Live Racing Returns To Delaware Park On May 26

The 84th season of live Thoroughbred and Arabian racing at Delaware Park opens this Wednesday, May 26, with a first race post time of 1:15 p.m.

The opening week festivities will continue with live racing cards slated for Memorial Day weekend on Saturday, May 29, and Monday, May 31.

Live racing will be conducted on Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays in 2021. Thursdays will be added June 24 through September 30. The Grade 3 Delaware Oaks is scheduled for Saturday, July 3, and the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap will be run on Saturday, July 10.

The 29th Owners Day, featuring four Delaware Certified Stakes, will be Saturday, September 25. The 77-day meet will conclude on Saturday, October 16.

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Double Crown Denies Chance It In Gulfstream Feature; Friday’s Rainbow 6 Guaranteed At $400,000

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing's Double Crown rallied from last to edge heavily favored Chance It in Sunday's feature race at Gulfstream Park, setting up a likely rematch in the $200,000 Smile Sprint (G3) on the July 3 Summit of Speed program.

Double Crown, who finished third in last year's Smile Sprint, had been idle since finishing second in the Chick Lang (G3) at Pimlico Oct. 1. Shooting Star Thoroughbreds LLC's Chance It, the hero of the 2019 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series and winner of the 2020 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream, had been out of action since finishing fifth in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) March 7, 2020.

Both horses were clearly ready for their long-awaited returns to action.

Trained by Kathy Ritvo, Double Crown ran six furlongs in 1:10.10 while prevailing over a very game Chance it by three-quarters of length.

“Kathy's done a fabulous job. Her staff, they always have these horses look good,” said Dean Reeves, who operates Reeves Thoroughbred Racing with his wife, Patti. “Kathy gets them ready for certain spots and you know when they go in there, they're going to run good. He was off a little while. We gave him time to grow a little, and now we're ready to go. It's hard sometimes as an owner to be that patient, but Kathy makes me be patient.”

Double Crown was also the recipient of a patient ride by Luca Panici, who notched his first victory since recently returning to the saddle following a three-month recovery and rehabilitation of a back injury sustained in a February accident.

“Luca rode a great race. He was patient and they finished up great,” Ritvo said. “Luca said the horse has a great mind.”

Double Crown dropped to the back of the five-horse field as Inter Miami outsprinted Chance It to grab the lead along the backstretch and went on to set fractions of 22.64 and 45.64 seconds for the first half-mile of the six-furlong optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up. The Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Chance It advanced on the leader between horses on the turn into the homestretch and took the lead at the top of the stretch as Double Crown launched a four-wide drive that would carry him to his fourth victory in seven career starts. Chance It, the even-money favorite ridden by Edgard Zayas, finished 3 ½ lengths clear of Inter Miami.

Double Crown's victory was his fourth in seven career starts. The 4-year-old gelded son of Bourbon Courage won back-to-back stakes at Gulfstream last year before his graded-stakes placings in the Smile and Chick Lang.

Dean and Patti Reeves and Ritvo campaigned Mucho Macho Man, the 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner.

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool will be guaranteed at $400,000 when live racing resumes Friday at Gulfstream Park.

The popular multi-race wager went unsolved for the fifth consecutive racing day Sunday, when multiple tickets with all six winners were each worth $8,382.04.

The jackpot pool is only 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 also be a Super Hi-5 carryover of $41,456.72 heading into Friday's program.

Friday's card kicks off a four-day Memorial Day Weekend at Gulfstream that will offer three stakes – Saturday's $75,000 Musical Romance, a 6 ½-furlong sprint for fillies and mares; Sunday's $60,000 Biscayne Bay, a five-furlong overnight handicap on turf for fillies and mares; and Monday's $75,000 Soldier's Dancer, a 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds and up on turf.

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Pimlico: $708,857 Rainbow 6 Jackpot, $115,038 Late Pick 5 Carryover When Racing Resumes Friday

Live racing returns to Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., on Friday, May 28, to kick off Memorial Day weekend with the Maryland state-record 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot carryover having swelled to $708,857.82 after going unsolved during Sunday's program.

Three of six horses were live to take down the jackpot heading into Sunday's ninth-race finale, won by Ran Char ($27.20). A total of $120,537 was bet into the popular multi-race wager, which began with a carryover of $670,306.25 from Saturday. Multiple tickets with all six winners were each worth $19,275.78.

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 Rainbow 6 had its previous state record carryover reach $345,898.33 spanning 31 racing programs before being solved by one lucky bettor for a life-changing $399,545.94 payout April 15, 2018 at Laurel Park. The winning ticket was purchased through Maine off-track betting.

Post time for the first of nine races Friday is 12:40 p.m. The Rainbow 6 spans Races 4-9 and includes the featured eighth race, an entry-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs on the main track. Among the field are Palatial Times, most recently fifth in the Chick Lang (G3) May 15 at Pimlico; recent Pimlico allowance winners Heir Port and Cry No More; Exculpatory, a dramatic March 5 debut winner at Laurel Park that was fifth last out May 11 at Parx; and Subject to Change, a 4 ¾-length debut winner May 15 at Charles Town.

