:591B & Princess Rooney

When it comes to training graded stakes winners, I haven't much luck. Out of twenty-nine lifetime attempts I've only won once. That graded win came last year at Del Mar in the Hirsch Handicap-GII compliments of a tiny field and a doddling pace. The odds were 39-1. That was attempt number nineteen at the time. I can and still sympathize with Todd Pletcher, who until Rags to Riches, had not won a single Triple Crown race in twenty three attempts. I had pretty much resigned from the graded stakes ranks until recently when Princess Azula (V) breezed an eye popping :591. I had been suspecting something much slower.

My best answer is she took more away from the Vagrancy Handicap-GII in May than thought. In that race she battled Canadian trained Arctic Rush (V) all the way to the wire and got out nosed. I haven't seen a breezing :591 out of a mare in my stable before. Is it legitimate? Probably. Azula is an honest horse and runs pretty much to form. She's certainly come a long way from her state maiden win in March at Santa Anita which was nothing exciting, a dull 1:06 over five and a half furlongs.

However they say strike when the iron is hot and Azula seems to be peaking, getting ever keener with each start. So I took my chances and put in for the Princess Rooney-GI which came up somewhat light after top female sprinter Blonde Dynamite (V) bowed out from carrying 126 pounds. The race is no walk over but it seemed like the most logical choice. The Princess Rooney is a "Win and You're In" so my fingers are crossed on this one.

Here's the SRF's write up on the race.

Perseverance!