Pimlico | Horse Racing Free Tips

Pimlico: Five Stakes, $1-Million Rainbow 6 Jackpot Highlight Sunday’s Action

Take one formidable undefeated horse, mix in a bevy of local stars and out-of-town shippers, and add a Maryland state record carryover jackpot in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 of more than $1 million and the result is one spectacular afternoon of racing at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.

Sunday's 10-race program kicks off at 12:40 p.m. and includes five stakes, four scheduled for the turf, worth $475,000 in purses highlighted by the $100,000 Shine Again for fillies and mares 3 and older sprinting six furlongs on the main track.

The Shine Again, the next race in the 24-stakes Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series that runs through Dec. 26, is headed by 4-year-old filly Chub Wagon, winner of the Skipat May 15 at Pimlico on the undercard of the 146^th Preakness (G1) to run her perfect record to 6-0. It will be her biggest test yet, facing the likes of Anna's Bandit, Hello Beautiful and Dontletsweetfoolya who have combined for 29 wins, 18 in stakes.

All four remaining stakes are scheduled for the grass led by the $100,000 Prince George's County for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles that drew a field of 12 including main-track-only entrant Shane's Jewel and featuring graded-stakes winners English Bee, Eons and Pixelate, the narrow 3-1 program favorite on turf. Graded-stakes placed stablemates Logical Myth and Midnight Tea Time come in from Kentucky to challenge.

New York-based stakes winner Beautiful Lover, twice graded-stakes placed for trainer Chad Brown, is favored at 2-1 on the morning line in the $100,000 Searching at 1 ½ miles for fillies and mares 3 and up. In her first start for trainer Christophe Clement, the 5-year-old mare was fifth by 2 ½ lengths in the 1 1/16-mile Distaff Turf March 28 at Tampa Bay Downs, her first race in more than six months. Her main competition is expected to come from Dowager (G3) winner Blame Debbie and fellow stakes winner Luck Money.

Rounding out the stakes action are a pair of five-furlong sprints – the $100,000 Stormy Blues for 3-year-old fillies and $75,000 Ben's Cat for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up. Street Lute, a six-time stakes winner on the dirt, is entered to make her turf debut in the Stormy Blues against the likes of multiple stakes-placed Honey Pants, the 7-2 program favorite, and the pair of Wink and Amanzi Yimpilo from trainer Wesley Ward, currently in England for the upcoming Royal Ascot meet.

So Street is a narrow 4-1 morning-line favorite in the Ben's Cat facing fellow stakes winners Introduced and Air Token and defending champion Oldies But Goodies and 2020 Maryland Million Turf runner-up Cannon's Roar. Hemp, third in the May 15 Chick Lang (G3) at Pimlico, is entered for main track only.

Following Sunday's action, live racing returns to Pimlico Friday, June 18.

Record Rainbow 6 Carryover Tops $1 Million for Stakes-Filled Sunday
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 went unsolved Saturday at historic Pimlico Race Course, growing the Maryland state record carryover jackpot to $1,007,434.44 for Sunday's stakes-filled program.

First race post time is 12:40 p.m.

A total of $102,742 was put into the popular multi-race wager on top of a carryover of $974,564.10 from the last full live program June 6. Friday's card at Pimlico was canceled after two races due to inclement weather. Multiple tickets with all six winners Saturday each returned $9,861.08.

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.

Sunday's Rainbow 6 spans Races 5-10 and includes four of the day's five stakes worth a total of $475,000 in purses – the $75,000 Ben's Cat (Race 6), $100,000 Prince George's County (Race 8), $100,000 Shine Again (Race 9) and $100,000 Stormy Blues (Race 10).

Three of the stakes – the Ben's Cat, Prince George's County and Stormy Blues – comprise the grass races in the Rainbow 6 sequence. The $100,000 Searching, which kicks off the stakes action in Race 4, is also scheduled for the turf.

The post Pimlico: Five Stakes, $1-Million Rainbow 6 Jackpot Highlight Sunday’s Action appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Blame Debbie To Make Seasonal Debut In Sunday’s Searching At Pimlico

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Michael Cloonan and Tim Thornton's Blame Debbie, a Grade 3 winner in 2020 unraced in 6 ½ months, is scheduled to make her seasonal debut in Sunday's $100,000 Searching at Pimlico Race Course.

The 11th running of the 1 ½-mile Searching for fillies and mares 3 and up is among five stakes worth $450,000 in purses and one of four scheduled for the grass on a 10-race program. First race post time is 12:40 p.m.

