Haulin Ice wires BC WAYI Princess Rooney

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. figured to win Saturday’s $200,000 Princess Rooney (G3) at Gulfstream Park for the third straight year. The question was which one of his contenders would do the honors in this “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). 

Haulin Ice, the 5-2 second choice, stepped up in a wire-to-wire performance that resonated beyond its Breeders’ Cup implications. By increasing her career earnings to $958,650, she surpassed champion Nodouble as the richest Arkansas-bred. 

Nodouble had to work much harder and achieve more to amass $846,749 in his era (1967-70). But Haulin Ice will have the opportunity to seek a championship title of her own at Del Mar, where she can try to emulate Soul of an Angel, the 2024 Princess Rooney winner who upset the Filly & Mare Sprint for common connections.

Like Soul of an Angel, Haulin Ice races for a partnership headed by C2 Racing Stable. The Coal Front filly’s ownership also includes Paul Braverman, Miller Racing, and Timothy Pinch.

Joseph was responsible for half of the original eight entrants in the Princess Rooney. Whittling his team down to three, he scratched Mystic Lake and sent her instead to Saturday’s Liberty Bell S. at Parx. Mystic Lake took care of business in her stakes on the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) undercard, and the baton was passed to her stablemates in the Breeders’ Cup Challenge race at Gulfstream.

Bettors preferred Claret Beret as the 8-5 favorite among the Joseph trio. Runner-up in the Chicago (G2) at Churchill Downs two back, she was hoping to rebound from a too-bad-to-be-true sixth in the Ballerina (G) at Saratoga.

Haulin Ice was already a graded winner, courtesy of her gritty score in the May 4 Vagrancy (G3) at Aqueduct. But a recent loss in the Sheer Drama H. over this track and seven-furlong trip, as the 7-10 favorite, left a bit of uncertainty. 

Jockey Edgard Zayas was unfazed by her 3 3/4-length second last time out. Haulin Ice would be better off at the weights in the Princess Rooney, as well as with the projected pace set-up. 

“It looked like there was no speed at all in the race,” Zayas said. “It was different than her last race when she had (to tote) 127 pounds, plus there was a lot of speed in the race.

“Today, she was the speed of the speed, and she put up pretty easy fractions and then sprinted home.

“I know seven furlongs might be a little stretch for her, but the way she put up the fractions in the beginning, she really came home very nice.”

Indeed, Haulin Ice scampered clear through a comfortable opening quarter in :23.01, and no one seriously threatened thereafter. Reaching the half-mile in :45.50, the gray opened up by 4 3/4 lengths while finishing in 1:22.80.

The 41-1 Nerazzuri, in chase mode for the duration, persevered for the runner-up spot. Reputation checked in another half-length astern in third. Vincey Girl, who upset Haulin Ice in the Sheer Drama, rallied from last for fourth. Next came Claret Beret, Gallop d’Hermes, and Ultimate Authority, who tired in her debut for Joseph off a five-month layoff. 

Haulin Ice, who returned $7, sports a mark of 17-10-4-0. In addition to her two graded trophies, she captured the 2024 Azalea S. here; the March 1 Downthedustyroad S. for Arkansas-breds as well as the March 29 Matron S. at Oaklawn Park; and the June 25 Musical Romance H. back at Gulfstream. She’s placed in three stakes, including last year’s Game Face S. in her first start for her current connections.  

“She’s incredible. Back-to-back Rooneys and headed back to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint,” said C2 Racing Stable’s Clint Cornett, alluding to their 2024 coup with Soul of an Angel. 

“This little horse, we bought her out of Oaklawn (in spring 2024). She’s a little grinder. We couldn’t be more excited for C2, Miller Racing, all of our partners. This is great.”

Joseph’s Princess Rooney sequence began in 2023 with Three Witches, who went on to finish third in the Filly & Mare Sprint at Santa Anita as a 34-1 longshot. Soul of an Angel was overlooked at 19-1 at Del Mar last November. Haulin Ice will attempt to keep the trend going in the Nov. 1 renewal of the Filly & Mare Sprint.