Ticking boosts his win streak to two on Thursday at Gulfstream Park (Lauren King)
Castellano Has Busy Weekend Ahead of Him
Friday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Guaranteed at $350,000
Gulfstream Today
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.— Leon Ellman, Glassman Racing LLC and Laurie Plesa’s Ticking, a $675,000 purchase at the 2022 OBS April sale, had the look of a colt with a very bright future Thursday at Gulfstream Park while drawing away to an authoritative victory in the Race 8 feature.
Coming off a 6 ¼-length maiden romp against Florida-breds Feb. 18 at Gulfstream, Ticking was in control throughout the six-furlongs of the $86,000 optional claiming allowance feature. The 3-year-old son of Bolt d’Oro set a controlled pace under Edgard Zayas while racing three paths from the rail, stalked by favored Gold Magic on his inside and Great Navigator on his outside along the backstretch and into the far turn before clearing his rivals on the turn into the homestretch. The Eddie Plesa Jr. trainee kicked in through the stretch to win the seven-furlong feature by 2 ½ lengths as the 9-5 second choice.
Ticking ($5,80) ran seven furlongs in 1:24.37 while facing open company that included runner-up Navigator, who was making his 2023 debut after finishing second in the Sanford (G3) at Saratoga last season; and Good Magic, the 8-5 favorite coming off a sharp debut victory at Gulfstream Feb 11. Good Magic faded to fourth behind third-place finisher Street Swagg.
Ticking finished a disappointing third in his July 23 debut before going to the sideline until his triumphant Feb. 18 return.
“He’s a horse that we have great hope for,” Plesa said. “I ran him one time and he had a troubled trip and then we backed off him and gave him time to mature. His last race, a maiden special weight against Florida-breds, he won and won easily. It wasn’t the caliber of this field. You got the maiden who won his debut big and ran a tremendous race and great number. Then, you have the horse on the outside who ran the Sanford Stakes and ran second. That showed a lot of back class. He ran here today and ran a big race, but we were best today. I think the best is in his future and we’re excited to have him.”
Castellano Has Busy Weekend Ahead of Him
Javier Castellano has big plans for the weekend.
The Hall of Fame jockey, who rode a pair of winners on Thursday’s card, is scheduled to ride in five races Friday and six races Saturday at Gulfstream Park, but his name will be missing from the program for Sunday’s card.
Castellano will be at Santa Anita, accompanied by his wife Abby, his daughters Kayla, Sienna, and son Brady, to accept the George Woolf Memorial Award, a coveted annual honor voted on by jockeys throughout the country.
“After I finish here Saturday, I have to go to New York to pick up my family. Then, we fly early Sunday morning to Santa Anita,” Castellano said.
Castellano has ridden more 5624 winners and his mounts have amassed purse earnings of more than $378 million, second highest behind John Velazquez’s $463 million purses-won total.
“It’s a very prestigious honor to have all your fellow riders vote for you and look up to you,” Castellano said. “I’ve won a lot of awards, but this is very special for me. I’m looking to have a good celebration with my family.”
Friday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Guaranteed at $350,000
Gulfstream Park’s 20-cent Rainbow 6 went unsolved Thursday for the seventh racing day following a March 5 mandatory payout, The popular multi-race wager’s gross jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $350,000 for Friday’s program.
Friday’s Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 4-9.
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.
Who’s Hot: Irad Ortiz Jr. tripled aboard Meetmeatthebeach ($3.60) in Race 5, Accede ($4.40) in Race 7 and Preliminary ($8.80) in Race 9. Chad Brown trains first-time starters Accede and Preliminary.
Hall of Famer Javier Castellano visited the winner’s circle following Race 1 with Heathguard ($8.40) and Race 4 with Collaborate ($3.60).
Tyler Gaffalione also doubled, scoring aboard Big and Classy ($11) in Race 4 and Call Curt ($19.40) in Race 6.