Other grass stakes are the $100,000 Prince George's County at 1 1/8 miles for 3-year-olds and up, $100,000 Stormy Blues for sophomore fillies and $75,000 Ben's Cat for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up, both sprinting five furlongs.

The lone dirt stakes, the $100,000 Shine Again for fillies and mares 3 and up, is part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series and features undefeated Chub Wagon facing off against Anna's Bandit, Hello Beautiful and Dontletsweetfoolya, who have combined to win 29 races and 18 stakes.

Blame Debbie is trained by Graham Motion, who won a division of the Searching in 2000 with Confessional. The race returned to the stakes calendar in 2019 but was not run in 2020 when the schedule was altered amid the coronavirus pandemic.

By Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Blame, Blame Debbie crossed the wire first in three consecutive races last year but was disqualified to third for interference in a Kentucky Downs allowance in September. She followed up with back-to-back wins at Keeneland in a 1 1/8-mile allowance and the 1 ½-mile Dowager (G3), the latter going gate-to-wire and holding on by a head.

Blame Debbie has not run since finishing fifth by less than three lengths in the 1 3/8-mile Red Carpet Handicap (G3) Nov. 26 at Del Mar, a race where she encountered trouble.

“She really had a good year last year. I'd say the [Dowager] was a bit of a surprise because it was a huge step for her,” Motion said. “I probably ran her back a little quick when we went out to California, and then we gave her a little break after that.”

Blame Debbie has been working steadily over the all-weather surface at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. for her comeback. She has two wins and two thirds since being stretched out and switched to the turf, the Dowager victory being her only previous try at the distance.

“Grass and more distance seem to be a good combination for her,” Motion said. “It's a little bit of a gamble going a mile and a half first time back, but it seemed like a good opportunity for her and I didn't want to pass up on it. I think she's done enough.”

Victor Carrasco gets the assignment on Blame Debbie from Post 5 in a field of eight.

Also racing for the first time this year is Dr. Catherine Wills' homebred Luck Money, a stakes-winning daughter of 2010 Preakness (G1) winner and two-time champion Lookin At Lucky that has not raced since running sixth by 4 ½ lengths in the 1 ¼-mile American Oaks (G1) Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.

“We brought her out to California and she didn't have a great trip. It didn't work out as well as I would have expected, but she had been very consistent before that running in all kinds of ground – firm, soft – so it doesn't seem like she needs a special type of grass,” trainer Arnaud Delacour said. “She's coming back so going a mile and a half off the layoff is kind of a tough task, but we'll give her a race and take it from there.”

Prior to her graded debut in the American Oaks, Luck Money won an open 1 1/8-mile allowance and the 1 ½-mile Zagora at Belmont Park 29 days apart in October. Like Blame Debbie, her stakes win is Lucky Money's only previous attempt at the distance.

“She likes the distance but there's not too many spots to bring them back so I thought the timing was pretty good,” Delacour said. “We went to California mainly to get some black type in a Grade 1 because that would have been huge for her page, and that was the last Grade 1 of the year for straight 3-year-old fillies and it was going a mile and a quarter, so everything was lined up there. Unfortunately, for some reason our jock took back and started fighting with her and she never made up any ground. But, I think she's legit with that type of fillies.”

Mychel Sanchez is named on Luck Money from Post 7.

Coming in from New York are the trio of Beautiful Lover, Crystalle and Whatdoesasharksay. Gary Barber's Crystalle won the P.G. Johnson at Saratoga and was second in the Miss Grillo (G2) in 2019 and won a 1 7/16 optional claiming allowance on the grass in her 2021 debut Jan. 14 at Gulfstream Park after going winless in three 2020 starts.

Moyglare Stud Farm, Ltd.'s Beautiful Lover is a Florida-bred daughter of Arch that won the 2019 Boiling Springs at Monmouth Park in her stakes debut and has run second or third four times in seven subsequent attempts, including runner-up finishes last year in the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf, Hillsborough (G2) and Matchmaker (G3). She ended 2020 running third to Matchmaker winner Nay Lady Nay in the All Along at Laurel Park.

Burning Daylight Farms, Inc.'s Whatdoesasharksay is entered to make her 15th career start and first in a stakes in the Searching. The 5-year-old daughter of Kentucky Derby (G1) and Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Animal Kingdom was fifth, beaten 2 ½ lengths, in a 1 ¼-mile allowance over a good Belmont turf May 7.

