A rare, weekday mandatory payout of the Rainbow 6 pool compelled by the end of the fiscal year in the state of Florida, will highlight Friday’s abbreviated eight-race program at Gulfstream Park. The sequence, which begins in the third race with a carryover of nearly $150,000, will include a pair of wide-open allowance events, the first for statebreds going a mile and 70 yards over the Tapeta surface, the second to be run at a mile on the main track.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Little Vic, who bled when finishing last in the Grade 1 Carter on April 8 at Aqueduct, will return to the races in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 John Nerud Stakes at Belmont Park.

Little Vic brought excellent form into the Carter where his connections were confident he was going to run a big race, but the horse was pressing a half-mile in 44.84 seconds before retreating.

“He surprised me that he bled,” trainer Juan Carlos Avila said. “Maybe the 44-second half-mile was too much for Little Vic.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Yes and Yes has enjoyed his most success over Belmont Park’s turf and with just two weeks of racing remaining in the meet, Friday’s multi-conditioned feature allows him one last opportunity to run over it for about 10 months.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Owner Bruno Schickedanz and trainer Marty Drexler send out Silent Flash and Emicrack in the opening leg of the Woodbine Turf Sprint Series on Friday. The five-furlong inner turf dash is for older runners who raced for $25,000 or less in 2022-23, or $40,000 claimers.

The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic June 2-year-olds in training sale on Wednesday provides the final opportunity to purchase a horse during the formal juvenile sales season in North America. Perhaps most intriguingly long-term, it also provides the final opportunity to buy an unraced young horse by the late champion Arrogate at public auction, with his legacy continuing to grow.

Geaux Rocket Ride, the winner of the Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita on June 2, is on schedule for his Grade 1 debut in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 22 after working five furlongs at Santa Anita on Monday.

The lightly raced Geaux Rocket Ride may not be the only runner for trainer Richard Mandella in a major stakes at Monmouth Park that afternoon.

As Illinois racing has fallen, Indiana racing has risen, foal crops declining radically in the former, rising steadily in the latter. Illinois-bred stakes races at Hawthorne, the only Chicago-area racetrack still in business, struggle to attract enough entries just to make it onto a race card. Wednesday’s pair of $100,000 stakes at Horseshoe Indianapolis, six-furlong dirt sprints for older Indiana-breds, drew overflow fields.

Frankel continues to build an impressive legacy as he has moved on from a stellar racing career to a stellar sire career. Meanwhile, his own late sire, Galileo, continues to extend his influence.

These two stellar sires each were represented by three winners at last week’s Royal Ascot meeting in England to finish among the leading sires of the event. Siyouni, who stands at Haras de Bonneval in France, also sired three winners.

Playback, the first foal out of Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Blue Prize, makes her debut on Friday at Ellis Park. The $120,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies has drawn a full field of 12, plus an also-eligible.

Distance questions will be key in handicapping Thursday’s nine-race card at Ellis Park, with the most intriguing events on the program including a $120,000 maiden special weight for fillies and mares going 1 1/4 miles on the turf and a $127,000 allowance for older horses routing 1 1/2 miles on the grass.