Handicap kicks off new pick five wager
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A well-matched handicap with fillies and mares sprinting on the turf is one of the co-features on Saturday’s Gulfstream Park card, and it serves as the kickoff of a new summer wager.
The Summer Sweep Pick 5 will be offered each racing day at Gulfstream from Saturday through Sept. 20, and the opening sequence links this card to Pennsylvania’s Day at the Races, a series of statebred stakes, at Parx Racing. The sequence opens with Saturday’s eighth race at Gulfstream, which has a scheduled post time of 4:15 p.m. The $70,000 handicap is for fillies and mares going five furlongs on turf.
The sequence then moves to Parx for race 10, the Storm Cat Stakes, and race 11, the Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial. The sequence finishes at Gulfstream with race 10, a $70,000 allowance sprint on dirt for fillies and mares who have never won once other than, and race 11, a $65,000 turf allowance for statebreds who have never won a race other than.
The Summer Sweep Pick 5 is a dollar minimum wager with a 15 percent takeout. Computer-assisted wagering is not allowed. If no ticket has all five winners, there will be a carryover.
The highweight in the handicap that kicks off the series is Great Venezuela, but not by much. Carrying 122 pounds, including jockey Diego Herrera, she gives between one and four pounds to the other seven entrants. Coco Abarrio, Le Amazonia, and Tiffany Gold are all weighted at 121.
Great Venezuela, Le Amazonia, and Tiffany Gold are all trained by Victor Barboza Jr.
Great Venezuela, a 5-year-old Florida-bred mare by Neolithic, won the Lightning City Stakes on the Tampa Bay Downs turf last year. After finishing fifth in the Captiva Island Stakes in March on this course, she has been competing in overnight handicaps.
She finished third carrying 121 pounds in a turf sprint on April 11, in which Le Amazonia was second. She then finished third again, as the 124-pound co-highweight, sprinting on Gulfstream’s Tapeta on June 16. That came with a troubled trip – after hopping at the break and being bumped as a result, she was last of seven at the first call. Forced four wide in her attempt to rally, she was third behind Vindicate Cha Cha and Greenfield Cougar, both of whom are in Saturday’s field.
Coco Abarrio has not missed the board in four starts this year since returning from a 10-month layoff for Carlos Perez. After defeating a solid allowance field at Gulfstream – multiple stakes-placed Karaya was second and Grade 3 winner Abientot was third – Coco Abarrio was third in the Captiva Island and then third in a Keeneland allowance.
Both Great Venezuela and Coco Abarrio will want some pace up front, which could be a problem. Vindicate Cha Cha, breaking from the rail under Francisco Arrieta, looks like the lone speed. It could be up to Le Amazonia, next door in post 2, to press or stalk and keep her honest.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.