Gulfstream Park: Rainbow 6 Has Mandatory Payout On Saturday; $96,592 In Jackpot

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 went unsolved Friday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., growing the jackpot carryover to $96,592.08 ahead of Saturday's mandatory payout of the popular multi-race wager.

Two horses were live to take down the jackpot heading into Friday's Race 10 finale, won in front-running fashion by favored Rod Two Rod ($4.80). Multiple tickets with all six winners each returned $3,223.14.

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 days' pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool. However, on mandatory payout days the entire pool is paid out to the bettor or bettor with the most winners.

Saturday's Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 6-11 and includes the $150,000 Suwannee River (G3), $100,000 St. Augustine overnight handicap, $150,000 Harlan's Holiday (G3) and $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) in Races 8-11.

Also on Saturday's card is the $125,000 Rampart for fillies and mares 3 and up going one mile in Race 5.

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‘I’m A Competition Guy’: Marcos Meneses Triples For Second Straight Friday At Tampa

Listening to the pre-meet hype surrounding several of the new jockey faces at Tampa Bay Downs fueled the competitive fire of Marcos Meneses.

“I'm a competition guy. When I win, I want to defeat the best jockeys,” Meneses said after riding three winners Friday to grab the Boot Barn Jockey of the Month Award. “If the best jockeys want to come here, you're welcome. I feel better winning those races because the competition is tough.”

Meneses, a 37-year-old product of La Guaira, Venezuela, has ridden 11 winners at the meet, good for third place in the standings. He also rode three winners on Dec. 22.

Jockey agent Mike Moran – who also handles leading jockey Samy Camacho's book – thinks it might not be long before trainers are clamoring for Meneses's services, reputations or past loyalties aside.

“I don't think he has been getting all the best mounts, but he is just riding awesome and a lot of people are not picking up on it yet,” Moran said. “He gets the most out of his horses and does a great job going with them. He doesn't quit, and it seems like he is in the right place at the right time. It's fun to watch him.”

Meneses rode 48 winners at Tampa Bay Downs last season to finish sixth in the standings after moving his tack from Gulfstream Park. He, his wife Aneidys and their three young daughters have embraced the slower pace on Florida's west coast, giving him peace of mind as he works horses in the mornings and wins races in the afternoons.

Ther next step is getting in the barns of bigger outfits with horses capable of winning stakes races. Meneses has succeeded to some degree here on that front, winning last season's Sandpiper Stakes on then-2-year-old filly Dorth Vader for trainer Michael Yates and taking the Pasco Stakes two seasons ago on 3-year-old Markhamian for conditioner Juan Carlos Avila.

Moran thinks Meneses has the potential to finish among the top three here.

“He just asks me 'Mike, what do I need to do?' ” Moran said. “Three wins the last two Fridays and Jockey of the Month – I hope I can sell him now.”

Meneses came to the United States to ride in 2015 after winning close to 500 races in Venezuela, where he began a winner's-circle ritual in which he raises both arms skyward before dismounting to express gratitude to God.

“I'm grateful because this is a dangerous sport and because I have (the ability),” he said.

Last summer, Meneses won the $5,000 Jockeys' Challenge during the Summer Festival of Racing, riding four winners over the two days of competition.

And in case you missed it, Meneses got one of those chances every jockey dreams of last spring, riding long shot Il Miracolo in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets. They finished seventh in a nine-horse field, but Meneses described the opportunity to compete against the likes of Hall of Fame jockeys Javier Castellano and John Velazquez and brothers Irad and Jose Ortiz as the best experience of his career.

Bring 'em all on. At this stage of his career, Meneses feels primed for the challenge.

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Pegasus Preview Day at Gulfstream Park Saturday

Gulfstream Park's Saturday program will offer four stakes races– three graded–including the GIII Harlan's Holiday S., a prep for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, and the GII Fort Lauderdale S., a prep for the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational.

