HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Haulin Ice delivered a dazzling front-running performance in Saturday’s $200,000 Princess Rooney (G3) at Gulfstream Park, earning an automatic berth in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) on November 1 at Del Mar.
Owned by C2 Racing Stable LLC, Miller Racing LLC, Paul Braverman, and Timothy Pinch, the four-year-old Arkansas-bred filly followed the path of stablemate Soul of an Angel, who captured last year’s Princess Rooney before winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at the same distance.
“She’s incredible. Back-to-back Rooneys and headed back to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint,” said Clint Cornett, managing partner of the C2 Racing Stable LLC he operates with brother Mark. “This little horse, we bought her out of Oaklawn. She’s a little grinder. We couldn’t be more excited for C2, Miller Racing, all of our partners. This is great.”
Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., Haulin Ice broke sharply under jockey Edgard Zayas and never looked back, carving out comfortable fractions of 23.01 and 45.50 seconds before drawing away to win by 4¾ lengths. She covered the seven furlongs over a “good” track in 1:22.80.
“She really finished out very nice. 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,” Zayas said.
The 5-2 second choice rewarded her backers and made history, collecting $115,200 to boost her career earnings to $958,650—surpassing the $846,749 earned by Nodouble and becoming the richest Arkansas-bred thoroughbred of all time.
Longshot Nerazurri, trained by Angel Quiroz and ridden by Edgar Perez, chased Haulin Ice throughout and held second, a half-length ahead of Gustavo Delgado’s Reputation. Vincey Girl, trained by Jose D’Angelo, finished fourth, while Joseph’s other runners Claret Beret—the 8-5 favorite—and Ultimate Authority checked in fifth and seventh.
Joseph also entered Mystic Lake but opted instead for the $150,000 Liberty Bell at Parx, where the C2 Racing Stable and Stefania Farms LLC filly captured her fourth consecutive stakes victory. Haulin Ice, a daughter of Coal Front privately purchased at Oaklawn last year, was rebounding from a runner-up finish in the August 16 Sheer Drama, where she set a pressured pace while carrying 127 pounds and was caught late by Vincey Girl.
“It looked like there was no speed at all in the race. It was different than her last race when she had [to carry] 127 pounds, plus there was a lot of speed in the race,” Zayas said. “Today, she was the speed of the speed, and she put up pretty easy fractions and then sprinted home.”
With her commanding Princess Rooney triumph, Haulin Ice heads west to Del Mar with momentum and a fully paid ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
