HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Lauren Robson has three choices this weekend with her 7-year-old gelding Nantasket Beach: Step him up against stakes company to run in Saturday’s Appleton, wait until Sunday to send him postward as one of the favorites in the afternoon’s $60,000 main event, or not run at all and look for an even more suitable spot during Keeneland’s upcoming spring meet. Nantasket Beach will be the 127-pound highweight if he goes in Sunday’s headliner, an overnight starter handicap for older horses to be decided at a mile and 70 yards over the Tapeta track. The race is the penultimate leg in a mandatory Rainbow 6 sequence that figures to have approximately $2.5 million in the pool if not hit on either Friday or on Saturday’s Florida Derby Day card. Nantasket Beach is coming off his ninth career victory, a one-length decision against mid-level starter allowance opposition going a mile on the Gulfstream turf, for which he earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure on Feb. 8. “They [Gulfstream’s racing office] let me enter in both races, but right now I’m leaning towards not running in either,” Robson said after training hours on Friday. “The starter race is probably the better spot, but it’s on the Tapeta and I never really thought he was a synthetic horse until he worked so well over the surface a couple of weeks ago. And 127 pounds is kind of a big ask. It’s a long summer, so I’m going to try to pick my spots and maybe wait for a three-other-than allowance at Keeneland instead.” :: Play Gulfstream Park with confidence! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports are available now.  Robson has had an outstanding Championship meet, having won with five of her 14 starters while hitting the board on nine occasions. Nantasket Beach is currently the star of the barn along with the up-and-coming Rebel With a Cause, who registered back-to-back victories, one over the turf and a second on the Tapeta, within a three-week span earlier this winter. “We had to give her [Rebel With a Cause] time off on a couple of occasions and it really seems to have paid off,” said Robson. “We’ll probably look at a sprint stakes on the grass for her at Keeneland next.” Robson said she still can’t believe all the success she has had from her modest stable during the prestigious Championship meet. “It’s been great, really unbelievable, and having Johnny [Velazquez] riding most of the horses has been a big part of it all,” Robson noted. “Whenever I put that saddle with his name on it on one of my horses, I’m always so relaxed and confident going into the race.” Should Nantasket Beach not start, Harrow will go postward as a 126-pound topweight in Sunday’s feature while returning to the synthetic surface for the first time since the fall of 2022 at Presque Isle Downs. Harrow finished third, beaten 3 1/2 lengths by Nantasket Beach when making his first start since a third-place finish behind Far Bridge in the Grade 2 Bowling Green last summer at Saratoga and figures to benefit from both that effort and the extra ground while making his second start off the layoff on Sunday. Other key contenders and a must-use on most Rainbow 6 tickets in leg five include Longbranch Lou and Baytown Parfait, who finished first and second, respectively, under similar conditions on Feb. 27. Longbranch Lou looks to build on his modest two-race win streak, with Baytown Parfait potentially loose on the lead after setting a contested pace in his previous start. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  The remainder of the Rainbow 6 races break down as follows. Race 6: The big question at press time is whether the races will stay on turf with rain in the forecast for Sunday. If this one does, use Go for Rocket, Fawcett, and Chemical Romance to stay alive in the Rainbow 6. Crown Secret did run well on the synthetic but against cheaper. Race 7: Awesome Beast scratched off the turf Friday for this spot. He has been a bit inconsistent, but you can toss his last one on dirt when he was trapped on the dead rail after a slow start. He’s a Beast also goes turf to dirt and suffered the same fate trying to stretch out to a mile on Jan. 9. Race 8: It’s tough to narrow this one down since the category is always so wide open, but try to get by just using Nate the Great and Ninja Star. Nate the Great drops off solid efforts on Tapeta and turf against much stronger in his last two starts. Ninja is about the only member of this lineup with a victory at the open $10,000 claiming level, doing so from post 11 two back. Unfortunately, he breaks from the extreme outside again here. Race 9: Turf or Tapeta is again the issue, especially in a field where the nine entrants are a combined 1 for 27 lifetime over synthetic tracks. The lone winner on the surface is McKellen, who exits a career-best effort on Tapeta in his last start. He would be a must-play with a surface change along with proven winners Flat Top Box, Themanupfront, and vastly improved The Brigade. Race 11:The finale is also scheduled on turf with little synthetic experience among this extremely wide-open lineup. The stakes-placed Dynamo is hard to leave out, as is River Ride off her only start. Also toss in Peachy Canyon in her U.S. debut. She finished fifth of 13 despite trouble racing on a synthetic track in Ireland and has a strong work over the surface since arriving at Gulfstream earlier this winter. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.