Rainbow 6 jackpot must pay out next Saturday
The Rainbow 6 jackpot will be dispersed in its entirety next Saturday, Gulfstream Park management announced on Friday. The Rainbow 6 has gone unsolved for 28 days, with the carryover at nearly $800,000 entering Friday’s program.
The sequence for what would be a seven-figure giveaway next Saturday should the jackpot survive another week is likely to include a pair of stakes, including the $100,000 Soldier’s Dancer, which was postponed this weekend due to inclement weather. Its filly counterpart, the $100,000 Ginger Punch, was already on the schedule for June 17. Both races are 1 1/16 miles on turf.
The Soldier’s Dancer lured 21 nominations led by Enterprising, a two-time graded stakes winner who would get some significant class relief if he runs, coming off a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Turf Classic on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill Downs.
Enterprising, who captured the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap and Grade 2 Mervin Muniz this season, was last seen locally on Jan. 17 when finishing second, beaten a neck by Our Way, in the Sunshine Millions Turf.
The Ginger Punch attracted 18 nominees, including Family Meeting and Somethingelse, who were separated by a neck as the top two finishers in their last encounter in the Distaff Turf at Tampa Bay Downs.
Family Meeting also captured the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf here in her 2017 debut, rallying from last to a neck decision over Frosty Friday for trainer Tom Proctor.
The much-improved Somethingelse continues to seek her first stakes victory, having hit the board against stakes company in each of her last three starts. The 4-year-old Somethingelse most recently finished third after sticking her head in front near the eighth pole in the Christmas Past Stakes.
Velasquez back in Florida
Veteran jockey Cornelio Velasquez has returned to south Florida once again and began riding at Gulfstream on a regular basis with four mounts on Saturday’s card.
Velasquez, 49, has ridden more than 3,850 winners in North America. He also moved his tack here for a period last summer but began the current season in New York, where he registered 55 victories from 328 mounts and was ninth in the standings for the Belmont spring meet.
Velasquez will be represented locally by Matt Muzikar, who also handles engagements for the meet’s leading rider, Tyler Gaffalione.
Weeks records first win as trainer
Jolene Weeks saddled the first winner of her brief training career when Moonshine Cate captured the fourth race on Wednesday. Weeks has been working on a farm in Ocala, Fla., for the past 30 years and said it was a dream of hers since she was 6 to take out her trainer’s license. She credited her husband, Woody Weeks, who is a co-owner of Moonshine Cate along with Sam Brown, for encouraging her to finally make her childhood dream a reality this spring.
“We’ve worked on the farm so hard and then sent the horses to other trainers. I just wanted to see if I could do it,” said Jolene Weeks, who shipped Moonshine Cate to Gulfstream from Ocala two days prior to her victory. “I also want to thank my wonderful friend, [trainer] Ralph Nicks, who has been helping me out and mentoring me.”