The Hollywood Gold Cup is a historically significant Southern California race that bridges generations of outstanding classic-type racehorses and Hall of Fame personalities who won this famed 1 ¼ mile race, which was moved to Santa Anita Park in 2014 following the closure of Hollywood Park.
Month: May 2023
Gulfstream Park: Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Guaranteed At $175,000 Sunday
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 pool will be guaranteed at $175,000 for Sunday's nine-race program at Gulfstream Park.
Sunday's Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 4-9, featuring the Musical Romance Handicap in Race 7, in which graded stakes-placed R Adios Jersey will concede between three and seven pounds to her five rivals. In Race 8, a 7 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance for 3-year-old fillies on turf, Todd Pletcher-trained Soviet Excess, a son of Uncle Mo who is coming off a sharp maiden score on Tapeta, is rated as the 3-1 morning-line favorite.
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.
There will be a Super Hi-5 carryover of $3963.03 heading into Sunday's card.
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Pimlico: Rainbow 6 Jackpot Soars To $432,683 For Sunday
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot went unsolved for a 10th consecutive racing day Saturday at historic Pimlico Race Course, growing to $432,683.12 for Sunday's eight-race program.
First race post time is 12:25 p.m. (ET).
A total of $81,003 was put into Saturday's Rainbow 6, which began with a carryover of $406,768.42 from Friday's program. Multiple tickets were sold, each paying $1,087.92.
Yet to be cashed during Pimlico's Preakness Meet, which began May 11, the Rainbow 6 was last solved for a $364.74 mandatory payout May 7, closing day of Laurel Park's spring stand.
The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out only when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 60 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 40 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
Maryland's state-record Rainbow 6 carryover reached $1,435,080.75 over 27 consecutive racing programs before a mandatory payout of $31,028.08 to multiple ticketholders July 4, 2021.
Sunday's Rainbow 6 spans Races 3-8, beginning with a six-furlong claiming event for fillies and mares 3 and up which have never won two races. Breaking from the rail is Justin Nixon-owned and trained Ballykeen, a 4-year-old daughter of Keen Ice that cuts back after finishing second in a similar spot going seven furlongs May 7 at Laurel. Lady Cage Fighter, bred, owned and trained by James 'Chuck' Lawrence II, makes her return 11 months following a front-running maiden triumph in an off-the-turf sprint at Laurel.
The Race 4 feature is a stakes-quality optional claiming allowance scheduled for five furlongs on the turf that attracted a field of eight fillies and mares 3 and up including 2022 Maryland Million Ladies winner Coconut Cake, entered to make her season debut.
Owned by NRS Stable, James Chambers and trainer Tim Keefe, 5-year-old Coconut Cake has not raced since running third in the 1 1/16-mile Forever Together over the Aqueduct turf last November. The open stake came four weeks after her popular head triumph in the Maryland Million under Sheldon Russell, who returns to ride from Post 7. They are rated at 5-1 on the morning line.
“She's been ready to go for some time so I'm happy to be getting her out there. It's five furlongs, but you've got to start somewhere and this will set us up for some races come June and July,” Keefe said. “She's very fresh and doing very well. We gave her the winter off. She's better on the grass so we just decided we'd give her the time to come back. Our ultimate goal is the Maryland Million again this year.”
The 1 1/8-mile Ladies was the fifth win and first in a stakes for Coconut Cake, who has placed in six other stakes and has been third or better in 14 of 22 career starts with purse earnings just under $300,000. A $30,000 yearling purchase, she broke her maiden going 5 ½ furlongs on the Laurel turf in July 2020 and also owns three sprint wins on the dirt. She hasn't sprinted since a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance last June at Laurel, where she ran fourth.
“This filly, she always goes out there and tries as hard as she can and always shows up. I'm excited to finally get her back out for her debut,” Keefe said. “There's some really nice horses in there. You can't win anything if you're just sitting in the barn. Like I told my partners, this isn't obviously our best distance but let's get her out, get a race under her belt and see where she goes. She always tries, anyway. There's a lot of speed in there so maybe it'll set up for us. Sheldon's on her and knows her very well, and I'm obviously very happy that he's able to ride her for us again.”
