Extendo should improve in Rainbow 6 finale on mandatory payout day
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Several trainers have entered multiple horses in the $70,000 Warrior’s Pride Handicap at Gulfstream Park on Sunday, but Joe Orseno might have the jump on all of them with And Uwish and Extendo. The pair return to the turf after squaring off in a handicap on synthetic last month.
The five-furlong sprint will be the 10th race on the Gulfstream card and the final leg of the Rainbow 6, for which there will be a mandatory payout and expected pool of $1.25 million.
Switching to the Tapeta last time out for the Successful Native Handicap, 5-year-old Extendo was expected to be Orseno’s horse to beat coming out of the Grade 1 Jaipur at Saratoga, but an early challenge for the lead arguably cost him a better performance. He was also recovering from an illness and missed time in training.
“When he got down there, he got a little sick on me from the ship in,” Orseno said. “I missed a very important breeze and I decided to run him anyway, and that’s exactly the way he ran.”
Extendo faded to fifth that day, but the speed duel set up perfectly for his stalking stablemate, as 4-year-old gelding And Uwish circled the early leaders on the far turn and kept the closers at bay to win by a neck.
“It didn’t surprise me that And Uwish won, and it didn’t surprise me that Extendo didn’t get to run his race,” Orseno said.
And Uwish is a contender on Sunday but it would be somewhat surprising if Extendo failed to fire again. Before finishing sixth in the Jaipur, the speedy runner won an allowance in May over Bring Theband Home, next-out winner of the $150,000 Harvey Pack with a 109 Beyer Speed Figure. If Extendo is ready this time, he could be much harder to catch.
Trainer Gerald Bennett and David Fawkes aren’t doing Rainbow Pick 6 bettors any favors as their respective pair of runners are similarly competitive.
Bennett has entered 4-year-old gelding Rouki and 4-year-old colt El Principito, who are both switching back to turf. Rouki’s last performance on the grass was in February at Tampa Bay Downs, when he improved to win the $117,000 Turf Dash with a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.
El Principito has not raced on turf since April 2024, but he’s coming off a runner-up finish in the $75,000 Smile Sprint last month and has generally improved on dirt this year.
Fawkes has entered 4-year-old geldings Asher’s Edge and Reef Runner, who both lost races to Extendo earlier this year. After finishing 6 3/4 lengths behind the front-runner in March, Asher’s Edge returned in July and managed to get past him in the Successful Native, only to finish fourth behind And Uwish.
Reef Runner will be returning from a three-month layoff. He finished third, 1 1/2 lengths behind Extendo, in May. The gelding has not finished worse than fourth since September 2024, when he earned his last victory in the Bob Umphrey Sprint on synthetic.
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