Gulfstream Park’s autumn racing programme will again be built around the Princess Rooney, with the historic sprint returning as the leading attraction of a 14-stakes Sunshine Meet that opens over Labor Day weekend.
The Princess Rooney Stakes 2026 will be run at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, September 12.
Now entering its 40th year, the Grade 3 contest carries a purse of $225,000 and will be staged over seven furlongs for fillies and mares aged three and older. The winner will earn an automatic place in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, scheduled for October 31 at Keeneland.
The Sunshine Meet will offer total stakes purses of $1.925 million, including $250,000 from the Florida-Bred Incentive Fund. The programme will run from September 5 to November 14, serving as the build-up to Gulfstream Park’s 2026-27 Championship Meet, which begins on Thanksgiving Day, November 26.
The Princess Rooney Stakes 2026 will share its September 12 programme with two grass contests. The $100,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint will be run over five furlongs for horses aged three and older, while the $100,000 Ginger Punch will bring together fillies and mares aged three and above over one mile.
The Princess Rooney has developed a strong connection with the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, with several of its recent winners carrying their Gulfstream Park form onto the sport’s year-end stage.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. became the first person to win three successive editions of the race when Haulin Ice claimed the 2025 running. A 12-time winner with earnings approaching $1.3 million, Haulin Ice became the highest-earning Arkansas-bred before finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
Joseph had previously won the 2023 Princess Rooney with Three Witches, who later finished third in the Breeders’ Cup contest. His sequence continued in 2024 through Soul of an Angel, who followed her Gulfstream Park success with victory in the Filly & Mare Sprint and was subsequently voted champion female sprinter.
Ce Ce also completed the same double during her championship season in 2021. The winner of eight graded races, including three at the highest level, returned to retain the Princess Rooney in 2022 before finishing fourth at the Breeders’ Cup.
The Princess Rooney Stakes 2026 therefore arrives with a history that extends well beyond its own seven furlongs. Thirteen of its previous 15 winners have gone on to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
That group includes Musical Romance, who finished second in the 2011 Princess Rooney before winning the Breeders’ Cup later that year and being named champion female sprinter. She returned to Gulfstream Park to win the Princess Rooney in 2012 for the late trainer Bill Kaplan.
The Sunshine Meet stakes programme begins on September 5 with two $150,000 races for Florida-bred juveniles. The Three Ring, for two-year-old fillies, and the Express Tour, for two-year-olds, will both be run over seven furlongs on the main track.
Following the Princess Rooney programme, two-year-olds will contest the $100,000 Hollywood Beach over five furlongs on grass on September 26.
Florida-bred juveniles return to the spotlight on October 3, when the $250,000 Awesome Feather for fillies and the $250,000 Three Rules will be run over a one-turn mile on the main track.
Four grass races will be staged across October 30 and 31. The opening day features the $100,000 Cellars Shiraz for three-year-old fillies over 1 1/16 miles and the $100,000 Our Dear Peggy for two-year-old fillies over one mile.
The following afternoon brings the $100,000 Armed Forces for two-year-olds over one mile and the $100,000 Showing Up for three-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles.
The Sunshine Meet concludes with two six-furlong juvenile sprints. The $100,000 Juvenile Fillies Sprint will be held on November 7, followed by the $100,000 Juvenile Sprint on November 14.
With its established links to championship-level performers and another automatic Breeders’ Cup place available, the Princess Rooney Stakes 2026 will once again provide the defining race of Gulfstream Park’s fall programme.
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