Mandatory payouts on closing day of meet

MIAMI – The Gulfstream Park West meeting ends Sunday with a 10-race program that features mandatory payouts in the 20-cent Rainbow 6, the early and late pick fives, and the Super Hi-5 in the nightcap.

The meet had a slow start, with the opening three days canceled due to the threat from Hurricane Matthew. Ultimately, however, the meet was a success from a business standpoint and featured plenty of turf action and large fields.

The 2016-17 Gulfstream Park championship meet begins Saturday.

The final Rainbow 6 of this meet could feature a pool in the vicinity of $250,000, if it survives Friday and Saturday, with a carryover in excess of $85,000 coming out of the four-day Thanksgiving recess. The sequence begins with the fifth race and will include the afternoon’s ninth-race feature, a $34,000 allowance and optional claimer at five furlongs on turf.

The well-traveled Incensed, stabled at Tampa Bay Downs with trainer Dale Bennett, likely will be favored after finishing first or second in each of his last six starts. But the speedy 3-year-old has been defeated as the public’s choice at odds of 1-2 and 4-5 in his two most recent starts, the first at Churchill Downs and the most recent at Indiana Grand.

At his best when loose on the lead, Incensed figures to be challenged early by Starship Thor and Moonwalker; that could set the race up for closers such as Our Independence or Padilla. Our Independence is a steadily improving coming off the best race of his career, a come-from-behind 2 3/4-length victory under similar conditions Nov. 5.

Padilla exits a much-needed outing against tough starter-allowance company three weeks ago, his first start since finishing a late-running fifth in the Sunshine Millions Turf Sprint nearly 10 months ago.

The remainder of the Rainbow 6 sequence:

◗ Race 5: A tough one to begin, featuring a full and relatively weak field of 2-year-olds on turf. ARPINELLA is an intriguing play taking a big drop in class while stretching out around two turns for his turf debut. He’s been gelded since his last start and is bred for the going as a son of More Than Ready and a mare who won multiple races on turf. CHASING THE STARS looks best of the experienced entries coming off a second-place effort against similar company in his two-turn debut.

◗ Race 6: BAMA BOUND likely will be a single on many tickets, with the key question being whether he can repeat his strong recent form in his first start off the claim from the high-percentage barn of trainer Jason Servis.

◗ Race 7: Another evenly matched, full field on turf, with the class-droppers GUCHI GOLD and WITH A KISS, plus recent winner COWBOY’S PRINCESS, all logical contenders.

◗ Race 8: CEEKY looks like the one to beat if able to repeat his last race, a much-improved showing with blinkers off that figures to put him on a loose lead against this slow bunch. TITO CONTROL, on drop, switches to turf, and MIKES MUSCLE MAN, first-time Lasix, can be tossed in on deeper tickets.

◗ Race 10: Not much to choose from among a weak and full field of bottom-level maiden-claiming fillies on turf. The best horse may be in the worst post, as MATCHBOOK LILLY must try to get out and get over quickly from post 12 under Tyler Gaffalione.