Rainbow 6 mandatory payout offered for second week in a row
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – This one never made it out of the Gulfstream Park playbook – until now.
Gulfstream is subjecting its Rainbow 6 to a mandatory disbursement for a second straight weekend, an unprecedented move in the 11 years the jackpot wager has existed. The Rainbow 6 pool is being forced out Sunday, just eight days after more than $7.4 million in new bets were made on the most recent forceout Feb. 26.
Gulfstream vice president of racing operations Mike Lakow cited several factors favoring a forceout, most notably “all the momentum and awareness we’ve built for fans for this weekend” with the Fountain of Youth card Saturday, along with perfect weather conditions that surely will allow turf racing to go as scheduled. Four of the six Rainbow 6 races Sunday are turf races with fields of 10 or more.
“We thought we’d capitalize on all the variables in place for this particular day,” said Lakow.
Into Friday, the actual Rainbow carryover stood at only $110,032; ordinarily, track management waits for the jackpot to build considerably higher before forcing it out. Nonetheless, assuming the jackpot wasn’t swept Friday or Saturday by a solo winning ticket, a carryover of maybe $300,000 is to be expected for Sunday, given the likelihood of a large handle the previous day.
Lakow declined to estimate new Rainbow handle for Sunday but conceded that an estimate of $2 million to $3 million “would seem reasonable.”
Even when it was unexpectedly hit by a single winner the day before a big forceout planned for Jan. 8, the Rainbow still attracted handle of $1.26 million with an empty jackpot that day.
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 is being held on the last six races (7-12) on a Sunday card that starts at 12:05 p.m. Eastern. Race 7 goes at 3:08.
Race 7: Some bettors may be tempted to single Gooch Go Bragh, the 2-1 morning-line favorite, after the colt was claimed by Danny Gargan from Todd Pletcher out of an encouraging last race. But it’s possible Pletcher could have payback in store with Fiery Heart (3-1), an original $475,000 purchase making his first start for a claiming tag.
Race 8: Papa Honor, Tone Feelin, and Malibu Max are the first three program choices, but don’t sleep on Here Comes Bullet, whose latest two-turn defeat over synthetic perhaps can be overlooked as he returns to the main track for this one-turn-mile for bottom-level $6,250 claimers.
Race 9: This open $20,000 claiming route for older horses could get its winner from any number of spots and therefore will be a spread for many players. As stark illustration, seven of the 11 starters range between 4-1 to 8-1 on the track line.
Race 10: Will an anticipated speed duel between Tiz Splendid News and the 2-for-2 Alecka Star melt down, thereby giving victory to a capable come-from-behinder such as Fabricate or Only Kidding? Or will one of the front-runners just go on with it? Another tough call.
Race 11: Only two of the 12 3-year-olds in this starter-optional turf route made their most recent starts on the grass, which makes for some fascinating mix-and-match handicapping, especially in regard to switching surface and/or distance. Kitodan (5-2) and Born a Gambler (3-1) are logical favorites, but man oh man is this another tricky one.
Race 12: The Christophe Clement-trained Warn (4-1) perhaps deserves to be the favorite instead of Eagle Chief (3-1), but the bottom line is there are five or six horses in this $25,000 maiden-claiming race that look nearly inseparable on paper. It’s a fitting end to what’s clearly a difficult sequence.
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Kimari sharp in return
Kimari was a 5 1/4-length winner of a $55,000 allowance Thursday at Gulfstream while preparing for a major stakes race in the coming weeks. The 5-year-old mare paid $2.10 as a rare 1-20 favorite after finishing 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.10.
Trainer Wesley Ward said afterward that Kimari is likely to run next at Keeneland in the April 9 Madison, a Grade 1 race she won last year, although a start in one of the March 26 Dubai World Cup undercard races could supersede it, those being the Golden Shaheen or Al Quoz. Kimari was making her first start since being purchased for $2.7 million by Coolmore a few days after running in the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Fillies and mares up next
Highlights of the next weekend at Gulfstream are the Hurricane Bertie and the Captiva Island, which will be run Saturday. Both are $100,000 races for fillies and mares, with the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie going at 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track and the Captiva Island at five furlongs on the turf.
Meanwhile, a number of Kentucky Derby hopefuls stabled on the Atlantic Coast will be running next Saturday in the Tampa Bay Derby, a 50-20-10-5 qualifier. Classic Causeway and Major General are among those shipping over for the annual Tampa Bay Downs showcase.