Also among the entrants are Street Lute, an eight-time dirt stakes winner making just her second try on turf; two-time turf sprint stakes winner Can the Queen, the 5-2 program favorite exiting a sixth in Pimlico's The Very One May 19; Whispurring Kitten, unraced since finishing second to Can the Queen in the five-furlong Sensible Lady last September; and Can't Buy Love, winner of the 2021 Star Shoot over Woodbine's all-weather surface.
Sunday's $1 Jackpot Super High Five carryover stands at $424,711.24 after going unsolved for a sixth straight racing day Saturday. Multiple winning tickets were each worth $4,035.
A total of $64,173 was wagered into the Jackpot Super High Five on top of a $397,555.33 carryover from Friday. The wager was last hit for a $10,383.50 payout May 14 at Pimlico.
Launched April 1, on opening day of Laurel Park's spring meet, the Jackpot Super High Five takes place in Race 6 every live race day. In the Jackpot Super High 5, the jackpot is paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with each of the first five finishers in exact order. On days when there is no unique ticket, 50 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with all five finishers while 50 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
If there is no ticket with all five finishers in exact order, the entire pool will be carried over to the next day's Jackpot Super High Five.
Sunday's Race 6 is a starter optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for five furlongs on the grass. Ten were entered led by four-time stakes-placed 9-year-old gelding Love You Much, seven-time career winner Battlebus, second in back-to-back starts to open 2023; Lucci, coming out of a May 7 optional claiming score at Laurel first off the claim for trainer Michael Moore; and 8-year-old I Got a Rock, with 14 wins from 35 career starts.
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Churchill Downs Issues Statement Following Equine Fatalities
In today's first race, Kimberley Dream sustained a significant injury – a distal sesamodean ligament rupture – to her left front leg. A similar injury occurred to Lost in Limbo during Friday's seventh race. Unfortunately, in both scenarios, attending veterinarians determined that the injuries were inoperable and unrecoverable and made the difficult but most humane decision to euthanize. We send our deepest and most sincere condolences to the connections and all who loved and cared for Kimberley Dream and Lost in Limbo.
There have been 12 equine fatalities at Churchill Downs since the stable area reopened for training on March 30. It is with absolute dismay and sorrow that we report this highly unusual statistic. Our team members mourn the loss of these animals as we continue to work together to discover cause and determine appropriate investments to minimize, to the degree possible, any avoidable risk in this sport and on our property. We do not accept this as suitable or tolerable and share the frustrations of the public, and in some cases, the questions to which we do not yet have answers. We have been rigorously working since the opening of the meet to understand what has led to this spike and have yet to find a conclusive discernable pattern as we await the findings of ongoing investigations into those injuries and fatalities.
As with any matter under investigation, justice or answers are not always swift, but the commitment to being thorough is incredibly important. We understand the justified desire for answers, yet also respect the process and authority of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) when managing these important investigations. We are actively working in cooperation with these regulatory authorities and share their goal to improve the safety of this sport.
In recent weeks, we have been focused on our responsibility to provide the safest racing environment possible on our property. Part of that effort has included increasing the frequency with which our surfaces are tested. Earlier this week, Churchill Downs commissioned Dr. Mick Peterson, Executive Director of Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory and Professor of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Kentucky, to perform additional diagnostics on our racetrack. The report indicated that the measurements from retesting do not raise any concerns and that none of the data is inconsistent with prior measurements from Churchill Downs or other tracks.
We simply will not allow these equine fatalities to be in vain. We are engaged in an epidemiological study with The Jockey Club to review each individual horse to determine if there are any undetected patterns that have not been previously identified. These findings can be incorporated into our daily review of entries and potentially trigger additional interventions using advanced diagnostic modalities.
Additionally, we have worked to uncover ways to invest in research and resources that may be made available to trainers, so that together we can better detect pre-existing injuries and work to avoid catastrophic injuries in racing. We have made promising progress in determining ways to increase the use of technology to better inform and intervene when abnormalities in horses present and are eager to share these announcements with horsemen and the public in the coming days. This is in addition to mining and enhancing our already comprehensive safety protocols and policies (Churchill Downs “Safety from Start to Finish”), all developed over the years to improve upon every opportunity we have to advocate in the best interest of our equine and human athletes.
We are troubled by this recent string of fatalities. It is extremely inconsistent with the outcomes we have experienced over the years, with the reputation we have developed over the decades and with the expectations we set for ourselves and owe our fans. We are committed to doing this important work and updating the public with our developments.
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