Rainbow 6 disbursement and two Florida Sire Stakes highlight card
One of the biggest days of the spring-summer meet at Gulfstream Park figures to unfold in dramatic fashion Saturday when the first races in the 40th annual Florida Sire Stakes series are part of a huge Rainbow 6 forceout.
The $100,000 Desert Vixen and $100,000 Dr. Fager are part of a Rainbow 6 sequence with a mandatory payout. Several million dollars in new handle in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 can be expected, assuming the jackpot was not emptied Friday by a solo winning ticket. The three-day weekend began with $458,914 in the Rainbow 6 pool, which has been building steadily since the last forceout was held June 30.
First post for a 13-race card is 12:20 p.m. Eastern, with the Rainbow 6 (races 8-13) starting at 3:47 p.m. For months now, Gulfstream has been adhering to a strict post-time schedule in a marked departure from prior years.
Both the Desert Vixen (race 10, 4:58) and Dr. Fager (race 12, 6:08) go at six furlongs, and both drew competitive fields of 2-year-old statebreds, all making their stakes debuts. The program ends with the Bay Harbor Islands (race 13, 6:42), a $60,000 overnight handicap for filly-mare turf sprinters.
Noble Dreamer, a 7 1/4-length winner of her second start with a field-high 60 Beyer Speed Figure, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the Desert Vixen, which has seven maidens within its field of 11 fillies. Noble Drama will break from post 3 for the meet-leading tandem of jockey Edgard Zayas and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
Hope in Him (post 7, Samy Camacho Jr.) is the 8-5 program choice in a field of nine colts and geldings in the Dr. Fager off a five-length romp in his lone start June 4, but the uncoupled Stonehedge tandem of Cajun’s Magic (post 3, Jesus Rios) and Dean Delivers (post 9, Miguel Vasquez) also figure to take their fair share of tote action off similarly impressive maiden scores.
“We were probably pretty conservative bringing them up to their races,” said Michael Yates, trainer of both Stonehedge homebreds. “They didn’t have a lot of fast works.”
The Florida Sire Stakes was known as the Florida Stallion Stakes when it was inaugurated at Calder in 1982. The more recent runnings have been held at Gulfstream. The 2021 series will continue with the $200,000 Affirmed and $200,000 Susan’s Girl on Aug. 28 and the $400,000 In Reality and $400,000 My Dear Girl on Sept. 25.
The spring-summer meet that began April 1 will end Sept. 26, with racing continuing at Gulfstream with an October-November fall meet.
Dry conditions and a high of 90 are in the forecast for Saturday. Here’s a deeper dive into the Rainbow 6:
Race 8
A one-turn-mile for bottom-level claimers opens the sequence and many bettors will choose to spread out. Five of the 11 starters exit a common race held July 3, with Doctor D J, Candy Crushem, Green Mansions, Dark Ages, and Aycapote being the respective 1-2-3-4-6 finishers under very similar circumstances. Any appears capable of taking the rematch.
Ranger Up is another prime consideration, while some Rainbow 6 players will include longshots such as Mystical Moon or Uhtred.
Race 9
Bobby Dibona has won 101 races since making Florida his year-round circuit nearly five years ago, and almost all of them have come on grass. A 3-year-old colt named Thorn is among the more recent Dibona winners, having gotten a confidence-builder when finally dropped into the beaten claiming ranks two Saturdays ago.
Perhaps the greatest allure to making Thorn a possible single in this $25,000-claiming turf route with a never-won-two condition is that he’s exempt from that restriction because he’s a 3-year-old facing older, and it appears that Dibona has him in peak form now.
The alternatives include Mista Donzella and Go Mike, two other 3-year-olds with multiple wins, and South Pointe Drive and Exponential, both well drawn inside and in decent form.
Race 10
It’s tough to argue against Zayas and Joseph, given how great the meet has unfolded for both of them, and that’s partly why Noble Dreamer will be a single for some players.
Still, there are a pair of lone-out winners opposing her in Stone Beauty and Silver Smile, and it’s not far-fetched to believe several of the maidens also might have enough for an upset. It’s not all that uncommon for maidens to win the early Sire Stakes events, given the overall inexperience of the vast majority of starters.
One maiden worth a close look is My Sassenach, who adds blinkers after making a big stretch run before settling for second in her July 1 debut.
Race 11
The only non-stakes in the late pick four (races 10-13) is this $51,000 statebred allowance at two turns on the grass. It’s a puzzler, which accounts for its presence smack dab in the middle of all the end-of-card multiple-race wagers.
Plenum, Lahinch, and Officiating will line up alongside each other as logical plays, but relying solely on that trio might well be imperiled by the likes of fringe players such as Tellington and Timmy M.
Race 12
Michael Yates has built a reputation for excelling with babies such as Cajun’s Magic and Dean Delivers, and you could probably do worse than pinning all your Rainbow hopes on these two, given how much upside they’d seem to have off those explosive maiden wins.
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Still, that’d be a risky go, considering how well Hope in Him and Laki Lio and a few others all performed in last-out maiden wins. Unlike the Desert Vixen, only two of these are maidens (Palimonium and Merlin).
Race 13
They’ve saved one of the more contentious races for last, as often happens with these forceouts. Lagertha and Choose Joy are logical choices in the five-furlong turf race as the respective one-two finishers in a similar turf-sprint handicap on May 30, but Reinagol, I Am the Boss, and Nikee Kan all will get used on plenty of tickets, too.