The Harlan's Holiday drew a field of 11, including last out GII Hagyard Fayette S. winner and 5-2 morning-line favorite O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman); last year's GII Remsen S. winner Dubyuhnell (Good Magic), who returned from the shelf with an optional claiming win at Keeneland Oct. 28; and the streaking $1.7-million OBS April graduate and 'TDN Rising Star' Signator (Tapit), who makes his stakes debut for trainer Shug McGaughey following two straight wins at Aqueduct Oct. 21 and Nov. 12.

“In the Keeneland race, he was off the pace, but he was handy the whole way. He was into the bridle and traveled well for Tyler (Gaffalione),” trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. said of O'Connor's win in the Fayette. “If he can travel the same way, it will increase his chances Saturday.”

The Fort Lauderdale has attracted a field of 10, including the Chad Brown-trained duo of 2-1 morning-line favorite Running Bee (English Channel), who resurfaced from a lengthy layoff with a wire-to-wire victory in an optional claimer at Aqueduct Nov. 17; and Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), runner-up in the 2022 GI Breeders' Cup Turf. The latter adds blinkers following a fifth-place finish in the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S. Oct. 7.

The 11-race card at Gulfstream also includes: the GIII Suwannee River S. and the Rampart S.

Santa Anita, meanwhile, boasts a pair of grassy graded races Saturday, the GII Joe Hernandez S. and the GIII Robert J. Frankel S.

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Newly Turned 3-Year-Olds Seeking Derby Points In Monday’s Smarty Jones At Oaklawn

A field of nine was entered Friday for the $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds, to be run Monday, Jan. 1, at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark. Lengthened from one mile to 1 1/16 miles since last season, the Smarty Jones offers 21 total points (10-5-3-2-1, respectively) to the top five finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby.

Just Steel exits a victory in the $225,500 Ed Brown Stakes at 6 ½ furlongs Nov. 25 at Churchill Downs after two previous unsuccessful stakes starts in the G1 Hopeful at Saratoga and G1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland. A son of Triple Crown winner Justify, Just Steel is trained by D. Wayne Lukas and owned by BC Stables. He was a $500,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Catching Freedom, a $575,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase for Albaugh Family Stables, had an extremely troubled trip last out as the even-money favorite in a 1 1/16-mile Churchill Downs allowance race on Nov. 9 for trainer Brad Cox. Ridden that day by Florent Geroux, the Constitution colt rallied from well off the pace, but ran into traffic problems at the top of the stretch and was bottled up for most of the stretch, seemingly full of run but with nowhere to go.

Informed Patriot and Gettysburg Address finished third and fourth, respectively, in the G3 Street Sense Stakes run over a sloppy track Oct. 29 at Churchill Downs. Cox has elected to take blinkers off Gettysburg Address, another son of Constitution who showed speed in the Street Sense but faltered in the final quarter mile. The Hard Spun colt Informed Patriot, trained by Steve Asmussen, subsequently finished third in an allowance race at Churchill Downs Nov. 25.

First run in 2008, the Smarty Jones is named for the 2004 3-year-old male champion who swept the Southwest Stakes, Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn that year en route to Kentucky Derby and Preakness victories. Brad Cox has won two of the last three runnings.

The field for the Smarty Jones, from the rail out, with trainers and jockeys, is:

1-Informed Patriot, Steve Asmussen, Ricardo Santana Jr.

2-Catching Freedom, Brad Cox, Cristian Torres

3-Lagynos, Steve Asmussen, Joel Rosario

4-Mystik Dan, Ken McPeek, Julien Leparoux

5-Mo Winning, Robertino Diodoro, Harry Hernandez

6-Gettysburg Address, Brad Cox, Flavien Prat

7-Just Steel, D. Wayne Lukas, Ramon Vazquez

8-Chaperone, Ron Moquett, Keith Asmussen

9-Fidget, Brad Cox, Martin Chuan

Probable post time for the Smarty Jones, the ninth of 10 races, is 4:14 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at 12:30 p.m. CT on Monday.

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