-case scenario. I think for her to get seven-eighths, she has to have an ideal trip, and she had a less-than-ideal trip at a less-than-ideal distance." The five-year-old bay will cut back to her ideal distance of three-quarters while returning from a more than three-month freshening under Javier Castellano. The two paired up one race after Merry Meadow captured the Sky Beauty S. last November to take both the Sugar Swirl S. (G3) and Hurricane Bertie. "She's been doing great," Hennig said. "It was the timing, more than anything else, and the distance, and it's on a familiar racetrack. Gulfstream making the accommodations to get there and back helped as well.

"She's always held her form," the conditioner added. "She's never really ever needed any one set track. She's traveled well and run on all kinds of surfaces. She's always been a pretty consistent runner. We were able to give her a little breather after (the Inside Information), and she's always run well fresh."

Earlier on the Summit of Speed program, 10 sophomore colts and geldings will go seven furlongs in the $150,000 Carry Back S. (G3) while nine three-year-old fillies take part in the $150,000 Azalea S. (G3) at the same distance.

Barbados (Speightstown) enters the Carry Back off a more than five-money break, having last been seen recording his third straight win in the Hutcheson S. (G3) over track and distance. The Azalea features the respective top three -- Huasca (Tiz Wonderful), Dogwood Trail (Awescome of Course) and Fond of Sarah (With Distinction) -- from the track and distance Tangelo H. on June 6, as well as Jostle S. vixen Warriorscmoutoplay (Warrior's Reward).

Five other stakes are carded for the day as well. Eight juveniles have been entered in the $75,000 Birdonthewire S. going 5 1/2 furlongs to kick off the stakes action, followed one race later by the fillies equivalent, the $75,000 Cassidy S., which drew nine runners.

The $75,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint attracted a field of nine to go five furlongs on the turf, while the $75,000 Miesque's Approval S. and sister race $75,000 Spook Express S. will each send contestants 1 1/16 miles on the green. The former will see 10 line up while the Spook Express boasts 15, including one main-track only entrant.

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