Loriloupies favored to win third straight

Loriloupies has paid exactly $7.40 as a lukewarm favorite after winning each of her last two races at Gulfstream Park by wide margins. The gray filly won’t offer such a generous mutuel when seeking a three-peat in the Wednesday feature, but first she’s got to overcome some noticeable layoff lines anyway.

Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., Loriloupies will be making just her second start since early February when facing six other fillies and mares in the ninth of 10 races, a $47,000, first-level allowance restricted to Florida-breds at six furlongs. She’s the 7-5 morning-line favorite, and deservedly so.

Loriloupies was a 6 3/4-length winner of a $50,000 maiden-claiming sprint Feb. 5, then didn’t resurface again until winning a starter allowance by nine lengths on May 2. She’ll be returning from yet another layoff when breaking from post 6 under Emisael Jaramillo.

Cajun Delight, breaking just to her outside from post 7 when returning from a layoff of nearly 10 months, looks like the main threat to Loriloupies, while Jeana’s Gem or Thissmytime could be along for a mild upset if the top two choices falter.

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Joseph holds a 33-29 margin over Todd Pletcher at a spring-summer meet that, unlike at most tracks on the continent, has gone uninterrupted amid the ongoing global pandemic. Spectators have not been permitted on-site at Gulfstream since March 18.

The nominal feature is part of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 that spans races 5-10. Through Sunday, the carryover jackpot in the Rainbow 6 stood at $314,495. A guaranteed pool of at least $500,000 was expected for Wednesday.

The leadoff leg in the Rainbow 6 is a $47,000 maiden special in which R Private Jet will make his career debut for Richard Averill and partners. R Private Jet was produced by the now 23-year-old mare One to Five, which makes the 3-year-old Khozan gelding a half-brother to Pay Any Price, a 10-year-old still active in the local turf-sprint stakes ranks. Pay Any Price, also owned by Averill in partnership, has won a remarkable 19 of 33 starts and $718,433.

First post Wednesday is noon Eastern. Possible thundershowers and a high nearing 90 are in the local forecast.

◗ The highlight of the coming weekend at Gulfstream is the $60,000 Sea of Tranquility, a 1 1/16-mile main-track race for older horses Saturday.

The next six-figure stakes are the opening legs to the annual Florida Sire Stakes on Aug. 1. Those are the $100,000 Dr. Fager and $100,000 Desert Vixen for Florida-sired 2-year-olds at six furlongs.

◗ Edgard Zayas registered a couple of three-win days last week (Wednesday and Sunday) to pad his lead atop the local jockey standings. Zayas has 79 wins and is followed by Emisael Jaramillo (69) and Miguel Vasquez (62).