Choose Joy (#3) ends lengthy layoff with edge over Etrurian. (Lauren King)
Rainbow 6 Solved Friday for $143,083 Jackpot Payout
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Multiple stakes-winning 8-year-old mare Choose Joy, unraced in 435 days, made a dramatic triumphant return by rallying from far back to edge Etrurian by a head in Friday’s feature at Gulfstream Park.
Ridden by Miguel Vasquez for owner-trainer Steve Dwoskin, Choose Joy ($14.60) completed five furlongs on the all-weather Tapeta course in 55.93 seconds for her 10th win from 27 career starts. The optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and older was moved off the grass following overnight rain.
“I’d rather it had been on the turf, but she’d had some good races on the Tapeta. I knew she was ready,” Dwoskin said. “She was fit, and she’s just a good horse.”
Choose Joy was unhurried early, trailing all but one horse as Etrurian led her stablemate and narrow 2-1 favorite Beauty of the Sea through a quarter-mile in 21.53 seconds and a half in 43.76. Vasquez swung Choose Joy to the far outside leaving the far turn and they came with a steady run down the center of the stretch to catch Etrurian at the wire.
In a career marked by stops and starts, Choose Joy hasn’t raced since she was third as the favorite behind a pair of next-out winners in a five-furlong optional claimer on Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta last July 26. She now has been third or better in seven of eight tries over Tapeta, with three wins.
Dwoskin purchased Choose Joy for $35,000 at auction in 2019, and Friday’s $27,000 winner’s share of the purse pushed her career bankroll to $439,745.
“I’m very proud of her,” he said. “She keeps getting closer to half a million [dollars].”
Rainbow 6 Solved Friday for $143,083 Jackpot Payout
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 was solved by one lucky bettor for a $143,083.80 jackpot payout Friday at Gulfstream Park.
Last returning multiple mandatory payouts of $8,569.28 Sept. 14, the popular multi-race wager had gone unsolved for five consecutive racing days.
Joey Platts’ Call Me Angel ($13.40), ridden by Elijah Greenidge, captured Friday’s Race 10 finale to complete the winning 2-7-3-3-3-8 combination. It was trainer Terry Oliver’s first win since April 10, 2011, also at Gulfstream.
Other winners in the sequence were Dixie Preach ($14) in Race 5, Miss T Bobo ($3.80) in Race 6, Dime Papi ($2.80) in Race 7, Flowko ($32.40) in Race 8 and Choose Joy ($14.60) in Race 9.
In the Rainbow 6, the jackpot pool is paid out only when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
The Rainbow 6 begins anew Saturday, spanning Races 6-11. The feature comes in Race 9, the $70,000 Jet Propulsion overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles on grass, where 2024 Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) winner Steal Sunshine is the 9-5 program favorite to snap a six-race losing streak.
Among the challengers are Bobby Dibona-trained stablemate Relampago Verde, multiple stakes winner Lorenz, 2024 Dania Beach winner Tocayo, July 5 Soldier’s Dancer winner Prevent, and Private Thoughts, riding a two-race win streak.
The Jet Propulsion also kicks off the Sunset Six wager linking Gulfstream’s final three races and the last three races at Santa Anita Park. The $1 wager with a 15 percent takeout covers Races 9-11 at Gulfstream and Santa Anita’s Races 8-10 which include the Rodeo Drive (G2) for fillies and mares on the turf and Oak Leaf (G2) for 2-year-old fillies on the main track.
Notes … … …. …..
Jockey Miguel Vasquez doubled Friday aboard Etendre ($4.40) in Race 3 and Choose Joy ($14.60) in Race 9 …
Trainer Ronald Coy sent out a pair of winners, Accelerate Me ($5) in Race 1 and Dime Papi ($2.80) in Race 7 …
Tami Bobo’s Miss T Bobo ($3.80), a second-time starter that fetched $260,000 at auction in January, was a popular winner of Friday’s Race 6, a maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies. Third in debut Sept. 12, the daughter of Quality Road covered seven furlongs over a fast main track in 1:24.67.
