Not the smoothest trip for Soul of an Angel, but it turned into a winning one in the $220,000 Princess Rooney Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.
With the victory, the 5-year-old mare trained by Florida-based Saffie Joseph, Jr., clinched an all-fees paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
Soul of an Angel. Lauren King/Coglianese Photo.
Soul of an Angel punched her ticket to the Breeders’ Cup with her Princess Rooney win
“We’re going to give her time off now. She’s not Breeders’ Cup nominated, but we’re going to pay that fee to do that,’’ co-owner owner Mark Cornett (C2 Racing Stable) said. “Her entry fee is paid for with this, so we’re going to go there for sure. It gives us some nice spacing.”
The 7-furlong Princess Rooney is part of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” challenge series.
After trailing the field of nine through the first quarter mile, Soul of an Angel was taken seven wide by jockey Drayden Van Dyke, steadily gained ground on the leaders and drew clear of 4-5 favorite Beth’s Dream for a 3 ¾-length victory.
Soul of an Angel’s winning time was 1:23.23 and she returned $6.40 on a $2 win bet. Beth’s Dream was seeking her fifth victory in a row.
For Van Dyke, it was his first graded-stakes victory since the 2021 Pat O’Brien (G2) at Del Mar aboard Ginobili.
“She didn’t necessarily break bad, but she just wasn’t as quick as the others,” Van Dyke said. “Saffie said, ‘Just keep her as close as you can,’ but we were last by a ways. He said, ‘Try to save as much ground as you can if you can go inside.’ That’s what we did, and she had a helluva kick.”