Scatrattleandroll, unraced since winning a second-level optional claiming allowance win going a mile on the main track at Penn National March 17 and winless in four previous tries on turf, and Maryland-breds Breviary and Proper Storm round out the field.

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Rain Forces Pimlico to Cancel Friday Card

With persistent heavy rain falling and more in the forecast throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, Friday's live program at Pimlico was canceled after the second race. According to the National Weather Service, up to an inch of rain had fallen in the Baltimore area with another inch expected. The NWS also issued flood warnings for Central Baltimore County and Baltimore City. The national weekly Stronach 5 wager, which was scheduled to begin with Pimlico's eighth-race finale, was also canceled.

Live action is scheduled to return to Pimlico with an eight-race program Saturday, beginning at 12:40 p.m. Sunday's 10-race program (12:40 p.m.) features five stakes.

The post Rain Forces Pimlico to Cancel Friday Card appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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MATCH Series: Tough Sprinters Return From Layoffs To Face Undefeated Chub Wagon In Shine Again

Two of the toughest female sprinters in Maryland will return from layoffs to face the undefeated Chub Wagon June 13 at Pimlico Race Course in the $100,000 Shine Again Stakes, part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) for 2021.

The Shine Again, at six furlongs, is one of five Sunday stakes at Old Hilltop. It's the second of six stakes in the Filly and Mare Sprint—Dirt division, currently led by Chub Wagon, who captured the Skipat Stakes at Pimlico May 15.

Pennsylvania-bred Chub Wagon, owned by Daniel Lopez and George Chestnut, won her first five starts on the lead throughout. The 4-year-old Hey Chub filly rated in third for the first half-mile in the Skipat before taking over in the stretch and pulling away to win by two lengths. She was entered in a Grade III stakes at Belmont Park June 5, but her connections, including trainer Guadalupe Preciado, opted to scratch her in favor of the Shine Again. Jomar Torres is named to ride the Parx Racing-based filly.

Preciado acknowledged the depth of the Shine Again field.

“Every race is the same; no matter what, the horses need to run to win,” he said. “Whether it's easy or tough, the horses still have to run.”

Chub Wagon collected 10 MATCH points for her Skipat victory and is looking to bring that total to 20 with another win in the series.

No Guts No Glory Farm's Anna's Bandit, a winner of 17 races and almost $800,000 in 36 starts for trainer John Robb, has been working regularly since April for her first start since July 2020 at Delaware Park. A winner of 11 stakes in the Mid-Atlantic region, the 7-year-old West Virginia-bred mare by Great Notion will have regular rider Xavier Perez aboard for her return.

“I was looking for an easier spot but I've been waiting for six weeks now,” Robb said. “I'm not expecting her to win it, but she needs to get a race under her. She has been doing good, but she's such a big, heavy horse that I don't expect to ever get her fit just with breezes.”

Hello Beautiful, a winner of seven of 14 starts, won three consecutive stakes at Laurel Park in late fall and early winter before her fifth-place finish in the Grade III Barbara Fritchie Stakes for trainer Brittany Russell. The 4-year-old Maryland-bred filly by Golden Lad was given a break and has been working well at Pimlico for the Shine Again. Hello Beautiful, to be ridden by Sheldon Russell, is a five-time stakes winner of almost $400,000 owned by Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables.

“To be fair, when something goes wrong in the afternoon, whatever the reason—like last year when we shipped her around a bit and just didn't have any luck, or the Fritchie—it's almost like it makes her come back with a vengeance,” Russell said. “She doesn't like getting beat. I hope that's the case this go-around.”

Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya, who has won five of her 10 starts, is entered in the Shine Again off of a fourth-place finish behind Chub Wagon in the Skipat. The 4-year-old Stay Thirsty filly, trained by Lacey Gaudet and temporarily based at Delaware Park, was on the lead in the Skipat until the stretch and has done her best running on the front end. Jevian Toledo, who has been aboard Dontletsweetfoolya for all of her victories, is named to ride.

After the Shine Again, the MATCH Series will continue with two stakes July 4 in Maryland.

The MATCH Series, the only one of its kind in racing, will run through Dec. 26 at Laurel and features 24 stakes—20 of them in Maryland and four at Colonial Downs in Virginia—valued at $2.75 million. There will be four divisions, all of them on dirt, and $282,000 in bonus money for owners and trainers.

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