Soul of an Angel earned a berth in the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint with a last-to-first dominating victory in the GIII Princess Rooney Stakes at Gulfstream Park Saturday. The 2-1 shot dawdled at the start and was last in the early strides. Completely out of the picture as the quarter went up in :23.10, the dark bay mare was inching closer, but was still far back through a half in :45.79. Tipped to the center of the track into the lane, Soul of an Angel produced a powerful rally to reel in favored Beth's Dream, who was drifting out, at midstretch and surged clear to an easy victory.
“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. Her entry fee is paid for with this, so we're going to go there for sure,” co-owner Mark Cornett said. “It gives us some nice spacing.”
Cornett and his brother Clint, principles of C2 Racing Stable, visited the Santa Anita winner's circle last year with GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day).
The hard-knocking Soul of an Angel, making her 40th lifetime start and her fifth in the C2 Racing colors, was acquired by the brothers from James Gerald and Hall Performance following her sixth-place effort in the Mar. 9 GII Azeri Stakes. The mare captured the one-mile GII Ruffian Stakes at Aqueduct in May in her first start for the Cornetts and was fifth in the June 8 GI Ogden Phipps Stakes before giving champion Idiomatic all she could handle when a head runner-up in the July 20 GIII Molly Pitcher Stakes. She was cutting back to seven furlongs following a 10th-place effort in the nine-furlong GI Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 23.
“When we bought her, we thought she was going to be a one-turn horse. That's why we ran her in the Ruffian the first race after we bought her, and she confirmed what we thought. She ran so good, it's hard to pass up Grade Is at Saratoga, so we kind of got that goal accomplished,” said Cornett. “She was Grade I-placed up there, so we said, 'Let's go back to why we bought her,' which is the one-turn, seven-eighths to a mile type races.”
Pedigree Notes:
Soul of an Angel is the lone graded stakes winner to date for her sire, Atreides, who currently stands in Oklahoma.
She is the first foal out of Factor One, who has a yearling filly by Basin and a weanling colt by Army Mule. The mare, a half-sister to Grade I winner Homeboykris (Roman Ruler), was bred back to Essential Quality this year.
Factor One was purchased by Watershed Bloodstock for $2,500 at the 2017 Keeneland November sale.
Saturday, Gulfstream Park
PRINCESS ROONEY INVITATIONAL S.-GIII, $210,000, Gulfstream, 9-21, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:23.23, ft.
1–SOUL OF AN ANGEL, 123, m, 5, by Atreides
1st Dam: Factor One, by The Factor
2nd Dam: One Last Salute, by Salutely
3rd Dam: Angie's Star, by Lord Rebeau
($3,000 RNA Ylg '20 FTKOCT). O-C2 Racing Stable LLC & Agave
Racing Stable; B-Westbrook Stables LLC (KY); T-Saffie A.
Joseph, Jr.; J-Drayden Van Dyke. $120,000. Lifetime Record:
GISP, 40-5-7-5, $672,675. Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Beth's Dream, 121, m, 6, Jess's Dream–Gator Brew, by
Milwaukee Brew. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Virginia
Gamble; B-James Gamble (FL); T-Victor Barboza, Jr. $46,000.
3–Battle Cry, 119, m, 6, Prospective–Fort Carillon, by Runaway
Groom. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Skull
Stable; B-Amalio Ruiz Lozano (FL); T-Victor Barboza, Jr.
$24,000.
Margins: 3 1/4, 2HF, 1. Odds: 2.20, 0.80, 61.00.
Also Ran: Imonra, Maryquitecontrary, Unsolved Mystery, Cousin Kristi, Gallop d'Hermes, Pacholli (Uru). Scratched: Haulin Ice.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
SOUL OF AN ANGEL ($6.40) and @DraydenV navigated their way to the winner's circle in the $220k Princess Rooney Invitational (G3) at @GulfstreamPark. She's headed to @DelMarRacing after this @LanesEndFarms @BreedersCup Challenge Series Race. @SaffieJosephJr trained the 5yo mare. pic.twitter.com/O9kKxgDJ7s
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) September 21, 2024
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