Shaq Diesel visited the Gulfstream Park winner’s circle with trainer David Fawkes one last time Saturday. (Ryan Thompson)
Mandatory Rainbow 6 Yields Multiple $206 Payouts
> Jockey Leonel Reyes Registers Three-Win Day Sunday
> Friday Kicks Off Closing Weekend of Royal Palm Meet
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Recently purchased by Middle East businessman Omar Ghrghar during the Fasig-Tipton Digital Sale, Shaq Diesel visited the Gulfstream Park winner’s circle with trainer David Fawkes one last time Saturday after scoring a dominating victory in the $75,000 Benny the Bull Handicap.
“He’s leaving,” Fawkes said. “He’s been great to me. I love the horse. I hate to see him go, but it is what it is.”
Shaq Diesel ($5.80), a multiple-stakes winner with $380,000 in earnings in 25 prior starts for Fawkes and his former owners, was purchased for $160,000.
The 5-year-old Florida-bred son of Khozan looked like a bargain buy while winning the Benny the Bull, a seven-furlong handicap for 3-year-olds and up. The 124-pound highweight, who conceded between three and six pounds to his six rivals, was in full control throughout under regular jockey Miguel Vasquez. After breaking alertly from his outside post position, the 9-5 favorite closely stalked pacesetter General Ledger along the backstretch and around the far turn before effortlessly moving to the lead entering the stretch. Shaq Diesel pulled away through the stretch to win by 4 ½ lengths while completing the distance in 1:22.42 over a sealed sloppy track.
“The horse, he was perfect. He broke good and I tried to put him in a good position,” Vasquez said. “At the three-eighths [pole] I used him a little bit and he won easy.”
The Golden Gorilla rallied from off the pace under Jose Morelos to finish second, another 4 ½ lengths ahead of Fawkes-trained Pure Class, who was ridden by Emisael Jaramillo.
Shaq Diesel, an eight-race winner from 26 starts, collected his sixth victory from 13 races at the seven-furlong distance.
Mandatory Rainbow 6 Yields Multiple $206 Payouts
A mandatory payout of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool yielded multiple payoffs of $206.30 Sunday at Gulfstream Park.
There were 4,392 winning tickets.
The popular multi-race wager had gone unsolved for eight consecutive racing days since multiple mandatory payouts of $2,314.46 Aug. 3. A total of $1,005,092 was put into the Rainbow 6 Sunday on top of a $102,382.77 carryover from Saturday’s program.
A Great Date ($6.40) captured the Race 10 finale to complete the winning 4-6-1-2-7-8 combination. Other winners in the sequence were Maruvy ($8.20) in Race 5, St. Olaf Rose ($4.40) in Race 6, Motown Mika ($6) in Race 7, Light Fury ($3.20) in Race 8 and Shaq Diesel ($5.80) in Race 9, the $75,000 Benny the Bull Handicap.
In the Rainbow 6, the jackpot 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 goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool. However, on mandatory payout days the entire jackpot pool is paid out to the bettor or bettors with the most winners in the wager’s six-race sequence.
The Rainbow 6 begins anew Friday to kick off closing weekend of the Royal Palm Meet, which began April 5. The sequence opens with the day’s feature in Race 5, a maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies scheduled for five furlongs on the grass which drew a field of nine with seven first-time starters as well as Catalonia and Timeforpeace, who each finished off the board in debut on the main track.
Notes … … …… …….
Jockey Leonel Reyes registered a Sunday hat trick aboard Fourty Four ($14.80) in Race 3, St. Olaf Rose ($4.40) in Race 6 and A Great Date ($6.40) in Race 10 …
Edwin Gonzalez visited the winner’s circle twice, with Trumpetta ($7.60) in Race 1 and Light Fury ($3.20) in Race 8 …
Both Maruvy ($8.20) in Race 5 and A Great Date are trained by Jose D’Angelo …
Trainer Amador Sanchez won Sunday with Reverend Moon ($4.60) in Race 4 and Motown Mika ($6) in Race 7, while David Fawkes also doubled with Light Fury ($3.20) in Race 8 and Shaq Diesel ($5.80) in Race 9, the $75,000 Benny the Bull Handicap.
