Casse duo primed for allowance sprint
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Racing resumes Thursday with a 10-race program highlighted by a $54,000 allowance dash carded at five furlongs on the Tapeta for Florida-bred 3-year-olds. The race drew a field of just six, topped by the Mark Casse-trained duo of Midnight Martini and Augustinian, along with the stakes-placed Skipping Stars.
Midnight Martini was a very impressive debut winner over the turf here Jan. 30, leading at every call en route to a two-length victory, for which he received a field-high 76 Beyer Speed Figure. He could find himself tested a bit more during the early stages by the fleet Gray Astray in Thursday’s headliner.
Augustinian is the most experienced member of the lineup. He has eight previous starts on his résumé, including a gate-to-wire, six-length maiden win over the synthetic in his 2-year-old finale. He finished second behind front-running winner Wootun in his first start against statebreds here four weeks ago.
Skipping Stars won his only previous start on the Tapeta, defeating statebred maidens going a mile and 70 yards in September. He subsequently became stakes-placed after finishing a game second, beaten a half-length by Behold the King, when switching back to turf for the one-mile Armed Forces Stakes six weeks later.
◗ The Rainbow 6 was solved here Sunday, returning $462,562 for a 20-cent ticket. It was the highest payout of the Championship meet, surpassing the previous mark of $416,348 paid out Jan. 8. Sunday’s winning sequence consisted of Ganador ($15.80), Timeless Victory ($10), Kravitz ($45.20), Bobby Bob ($13.60), Rookie Card ($8), and Candy Rockette ($15), who withstood the favored Paseo to capture the finale.