The 20-cent Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot soared to $496,821.98 for Saturday's program after going unsolved for a 13th consecutive racing day Friday at historic Pimlico Race Course.
Post time for the first of nine races Saturday is 12:25 p.m.
One horse, We Got Lucky, was eligible to take down the jackpot heading into Friday's eighth race finale, but finished fifth. A total of $41,438 was put into the popular multi-race wager on top of a carryover of $483,561.81 from Sunday's last live program. Multiple tickets with all six winners were each worth $4,972.56.
Last solved for a $364.74 mandatory payout May 7, on closing day of Laurel Park's spring meet, the Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot has yet to be cashed during Pimlico's Preakness Meet, which began May 11.
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.
Introduced in Maryland April 2, 2015, on opening day of Pimlico's spring meet, the 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.
Saturday's Rainbow 6 sequence covers Races 4-9 and opens with a 1 1/16-mile claiming event for 3-year-olds and up which have never won two races scheduled for the turf. An overflow field of 11 was entered including Pursuing Pace, returning to the grass in his 4-year-old debut for Pimlico-based trainer Kieron Magee; Tiz Tact Toe, making his first start for trainer Lacey Gaudet off three fourths in South Florida over the winter; and Bail Out, unraced since a victory over the Laurel turf last November and also racing for a new trainer in Horacio DePaz.
Race 5 is a claiming event for maidens ages 3, 4 and 5 going 1 1/16 miles where Built Wright Stables' Succeed is the 8-5 program favorite, returning to the dirt off a failed turf debut going 1 1/8 miles May 26 at Pimlico. The 4-year-old gelding ran second in three straight one-mile races in March and April, beaten less than a length in a maiden special weight at Mahoning Valley. Admit Nothing stretches out after finishing off the board in back-to-back Laurel sprints to open his career.
Saturday's feature comes in Race 6, an optional claiming allowance scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass that attracted 11 fillies and mares 3 and up including two, I'm Gittin There and Champagne Toast, entered for main track only. Cashing Big Checks has placed in 13 of 19 starts with four wins. Arnaud Delacour takes for Christophe Clement as trainer of Community Adjusted, whose two wins have come on the Belmont Park turf going nine furlongs or longer. Meet-leading trainer Brittany Russell will send out the pair of Surya and April 29 Dahlia runner-up Silver Currency.
Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey entered Hollywoodland, a $500,000 daughter of Quality Road that placed in successive maiden special weights this winter at Gulfstream Park, in Race 7, a maiden special weight for fillies and mares ages 3, 4 and 5 at 1 1/16 miles. Trainer Michael Matz counters with the Uncle Mo filly Wudi, purchased for $725,000 as a 2-year-old in training last June that went winless in three tries in Southern California for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
Eleven fillies and mares 3 and up were entered, including three for the main track, in Race 8, a 1 1/16-mile entry-level allowance scheduled for the turf. Daily Planet, beaten a neck in an off-the-turf claimer going 1 1/8 miles May 13 at Pimlico, and Milan Milosevic-trained stablemate Chelichna, second in his 1 1/8-mile season debut May 6 on the Laurel turf; Pallotta Sisters, who adds blinkers off a runner-up finish last out Feb. 10 at Tampa; Nicolar, exiting a fourth in an open allowance on the Preakness (G1) undercard May 20; stakes-placed Continentalcongres and She'sarollingstone, a winner of two of her last three starts, are main contenders.
The Race 9 finale is a maiden special weight for 3-year-olds sprinting six furlongs where Dillinger is the 3-5 morning line favorite in his first start for Russell. The $550,000 yearling was second twice in three starts for Baffert and most recently sixth against older horses in a May 6 maiden special weight at Churchill Downs for Tim Yakteen. Russell will also add Lasix and blinkers to Childers in the Bernardini colt's first start for her after running three times last year, placing twice, for trainer Brad Cox. Russell's success rate with horses racing first time for her is 33 percent.
The Jackpot Super High Five went unsolved for an eighth straight racing day Friday, bringing the carryover to $475,656.86 for Saturday. A total of $37,939 was bet into Friday's Jackpot Super High Five on top of a $459,622.70 carryover from Sunday's program, producing multiple winning tickets worth $1,338.10. 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.
Mandatory payouts are scheduled in the Rainbow 6, Jackpot Super High Five and Late Pick 5 on Sunday's closing day program.
The post Pimlico: Rainbow 6 Carryover Jackpot Reaches $496,821 For Saturday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Alexandres LLC's Il Miracolo breezed five furlongs at Gulfstream Park Friday morning in preparation for a scheduled start in the June 10 Belmont Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park.
The son of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner was timed in 1:00.88, the fastest clocking of four recorded at the distance.
The Antonio Sano trainee is coming off a sharp front-running score at Gulfstream in a May 11 optional claiming allowance at a mile in his first start since finishing sixth in the Curlin Florida Derby (G1).
“The horse wants distance and is doing really good, so we'll try,” Sano said.
Marcos Meneses, who rode a pair of winners on Friday's program at Gulfstream, will have the return mount aboard Il Miracolo.
Il Miracolo is scheduled to ship to Belmont Park Saturday.
