Combination returns as a gelding in allowance

HALLANDALE, Fla. – There will be a carryover of more than $1.85 million in the Rainbow 6 when racing resumes on Wednesday. The penultimate leg of the sequence, which begins in the third race, is a $47,000 entry-level allowance dash going six furlongs that lured a field of six topped by Barry Karafin Bets, Frosted Grace, and Combination.

Trainer Joe Orseno is hoping the newly gelded Combination can revert to the promising form he showed at 2 when he won his maiden at first asking last fall at Gulfstream Park West before finishing third in the Buffalo Man Stakes here on Dec. 8. Combination has not started since finishing sixth over a sloppy track here on Aug. 4.

“The worst thing that happened to him is that he won his first start,” said Orseno. “We stepped him right up into stakes company and he ran some decent races, had an okay winter, but then things began to go awry. We tried blinkers and that didn’t work. We shipped him to Kentucky and nothing went his way out there.

“I waited until getting him back home to geld him, and he’s worked fantastic ever since. He had the bullet of nearly 120 half-mile works on Sept. 7 and we slowed him down off that for his next work. He’s ready to run a big race. We should find out Wednesday if he’s ready to take the next step forward and be the horse we thought he could be.”

Barry Karafin Bets returned quick dividends off the claim for trainer Aubrey Maragh and former major league baseball player Mike Napoli when he won for the same $25,000 price tag by six lengths on June 23. But he has started only once since, finishing fourth as the 4-5 favorite over a wet track under allowance conditions on Aug. 4.

Frosted Grace returns from Saratoga where he ran an even third facing older horses for the first time under allowance conditions on July 27. Frosted Grace finished fifth in the Grade 3 Swale and fourth in the Carry Back here earlier this season.

Trappezoid, Noon Time Gem, and Zorb complete the lineup.