(Edited Calder Race Course report)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Horses from coast to coast as well as a strong local contingent have been nominated to the tenth annual Summit of Speed at Calder Race Course, to be held this year on Saturday, July 11, including last year’s Eclipse Award winning sprint champions, Benny the Bull and Indian Blessing.  
 
A total of 96 Thoroughbreds have been nominated to the seven stakes races that comprise the Summit, a day offering $1.45 million in purses for the sprint stakes … that’s fast money.
 
The nominations and their Equibase past performance lines are available on the Calder web site at www.calderracecourse.com/horsemen.  Entries will be taken on Monday, July 6.
 
The races are:
 
•$350,000 Princess Rooney Handicap                       Grade 1               fillies & mares         six furlongs
•$350,000 Smile Sprint Handicap                                Grade 2               3 year olds & up     six furlongs
•$200,000 Carry Back Stakes                                         Grade 2               3 year olds               six furlongs
•$200,000 Azalea Stakes                                                 Grade 3               3-year-old fillies     six furlongs
•$150,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint                                                        3 year olds & up       five furlongs
•$100,000 Frank Gomez Memorial Stakes                                              2 year olds                 six furlongs
•$100,000 J J’s Dream Stakes                                                                      2-year-old fillies      six furlongs
 
The Princess Rooney Handicap and Smile Sprint Handicap are part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge ‘Win and You’re In’ program, whereby the winner of each race automatically qualifies for her and his respective division at the $25.5 million 2009 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, to be run this fall during the Oak Tree Meeting at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California on Nov. 6-7.
 
In its nine-year history, the Summit of Speed has attracted some of the country’s top sprinters, including three that would go on to win Breeders’ Cup Sprint championship races: Orientate, Cajun Beat and Maryfield.  In 2005, Lost in the Fog also performed at the Summit during his ten-race win streak to win the $300,000 Carry Back Stakes (Grade 2) before going on to win the Eclipse Award as the country’s top sprinter.  Kelly’s Landing, who ran in the 2006 Smile Sprint, went on to win the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (Grade 1) on World Cup Day 2007, and Benny the Bull, winner of the Golden Shaheen in 2008, took that year’s Smile Sprint Handicap and earned the Eclipse Award as top sprinter.