Haulin Ice hauls … . (Ryan Thompson)
Grade 2 Honorable Miss July 20 at Saratoga Likely Next
Thursday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $125,000
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – C2 Racing Stable LLC, Miller Racing LLC, Paul Braverman and Timothy Pinch’s Haulin Ice lived up to her 2-5 favoritism Sunday at Gulfstream Park while scoring a 3 ¼-length victory in the $75,000 Musical Romance Handicap.
Carrying 126 pounds, between five and 12 pounds more than her five rivals, Haulin Ice broke cleanly from her rail post position to outgun Vincey Girl for the lead and continued on for a dominating victory in the 6 ½-furlong handicap for fillies and mares that served as a prep for the Grade 2 Honorable Miss at Saratoga July 20.
The 4-year-old Arkansas-bred filly was making her first start since notching her first graded-stakes victory in the 6 ½-furlong Vagrancy (G3) May 4 at Aqueduct.
“She’s definitely improved as a 4-year-old,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “She has more kick at the end.”
Haulin Ice set solid fractions of 22.36 (seconds) and 44.89 while being closely stalked by Fantastic Flame before drawing away to complete the 6 ½-furlong distance in 1:16.64 under Edgard Zayas, who went into the Musical Romance with a “straight-forward” game plan.
“Break out of there from the one, let her roll and let her do her thing,” said Zayas, who had last ridden Haulin Ice just over a year ago in a second-place finish in the Game Face at Gulfstream. “She’s improved a lot. I think I rode her the first time they bought her, and she ran a disappointing race. Now, riding her again, she’s a completely different filly. She’s improved a lot.”
Haulin Ice, who won two of four starts last year after joining Joseph’s stable, captured her fourth victory in a row Sunday. After a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Inside Information (G2) at Gulfstream in her 2025 debut, the daughter of Coal Front went into the Musical Romance off back-to-back stakes victories at Oaklawn Park and a gutsy victory in the Vagrancy, in which he set or pressed the pace throughout before prevailing by a neck.
Vincey Girl, the 4-1 second betting choice ridden by Edwin Gonzalez, closed to finish second, 5 ½ lengths in front of Fantastic Flame and jockey Emisael Jaramillo.
Thursday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $125,000
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is expected to grow to an estimated $125,000 Thursday at Gulfstream Park, where the popular multi-race wager went unsolved Sunday for the fourth racing day following a mandatory payout that yielded multiple $47,670 payoffs.
Thursday’s Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 3-8, featuring Bobby DiBona-trained Nate the Great’s bid for a fifth straight victory in Race 7, a mile-and-70-yard starter allowance on Tapeta for 3-year-olds and up. Nate the Great, has won six of his 13 career starts. The 5-year-old son of West Coast has won back-to-back races at Thursday’s level of competition since being claimed by DiBona and Grey Oak Stables for $10,000 March 30. Edgard Zayas has the mount aboard the ultra-consistent gelding who has finished off the board only once.
In the Rainbow 6, the carryover pool is only paid out 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 usually goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
