Souper Dormy winning the feature allowance at Gulfstream Park Feb. 10. (Lauren King)
• Saturday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Guaranteed at $400,000
• G3 G.P. Turf Sprint, Ladies Turf Sprint Top Saturday Card
• Jockey Luis Saez Registers Four-Win Day Friday
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Bruno Schickedanz’s Souper Dormy, racing first time for new connections in his season debut, paid immediate dividends with a half-length victory over favored Gray’s Fable in Friday’s featured eighth race at Gulfstream Park.
Ridden by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano for trainer Marty Drexler, who claimed the 6-year-old Into Mischief gelding for $50,000 out of a Nov. 24 win at Woodbine, Souper Dormy ($21) covered one mile in 1:34.71 over a firm turf course in the optional claiming allowance for 4-year-olds and up.
Castellano positioned Souper Dormy in mid-pack as 21-1 long shot First Empire went a quarter mile in 23.79 seconds and a half in 47.02 pressed by Candy Tycoon. Souper Dormy was able to work his way outside entering the stretch and came with a steady run to get the lead inside the sixteenth pole while multiple stakes winner Gray’s Fable made a belated bid up the inside.
“I had a beautiful trip. The way I handicapped the race there was a lot of speed and I drew a good post inside near the rail. My horse was coming from a sprint race, and I didn’t want to be too far back especially on this course because it’s hard to make up ground,” Castellano said.
“The horse to beat was [Gray’s Fable] and he comes from behind, so I wanted to get the jump on him. Everything worked out perfect. I was able to let the speed go, save all the ground, step outside and get some momentum before the favorite could get there,” he added. “I saw he was coming at the end, but it was too late. Everything worked out great.”
In Friday’s co-feature, St. Elias Stable’s Expressman ($2.80), favored at 2-5, lost the lead in mid-stretch after dueling up front from the gate but dug in again under jockey Luis Saez to surge past Montauk Point and win the 1 1/8-mile optional claiming allowance for 4-year-olds and up in 1:50.33 over a fast main track.
“He was battling pretty hard. I thought he was going to get beat for a second,” Saez said. “The other horse came to him, and he was fighting pretty good, and he came back. He got a lot of pressure the whole way. He’s a good horse. He had to be on the engine, and he was on the engine, and he beat him.”
Saturday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Guaranteed at $400,000
Unsolved for an eighth consecutive racing day, the 20-cent Rainbow 6 gross jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $400,000 Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
The popular multi-race wager hasn’t been hit since a mandatory payout of $6,086.16 Jan. 29. Beginning with a carryover pool of $828,941.81, the Rainbow 6 handle reached $6,265,823.
On non-mandatory days, the Rainbow 6 jackpot is 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.
Multiple tickets with all six winners in Friday’s Rainbow 6 were each worth $19,950.84.
Saturday’s Rainbow 6 sequence spans Races 7-12, kicked off by the $100,000 Ladies Turf Sprint for fillies and mares 4 and older going five furlongs. Multiple stakes winner Miss J McKay, exiting a victory in the Dec. 24 Abundantia at Gulfstream is the 7-5 program favorite in a field of nine that includes Imagery, Stony Point and Mamba Wamba, respectively 2-3-4 in the Abundantia.
Race 11 is the $100,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint (G3), also at five furlongs, where multiple stakes winner Carotari – 4-for-6 lifetime at Gulfstream – chases his first graded triumph against nine rivals. Among them are defending champion Yes I Am Free and fellow multiple stakes winner Belgrano, who captured the five-furlong Janus Dec. 24.
Who’s Hot >>>
Jockey Luis Saez registered four wins Friday with Expressman ($2.80) in Race 3, Uranium ($6.20) in Race 5, Testa ($9.40) in Race 6 and Talkin Tipsy ($10.20) in Race 7 … Both Expressman and Testa are trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher … Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano swept the late double with Souper Dormy ($21) in Race 8 and Cruzin Man ($14.40) in Race 9.
