I Love Venezuela won Race 5 on August 9, 2025, with Leonel Reyes in the saddle for trainer Ronald Coy. (Lauren King)
4YO Filly Chasing Fourth Straight Victory in Friday Starter Allowance
Rainbow 6 Starts Anew After Two Jackpot Payouts in Three Days
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gonzalez Racing Stables’ I Love Venezuela tops three horses riding win streaks and four others exiting last-out victories that are set to line up in Friday’s feature event as the Sunshine Meet resumes at Gulfstream Park.
Trained by Ronald Coy, 4-year-old filly I Love Venezuela chases a fourth straight win in Race 8, a one-mile starter allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for one mile on the turf course. Post time for the first of nine races is 12:50 p.m.
I Love Venezuela, bred in Florida by Orlyana Farm, has thrived since being stretched out around two turns this summer starting with a runner-up finish going a mile and 70 yards July 19. The daughter of Neolithic has since reeled off three consecutive victories, all at 1 1/16 miles and each on the all-weather Tapeta course, where she has raced exclusively this year.
“The thing is she was OK in the shorter races, but she didn’t have enough time to concentrate so that’s why we wanted to put her longer,” assistant trainer Tamara Matamala said. “She’s doing pretty nice. She’s feeling good and she’s sound and healthy, thank God. It’s all good.”
Jockey Leonel Reyes, who is 12 away from his 1,000th career win in North America, rides I Love Venezuela from Post 6 in a field of 10.
Both Zo Zucchera and No Mo Cookies have put together back-to-back wins. Carlo D’Amato’s Zo Zucchera has been third or better in eight of 14 career starts and races first off a $25,000 claim for trainer Jose D’Angelo out of a four-length triumph going 1 1/16 miles Sept. 28 on the Gulfstream turf.
After going 11 starts without a win, Julian De Mora Jr.’s No Mo Cookies graduated by 3 ½ lengths Aug. 9 and followed up with a 5 ½-length score Sept. 5, each at a mile and 70 yards on the Tapeta. Veteran rider Jose Ferrer, up for both wins, gets the return call from outermost Post 10.
Grexi’s A was claimed for $17,500 out of her neck triumph Sept. 20 going 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta in a race originally carded for the grass. Smart Style, bred, owned and trained by Roger Laurin, was a three-length winner at the same course and distance Sept. 12.
Richard Wilson’s Mary Marguerite, a 3-year-old homebred daughter of Gift Box, will be making just her third career start coming out of a 1 ¾-length victory over her elders in a 1 1/16-mile maiden claimer on the grass Aug. 15. Celestial Express returns to the barn of trainer Doug Seyler following a 1 ¼-length claiming win Aug. 29 on the Colonial Downs turf.
Race 8 Starter Allowance post time 4:35 PM
Race 5 Friday is the first of two maiden special weight events on the card, for 2-year-old fillies scheduled at five furlongs on the grass. Five first-time starters are among the eight entered, along with Lucky Win Coco and Timeforpeace, each exiting thirds in five-furlong maiden events respectively on Tapeta and turf.
The second maiden special weight comes in Race 7 for 3-year-olds and up sprinting seven furlongs on the main track. Skellig Michael looks to break through after back-to-back runner-up efforts, the latter by a neck going six furlongs on a sealed muddy track Sept. 7. Co-meet-leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. sends out the pair of Magic Red, a first-time starter by 2016 Santa Anita Derby (G1), Preakness (G1) and Haskell (G1) winner Exaggerator, and Thought Control, by 2018 Pegasus World Cup (G1) winner and 2024 Hall of Famer Gun Runner, racing first time since a troubled ninth in debut March 29.
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 starts anew after being solved twice in three racing days last weekend, producing jackpot payouts of $143,083.80 Oct. 3 and $50,554.92 Oct. 5. Friday’s six-race sequence spans Races 4-9.
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 with the most winners while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
On mandatory payout days, the entire Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is disbursed to the bettor or bettors with the most winners in the six-race sequence. Another mandatory payout of the Rainbow 6 is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 12.
Notes … … …. …..
In addition to Reyes, jockey Rajiv Maragh is closing in on a significant career milestone sitting 10 wins away from 2,000. Maragh is a multiple Grade 1 winner who returned to riding Oct. 20, 2024, at Gulfstream after a nearly 2 ½-year absence …
The first month of the Sunshine Meet has seen a logjam atop the jockey standings with the top seven riders separated by just six wins – Miguel Vasquez (16), Edgard Zayas (15), Emisael Jaramillo (14), Reyes (13), Jose Morelos (11), Jonathan Ocasio (10) and apprentice Yolber Torres (10) …
Joseph, aiming for a 14th consecutive meet title, and D’Angelo are tied with nine wins apiece among trainers.
