The fourth race on Sunday, Oct. 3, at Gulfstream Park was just a maiden claiming race with a nondescript field of nine fillies – who'd combined for eight second- and third-place finishes from 48 total starts. The runners carried a $12,500 claiming tag and were racing for a $21,000 purse.
Yet, for reasons unknown, this six-furlong race stood out to some gamblers playing the nine-race Sunday program.
The $193,956 in win, place and show bets exceeded every other race on the card. So did the $198,851 in the exacta pool – fully $54,034 (37%) higher than the second biggest exacta pool on the day. The $127,460 in trifecta bets and $90,433 wagered on the superfecta also were the largest pools of the day for those bet types (the trifecta was higher by 38% and the superfecta by 26%).
Combining straight bets with these three exotic wagering pools, there was $610,700 bet on this maiden claimer, $114,210 (23%) more than the day's feature race, an allowance/optional claiming event with a field of nine.
In fact, of the 177 races run at Gulfstream Park in the previous month, beginning with Sept. 3, only five other races had larger exacta pools and only four trifecta pools were bigger than Sunday's fourth race. Keep in mind that Saturdays almost always out-handle Sunday cards.
The race was won in front-running fashion by Rubysa, a 3-year-old Gone Astray filly making her third start and first since March 26. Rubysa was 15-1 on the morning line and bet down to 2.70-1. First-time starter Sade Purse finished second at 17.90-1 with 1.5-1 favorite J D's Vista third and Princess Tereska, the 4-1 second choice, finishing fourth.
Both the winner and fourth-place finisher were making their first starts for trainer Juan Reviriego, who less than five months earlier returned to training to run his first horse since 2009 and proceeded to win with three of his first five starters. He then lost with his next 12 runners going into Sunday's fourth race.
Rubysa and Princess Teresko are owned by Long Trail Stables LLC, an entity registered in Florida by Felice Iadisernia, the brother of horseman Giuseppe Iadisernia. The latter trained horses for more than a decade, sending out his last runners in 2016, and he and other family members are registered agent for a number of equine-related businesses, including Nelson Jones Farm and Training Center of Ocala, Northwest Stud, and companies that supply shavings and feed to Florida horsemen.
Rubysa was ridden by Jose Morelos, who came to Gulfstream Park earlier this year from Panama and has won with 29 of his first 268 mounts. Carlos Lugo, who had ridden trainer Reviriego's three other winners this year, had been aboard Rubysa in her two previous starts. Lugo rode Princess Tereska in the Oct. 3 race. Breaking from the No. 5 post position, Princess Tereska showed very little from the outset as Rubysa was hustled to the lead from the two post and would draw off by 4 ¾ lengths.
Francisco D'Angelo, a leading conditioner in Venezuela who began training in the U.S. in 2015, had previously trained both Rubysa and Princess Tereska but has not started a horse since Aug. 20, according to Equibase.
Rubysa paid $7.40 to win and combined with 17.90-1 longshot Sade Purse for a $1 exacta payoff of $82.80. The 50-cent trifecta, incorporating the 1.50-1 favorite J D's Vista in third, paid $84, while the 10-cent superfecta paid $111.29 with Princess Tereska in the fourth spot.
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