The post ‘The Horse Wants Distance’: Sano Trainee Il Miracolo Breezes Toward Belmont Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Reeling from a rash of breakdowns that has developed into what can only be described as a crisis for the track and for the entire sport, track management at Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) announced Friday that racing will be suspended at Churchill after Sunday's card and that the remainder of the scheduled meet will be run at Ellis Park.
The first day of racing at Ellis will be held on June 10. The Churchill-at-Ellis meet will end on July 3.
Racing at Churchill will be held as scheduled this Saturday and Sunday.
“The team at Churchill Downs takes great pride in our commitment to safety and strives to set the highest standard in racing, consistently going above and beyond the regulations and policies that are required,” said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of CDI in a statement. “What has happened at our track is deeply upsetting and absolutely unacceptable. Despite our best efforts to identify a cause for the recent horse injuries, and though no issues have been linked to our racing surfaces or environment at Churchill Downs, we need to take more time to conduct a top-to-bottom review of all of the details and circumstances so that we can further strengthen our surface, safety and integrity protocols.”
Carstanjen's statement continued: “In addition to our commitment to providing the safest racing environment for our participants, we have an immense responsibility as the economic engine of the Thoroughbred industry in Kentucky which provides jobs and income for thousands of families every day. By relocating the remainder of the meet to Ellis Park, we are able to maintain this industry ecosystem with only minor disruption. We are grateful to the Kentucky horsemen for their support, resiliency and continued partnership as we collectively work to find answers during this time.”
Shortly after the Churchill statement was released, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) put out a release of its own, saying that it had recommended that the meet be suspended. HISA does not have the authority to close a meet down but can prevent a track from sending out its simulcasting signal if it feels that track is not making their best effort to deal with breakdowns and other safety issues.
“HISA's highest priority is the safety and wellbeing of equine and human athletes competing under our jurisdiction,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “Given that we have been so far unable to draw conclusions about the cause of the recent equine fatalities at Churchill Downs, and therefore have been unable to recommend or require interventions that we felt would adequately ensure the safety of the horses running there, we made the decision to recommend to CDI that they temporarily suspend racing at Churchill Downs while additional reviews continue. We know that CDI and the KHRC [Kentucky Horse Racing Commision] share our goal of ensuring safety above all else, and we appreciate their thoughtfulness and cooperation through these challenging moments. We will continue to seek answers and work with everyone involved to ensure that horses are running safely at Churchill Downs again in the near future.”
The shift to Ellis was made despite widespread agreement among trainers, jockeys and by experts brought in to examine the racing surface that there were no issues with either the main track or the turf course. Of the 12 horses who have died, seven died in races run over the main track. There was also a fatality in a turf race and another during training hours. Wild On Ice (Tapizar), a contender for the GI Kentucky Derby, was the first fatality when he broke down during morning training on Apr. 27. Three other horses died due to causes other than musculoskeletal injuries.
Considering the widespread opinion that there is nothing wrong with the track, Rick Hiles, President of the Kentucky HBPA, came out with his own statement Friday in which he questioned the decision.
“Horsemen question the purpose of this unprecedented step, especially without conclusive evidence that there is a problem with the racetrack at Churchill Downs. We all want to find solutions that will improve safety for horses. However, we need to discuss allowing trainers and veterinarians to use therapeutic medications that greatly lessen the risk of breakdowns. Drastic steps, such as relocating an active race meet, should only be considered when it is certain to make a difference.”
The HISA statement also referenced the findings that there is nothing amiss with the racetrack.
“Track surface expert Dennis Moore completed his HISA-commissioned review of the Churchill Downs Racetrack and reported his findings to HISA earlier today,” the statement read. “After conducting his own inspection of the surface and reviewing data collected by Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory (RSTL) and Churchill Downs, he reported there were no primary areas for concern and has verified that the various track metrics analyzed are consistent with previous years.”
The decision to move to Ellis was approved Friday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC).
“Today, Churchill Downs requested a voluntary move of their operations to Ellis Park for the remainder of their spring meet,” KHRC spokesperson Kristin Voskuhl said. “Out of an abundance of caution for the safety of all racing participants, the KHRC approved the move. The KHRC is working closely with Churchill Downs and the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority on continuing investigations into the recent equine fatalities.”
The condition book for the Churchill meet and the stakes schedule will remain unchanged upon the shift to Ellis.
Last September, Churchill announced that it had bought Ellis from Enchantment Holdings for $79 million in cash. Following the Churchill-at-Ellis meet, racing will continue at Ellis. The 2023 Ellis meet runs from July 7 through Sunday, Aug. 27.
The move to Ellis will be an inconvenience for horsemen. Ellis is roughly 103 miles from Louisville. Despite that, Churchill-based trainer Dale Romans said he understood why Churchill made the move.
“I think it is overkill, but better to have overkill than to not pay attention to the breakdowns,” he said. “Yes, it surprised me when I first heard about it. But we are talking about a major corporate company and they don't want to keep going with things being the way they are only to figure out later that it was the racetrack. You can't execute Churchill for trying to do the right thing.”
When faced with similar problems in 2019, Santa Anita shut down its meet for about three weeks before resuming racing.
The post Churchill Downs to Suspend Meet, Move Racing to Ellis Park appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
