Super high five carryover kicks off Wednesday card

Bettors who arrive early for a special Wednesday card at Gulfstream Park can take an edge rarely available.

A carryover of $78,838 in the super high five will be up for grabs when the first of eight races is run at the south Florida track. It’s one of a trio of Wednesday carryovers, along with $86,148 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (races 3-8) and $29,977 in the late pick five (races 4-8).

The $1 super high five rolls from race to race at Gulfstream (in races with at least seven starters). If there are no perfect tickets, the pool carries over. On Sunday, after the super high five paid $444.20 in the seventh race, it went unsolved for four straight races, resulting in the sizable carryover for the Wednesday opener.

Favorite Heir and Brittania’s Moat are the likely favorites in the Wednesday opener, a $10,000 claiming race that will have no more than eight starters, assuming the 7 1/2-furlong race stays on grass.

Wednesday starts the first of two straight five-day race weeks at Gulfstream, with first post daily (except Saturdays) having been moved back 10 minutes to 12:50 p.m. Eastern. Saturday’s post is now 12:30.

◗ Besides helping the super high five to carry over, the Sunday finale resulted in giant mutuel payoffs when Star Milly gave Argentine jockey Jorge Ruiz his first victory in North America with an 80-1 upset.

The 10-cent superfecta (5-3-4-10) paid $22,956 after horses sent away at 19-1, 16-1, and 70-1 followed Star Milly under the wire. Only three winning dime tickets were sold.

Star Milly, trained by Javier Negrete, was winning for the first time in 14 career starts. The 3-year-old filly had finished no better than sixth in her four prior races. Ruiz is now 1 for 6 in this country.

◗ Jockey Matthew Rispoli was fortunate to escape serious injury in the 11th race Saturday, when his mount, Fallen Leaf, threw him when she suddenly spooked just a few yards before the finish. She appeared to have the five-furlong turf race won easily in gate-to-wire fashion at 7-1.

Fallen Leaf, trained by Gary Jackson, also was not injured in the bizarre incident. In her prior start, the 2-year-old filly also had ducked in sharply, leading Gulfstream race-caller Pete Aiello to be prepared for a similar event Saturday.

“Fallen Leaf is sharp in victory!” Aiello cried Saturday with about 100 yards to go. “No antics of any kind, except speed.” And then, without missing a beat and with noticeable disappointment in his voice: “And there we go with the antics.”

◗ Favorites are winning at a 39 percent rate (133 for 338) at the summer meet, which began July 1 and runs through Oct. 1. Favorites won at 37 percent at the spring meet (April 6 to June 30) and 35 percent at the championship meet (Dec. 5 to April 3).

Field size is averaging 8.11 horses per race at the meet, compared with 7.75 at the spring meet and 9.19 at the championship meet.

◗ Trainer David Braddy has one entry Thursday and one Friday as his victory total continues to stand at 998.