Gabaldon captures the Royal Palm Juvenile in his racing debut. (Ryan Thompson/Coglianese)
Friday at Gulfstream
+ Ms. Bucchero, R Morning Brew & Win N Your In seek to regain stakes-winning form
+ Race debut: Little Georgie, Half to Neolithic & Travel Column
+ Royal Ascot Runner-Up Gabaldon returns in Race 10 finale20-Cent Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated to Reach $100,000
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A stakes-quality sprint featuring three accomplished Florida-bred females and a maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies that includes a pair of six-figure sellers help spice up a 10-race program when the Sunshine Meet resumes Friday at Gulfstream Park.
First race post time is 12:50 p.m.
Ms. Bucchero, R Morning Brew and Win N Your In, all bred in Florida, seek to regain their stakes-winning form in Race 3, an optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up going six furlongs where 6-year-old mare Cousin Kristi, runner-up in Gulfstream’s 2024 Musical Romance behind Grade 2-placed Bluefield, is the only horse entered for the $62,500 tag.
A 5-year-old mare owned and trained by Diane Morici, Ms. Bucchero won the Nov. 29 Willa On the Move to end 2024 and Jan. 18 What a Summer to kick off 2025, both at Laurel Park. The eight-time winner with seven wins at the distance has raced just twice since, finishing second in Monmouth Park’s July 20 Regret and fourth in an open allowance Sept. 6 at Laurel.
Averill Racing’s 3-year-old filly R Morning Brew ended a near six-month gap between starts by winning an open optional claimer over her elders sprinting 6 ½ furlongs Sept. 20 at Gulfstream, where she launched her career with back-to-back victories last summer including the FSS Desert Vixen. She then ran third in the FSS Susan’s Girl and fourth in the FSS My Dear Girl before returning in mid-March.
Troy Johnson and Maritza Weston’s Win N Your In sandwiched wins in the six-furlong Sharp Susan and seven-furlong Susan’s Girl around a third in the Desert Vixen last summer and fall. The daughter of Win Win Win has made nine straight stakes starts, owns one win from five races this year, the seven-furlong Sophomore Fillies against state-breds March 30 at Tampa Bay Downs, and has not run since finishing fifth in the Blue Sparkler July 12 on the Monmouth turf.
Also entered are Gallop d’Hermes, a last-out sixth in the Princess Rooney (G3) Sept. 20, and Rumours Have It, most recently sixth in the Aug. 16 Sheer Drama where the runner-up, Haulin Ice, came back to win the Princess Rooney and earn an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is estimated to reach $100,000 for Friday’s six-race sequence, which spans Races 5-10 and includes the Race 6 feature, a maiden special weight for sophomore fillies sprinting six furlongs on the main track.
Drawing the rail in a field of eight is J and J Stables’ Little Georgie, a first-time starter by two-time Grade 1-winning multimillionaire Charlatan that fetched $630,000 as a yearling last summer at Saratoga. The chestnut shows 17 timed works since May 30 at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, and is a half to Neolithic, who placed in five graded-stakes and earned more than $2.2 million in purses, and Travel Column, a multiple Grade 2 winner of nearly $700,000.
In outermost Post 8 is AMO Racing USA’s Amuse Me, a $425,000 daughter of dual Grade 1 winner and $2 million earner Maxfield whose siblings include 2024 Amsterdam (G2) winner World Record, third in the July 26 Bing Crosby (G1). Amuse Me debuted on the turf in a one-mile maiden special weight Sept. 20 at The Meadowlands, getting bumped early and failing to reach contention before fading to be last of seven.
Also moving turf to dirt are Bodacious Queen, a troubled eighth in a 5 ½-furlong dash Aug. 16 at Saratoga, and Little Georgie’s Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained stablemate La Dolce Vita. La Dolce Vita has raced twice, beaten as the favorite each time, running second in debut Aug. 1 at Gulfstream going five furlongs and fourth after setting the pace in a one-mile maiden event Aug. 30 at Kentucky Downs.
Completing the field are Fierce Fairshinda and first-time starters Essential Girl and New Life, both trained by Victor Barboza Jr., and Permian Basin.
Local stakes winner and Royal Ascot runner-up Gabaldon is entered to make his return to Gulfstream in Friday’s Race 10 finale, an optional claiming allowance for Florida-bred 3-year-olds and up scheduled for five furlongs on the grass. The sophomore gelding won last spring’s Royal Palm Juvenile in debut to earn a trip to England, where he ran second by a length in the Windsor Castle Stakes. He didn’t race again until finishing third in the March 22 Texas Glitter at Gulfstream and has run once since, finishing fifth in the Aug. 10 Mahony (G3) at Saratoga.
Another interesting contender is Quizler, based in New Jersey with trainer and Gulfstream winter regular Kelly Breen. The 3-year-old colt has faced elders in his last two tries, most recently finishing third in a Sept. 1 claimer at Colonial Downs but owns a sterling 2-2-1 record in five career races over the Gulfstream turf including a March 7 maiden triumph and April 4 optional claiming victory – his most recent win – both going one mile.
The Rainbow 6 has gone unsolved for three consecutive racing days following multiple mandatory payouts of $1,872.46 Oct. 12.
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 holding tickets with the most winners while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool. When there is a mandatory payout, the entire pool is disbursed to the bettor or bettors with the most winners in the popular wager’s six-race sequence.
