Vincey Girl upsets favored Haulin Ice (Lauren King)
G3 Princess Rooney up Next With Sights on Breeders’ Cup
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Blue Boy Racing and Matty Dan Racing’s Vincey Girl, second to Haulin Ice in their prior meeting 56 days earlier, turned the tables on the favored Grade 3 winner with a patient stalk-and-pounce trip under Edwin Gonzalez to capture Saturday’s $75,000 Sheer Drama Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
The seven-furlong Sheer Drama for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting seven furlongs on the main track, a prep for the $200,000 Princess Rooney (G3) Sept. 20, headlined an 11-race program that included the $70,000 Frolic’s Revenge overnight handicap on the turf, won by Starship Impulsive.
Vincey Girl ($9), a 4-year-old daughter of Race Day, completed the distance in 1:24.03 over a fast main track to earn her fourth win from 13 starts and first in a stakes. She was a distant but decisive second behind Haulin Ice in the 6 ½-furlong Musical Romance June 22 at Gulfstream, also with Gonzalez up.
“Last time there was an easy pace in front and my filly made a move,” he said. “She finished second, but it was really impressive. Today there was a little bit more pace in front, more speed, so I wanted to sit back and make a move, and she responded. She was perfect.”
Gonzalez and Vincey Girl were unhurried early as 25-1 longshot Poiema and Rumours Have It, making her stakes debut for the Hall of Fame mare Songbird, blazed through an opening quarter-mile in 21.71 seconds, with Haulin Ice tracking in third. Rumours Have It took over the top spot following a 44.27 half, with Haulin Ice creeping closer.
Haulin Ice moved up alongside a tiring Rumours Have It at the top of the stretch and forged a short lead, but Vincey Girl was following the 3-5 favorite and swept past once straightened for home with a steady drive to the wire.
“When I saw the 21 and 44, I knew that we could get there,” winning trainer Jose D’Angelo said by phone from Saratoga. “I talked with Edwin earlier in the week and I told him to just be patient because they are going to make the pace and we are going to be there at the end.”
Haulin Ice was second, followed by Nerazurri, Puckered, Gallop d’Hermes, Rumours Have It, Royal Poppy and Poiema. Claret Beret, the 7-5 program favorite exiting a runner-up finish to Grade 1-winning millionaire Vahva in the June 21 Chicago (G2), was scratched.
Vincey Girl was making her third straight stakes start, having run fourth in the one-mile, 70-yard Serena’s Song May 11 at Monmouth Park. She improved her Gulfstream record to 4-2-2 from nine career tries at Gulfstream.
“I always had her in good thoughts,” D’Angelo said. “From day one, I knew that she was special. We tried at Monmouth running her two turns and after that race we decided to go back to Gulfstream and find races between six and seven furlongs.
“She needs some pace. That’s why last race she made a bold move turning for home, because Haulin Ice was making her own pace and went wire to wire,” he added. “Today, when I saw the field with [Rumours Have It], Poiema and Haulin Ice on the lead, I knew that that my filly was going to close, and they were going to set up the race for us.”
D’Angelo said he would point Vincey Girl to the seven-furlong Princess Rooney, which serves as a ‘Win and You’re In’ qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 1 at Del Mar. Last year, Soul of an Angel swept both races and was voted the Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter.
“That’s where we’re going,” D’Angelo said. “I know it sounds like a lot to say, but we are thinking of the Breeders’ Cup and that is why we are keeping her this summer at Gulfstream.”
