Gulfstream Park: Rainbow 6 pays $4,234 to 1,461 winners
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Despite having closing day dampened by rain, the 2012-2013 Gulfstream Park meeting ended with a bang on Friday as bettors nationwide poured more than $5.2 million into a Rainbow 6 pool which totaled a record $7.24 million and rewarded winners with a $4,234.01 payoff. The entire pool, which began with a $1.9 million carryover, had to be dispersed on closing day.
The Rainbow 6 pool would likely have risen much higher had heavy overnight rain not forced management to make the decision early in the day to move the three scheduled turf races in the sequence to the main track. The switch in surfaces resulted in a total of 15 scratches in those three races alone. The remaining three Rainbow 6 races were decided over a sloppy main track and drew an additional nine scratches.
Trainer Marcus Vitali sent out two of the six Rainbow 6 winners, Running Wildcat ($15.80) in the 10th race and Charlie In Charge ($7.20) in the 12th. The other winners in the sequence were Sweet N Discreet ($4.20), Wild Perfection $5.20), Trinni Heart ($10.80), and Sweet Gator Girl ($8.20).
There were 1,461 tickets sold on the winning combination.
The largest payoff in track history came on Feb. 22 when one bettor in New Jersey won $3.5 million for having the only winning ticket in the Rainbow 6.
Friday’s bonanza in the Rainbow 6 helped Gulfstream Park conclude a record-setting meet business-wise, with ontrack handle up 22 percent and total handle up 9 percent from the 2011-2012 session. Total handle for the meet was approximately $769 million, up from $673 million the previous year.
“We’re thankful to our fans and the horsemen for making the 2012-2013 meeting such a success,” said Gulfstream president Tim Ritvo. "Once again the horsemen and jockeys put on a tremendous show, starting with the Claiming Crown on opening day to the record-setting Florida Derby last weekend to the Rainbow 6 on closing day. They were the main attractions and provided us with world-class racing.”