Gulfstream Park: Rainbow 6 Pool May Reach $1.5M Saturday; Mandatory Payout Sunday

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 pool is expected to grow to an estimated $1.5 million for Saturday’s Fountain of Youth Day program at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., where the popular multi-race wager went unsolved Friday for the 16^th racing day following a Feb. 8 jackpot hit.

Saturday’s all-graded-stakes Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 9-14, closed out by the 78^th running of the $400,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2), the final prep for the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) March 30.

Locked, who is coming off a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), returns in the Fountain of Youth, a 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds. The Todd Pletcher-trained son of Gun Runner captured the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland in his prior start. His Pletcher stablemate Speak Easy, a dazzling debut winner Jan. 27 at Gulfstream, will make his stakes debut in the Fountain of Youth, which will also be contested by Danny Gargan-trained Dornoch, a half-brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage, enters the Fountain of Youth off a victory in the Remsen (G2) at Aqueduct.

The Rainbow 6 sequence will be kicked off by the $200,000 Davona Dale presented by FanDuel TV, a mile stakes for 3-year-old fillies carded as Race 9. Bill Mott-trained champion Just F Y I, who closed out her undefeated 2023 season with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), returns in the Davona Dale. Pletcher-trained Leslie’s Rose, undefeated in two career starts, looms as a dangerous threat to the 2023 Eclipse Award winner.

The $150,000 The Very One (G3), a 1 3/8-mile turf stakes for older fillies and mares carded as Race 10, looms as a popular “spread” race for Rainbow 6 bettors.

Brian Lynch-trained Tumbarumba, who won the Jan. 27 Fred Hooper (G3) at Gulfstream, is the 8-5 favorite for the $200,000 Gulfstream Park Mile (G2), a mile test for older horses carded as Race 11. Antonio Sano-trained Il Miracolo, a Grade 1-placed graded-stakes winner, is slated to make his first start since finishing sixth in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 27 at Gulfstream.

Pletcher-trained Emmanuel is scheduled to make a title defense in the $150,000 Canadian Turf (G3), a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for older horses carded as Race 12. Michael Maker-trained Atone, the 2023 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G3) returns off a late-closing fourth while making a title defence in the Jan. 27 Pegasus Turf.

Chad Brown-trained Chili Flag, who was beaten by less than three lengths while finishing sixth in the Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G2), is rated as the 9-5 favorite in the $150,000 Honey Fox (G3), a mile turf stakes for older fillies and mares carded as Race 13.

A mandatory payout of the Rainbow 6 pool has been scheduled for Sunday’s card at Gulfstream.

On mandatory-payout days, the entire Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is paid out to the bettor or bettors with the most winners in the wager’s six-race sequence. The carryover jackpot is usually 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 usually goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winner, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.