Lopez back in the fold for Gulfstream West feature

MIAMI – Paco Lopez, who won the 2019 Gulfstream Park West riding title, will return locally on Wednesday fresh off a second straight Monmouth Park jockey championship. Lopez is listed to ride in five of the eight races on the card including the featured sixth event, a $43,000 allowance for fillies and mares scheduled to be run at five furlongs on the turf, weather permitting.

Lopez is named aboard both Thinkin Cowtown and main track-only entrant R Prerogative for trainer Georgina Baxter, the latter likely a solid favorite if the race is switched to the dirt. Thinkin Cowtown also figures among the major players should the headliner go as scheduled on turf following a third-place finish behind the red-hot Heir Ball in a similarly conditioned race restricted to Florida-breds at Gulfstream Park on Sept. 6.

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Heir Ball, a winner of three of four starts since claimed for a bargain $16,000 by trainer Carlos David at Gulfstream on May 7, looms the public’s choice although she could find herself pushed early by the equally quick Swirling Candy. Catch a Thrill, second in four of her last five starts, will also garner plenty of support as she looks to get back on a winning track for the first time since taking a maiden race impressively in her career debut at Gulfstream in January 2019.

◗ After going unsolved over the first 11 days of the meet, the Rainbow 6 jackpot was taken down on Sunday to the tune of a $249,204 payday to one lucky player. Victories by the 31-1 Myfirstexwife and the 15-1 Running for Riz in the afternoon’s co-features keyed a sequence that began with 6-5 favorite Galit Jake and concluded with the 7-2 Shendam, one of nine horses in the 12-horse field alive in the finale for the entire jackpot.