There will also be carryovers of $115,038.40 in the 50-cent Late Pick 5 (Races 5-9) and $5,876.76 in the $1 Super Hi-5 (Race 2). Tickets with four of five winners in Sunday's Late Pick 5 each returned $559.90.

In addition to Friday, Pimlico will also host live race cards Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30 as well as a special Memorial Day holiday program Monday, May 31.

Bandits Warrior Honors Sister with Debut Triumph Sunday
Following in the family tradition of her 11-time stakes-winning older half-sister, Anna's Bandit, No Guts No Glory Farm's Maryland homebred Bandits Warrior sprinted to a decisive 2 ½-length debut victory Sunday at Pimlico.

Stable rider Xavier Perez was aboard for breeder, owner and trainer Jerry Robb as Bandits Warrior ($9.80) broke running from Post 4 in the 4 ½-furlong maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies. The winning time was 52.59 seconds over a fast main track.

“That's my baby right there. She was born on our farm, and we are so thrilled,” Robb's wife, Gina, said. “You can't be any happier. She's done everything right.”

By Mosler, Bandits Warrior was never threatened posting splits of 23.50 and 46.64 seconds. She put away Tessa P midway around the turn when the 6-5 favorite attempted to mount a challenge, then kept late-running Buy the Best at bay through the stretch.

“She's been breaking good out of the gate but she's never been asked to run in the morning,” Perez said. “Before the race, we wanted to keep her face clear. She's been doing everything good coming out of the gate in the morning. As soon as she popped out of the gate with her head in front I moved on her a little bit to get to the lead and by the three-eighths pole she took it.

“She started playing with her ears and when [Tessa P] came to her a little bit, I just let her open up a little bit and smooched at her,” he added. “What you saw inside the sixteenth pole when [Buy the Best] to make a run, she broke again and pulled away from her a little bit.”

Perez, also the regular rider for Anna's Bandit and fellow multiple stakes winner Street Lute, proudly patted the neck of Bandits Warrior three times as they approached the wire. It was the 995th career victory for Perez.

“She's got a long way to go to do what Anna has done, but she showed that she's got her bloodline,” Perez said. “I'm proud of her. I'm proud of all my kids. They're all my kids. I'm fortunate to be able to ride every day for Jerry in the morning and I'm blessed to be able to be in the winner's circle for him.”

Bandits Warrior is out of the No Armistice mare Onearmedbandit. West Virginia-bred Anna's Bandit, a 17-time winner of $782,655 in lifetime purses from 36 starts who is nearing her 7-year-old debut after more than 10 months away, also won in her unveiling – May 6, 2016 at Laurel Park – beating two of her stablemates in the process.

“She probably trains a little better than her sister,” Robb said of Bandits Warrior. “Her sister, when she won her first start, surprised everybody. I think we had three in the race, we bet on the other two and she won by [6 ¾]. She just never showed anything in the morning. This one, she showed good works in the morning.”

Buy the Best, among five first-time starters in the field of seven, was 4 ¾ lengths ahead of third-place finisher Cabra Chica. Mama G's Wish, another Robb-trained homebred, was fourth with Tessa P fifth.

“I think [Bandits Warrior is] a little better-looking filly than Anna was as a baby. When Anna got off the trailer as a baby I said, 'Put her back on.' True story,” Robb said. “She just didn't look the part, but she grew into it,” Robb said. “This filly does everything right. I wasn't sure how fit she was, but she ran big. And fast. So, we're happy.”

Notes: Five-pound apprentice Charlie Marquez doubled Sunday aboard Rockstar Girl ($7.60) in Race 1 and Dancing Til Dusk ($4.80) in Race 3 … Perpetrate ($100.80) edged Order for Porky to spring a 45-1 upset in Race 5, a 1 1/16-mile starter-optional claimer on the grass that marked the season debut of 2019 Maryland Million Turf winner Mr. d'Angelo. Unraced since finishing fourth in defense of his win last fall, Mr. d'Angelo got squeezed out of the gate and trailed the field early before making a belated run to be fourth … Robert D. Bone's Eastern Bay ($5.20), exiting a third in the April 24 Frank Y. Whiteley, swept to the lead at the top of the stretch and edged clear for a three-length victory over Whiskey and You in Race 8, a fourth-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up. Winner of the Polynesian and second by a nose to Laki in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) in 2020, Eastern Bay ran six furlongs in 1:10.78.

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Gulfstream’s Rainbow 6 Has $350,000 Guarantee On Sunday

The jackpot pool in Sunday's Rainbow 6 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., will be guaranteed at $350,000.

Sunday's sequence will begin with the sixth race, a 7 ½-furlong turf race for maiden claimers 3-year-olds and up. The sequence will also include the return of 2019 Florida Sire Stakes champion Chance It. There will be four turf races in the Rainbow 6.

The jackpot pool is only 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.

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