Ce Ce Turns Back in Princess Rooney

[Wandering Eyes]

Bo Hirsch's Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), a multiple Grade I winner going two turns, will look for her first sprint stakes score when shipping cross-country for a try in the GII Princess Rooney S., a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” qualifier, Saturday at Gulfstream.

Laid up after a fourth-place run in the GI Acorn S. as a sophomore in 2019, the homebred returned last February at Santa Anita with a sharp allowance score and kept it rolling with back-to-back top-level tallies in the Beholder Mile S. and Apple Blossom H. She was unable to be a serious factor in four subsequent tries, however, finishing third in the GII Santa Maria S. and GI Clement L. Hirsch S., fourth in the GI Derby City Distaff S. and fifth in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff to close her 4-year-old campaign. Dropped down into allowance company upon return Apr. 17 in Arcadia, the chestnut responded with a 3 1/4-length success, but disappointed when retreating to last in the Santa Maria last out May 22.

“I thought the seven-eighths would be a wonderful distance for her,” trainer Michael McCarthy told the Gulfstream notes team. “It looks like there might be some rain down there this week, and I think she might like a wet-fast racetrack. She had a nice little break after the Breeders' Cup–I thought her race in the Breeders' Cup Distaff was sneaky good. It was always our plan to give her some time off. She's come back good. These racetracks in California have gotten deeper and gotten looser. They don't seem to suit her.”

Ce Ce's two main rivals on paper are last-out stakes winners Estilo Talentoso (Maclean's Music) and Laura's Light (Constitution). The former, who has never been out of the trifecta in 14 career starts, followed a third-place run behind champion Gamine (Into Mischief) in the Derby City Distaff with her first graded score in the GIII Bed O' Roses S. June 4 at Belmont, while the latter, a four-time stakes victress on grass, showed her versatility when dominating the off-the-turf Ouija Board Distaff S. last out May 31 at Lone Star.

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