Champion Soul of an Angel Works Sunday at Gulfstream

Wednesday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $300,000
Nine Fillies and Mares Enter Saturday’s Ladies’ Turf Sprint

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – C2 Racing Stable, Agave Racing Stable and Ken Reimer’s Grade 1-winning mare Soul of an Angel breezed four furlongs Sunday at Gulfstream Park ahead of what the connections hope is a start in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) Feb. 22.

Trained by Championship Meet leader Saffie Joseph Jr., 6-year-old Soul of an Angel was timed in 47.80 seconds on the main track, ranking 13th of 70 horses. It was her third work since finishing third in the Rampart Dec. 26.

“She had a good half-mile work. We put her in company to pick it up a bit,” Joseph said. “She came out of the last race well. The last one was a prep for this one. She’s in good order. We’ll find out in a day or two if she’s going to get in or not.”

The Saudi Cup is contested at 1,800 meters, approximately 1 1/8 miles, around one turn at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“We’re still kind of waiting a bit to see if we get in to Saudi. They told us we were likely invited, and then said we were on the reserve list,” Joseph said. “She’s the third reserve right now, so we’re waiting to see what happens.”

Soul of an Angel earned the Eclipse Award as North America’s champion female sprinter of 2024 after finishing third or better in eight of 11 starts with four wins highlighted by the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 2 at Del Mar. Soul of an Angel earned an automatic berth in the race for her victory in Gulfstream’s Princess Rooney Invitational (G3) Sept. 21.

“That’s a great achievement for her,” Joseph said. “We’re very thankful to have our first champion.”

Wednesday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $300,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 will have an estimated pool of $300,000 when the 2024-2025 Championship Meet resumes with a nine-race program Wednesday at Gulfstream Park.

First race post time is 12:20 p.m.

Wednesday’s Rainbow 6 spans Races 4-9 starting with a maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will send out the pair of Ghanaayem and Just Silvia. Ghannayem is a $750,000 daughter of champion Uncle Mo that ran third sprinting seven furlongs over a sloppy track Dec. 29 in debut. Just Silvia, a homebred daughter of Triple Crown winner Justify, stumbled badly at the start and was no factor in her Jan. 5 unveiling going one mile on the grass.

Race 5 is an optional claiming allowance scheduled for five furlongs on the turf that attracted 10 3-year-old fillies led by Shisospicy, a 16 ¼-length debut winner last fall at Gulfstream that has run second in back-to-back stakes out of town, and last-out winners Candy Quest and Thankfully.

The feature comes in Race 8, an optional claiming allowance for 4-year-olds and up going 1 ½ miles on the all-weather Tapeta course. Native Shaman is set to make his season and synthetic debut after going 2-2-2 in seven starts last year racing on both dirt and turf. All three of Junipero Serra’s wins have come on synthetics, and exits a sixth to stablemate Get Smokin in the 1 ½-mile Valedictory (G3) Dec. 7 at Woodbine. Pletcher is represented by Calycanthus, 1-for-2 over Tapeta, and Capture the Flag, yet to race over the surface.

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.

Nine Fillies and Mares Enter Saturday’s Ladies’ Turf Sprint

Abundantia Stakes winner Just a Care and runner-up Karaya lead a field of nine fillies and mares in Saturday’s $140,000 Ladies’ Turf Sprint.

The five-furlong event is one of four turf races highlighting Saturday’s 12-race program.

Just a Care, trained by Brian Lynch, has two wins and a second across Gulfstream’s course. She won the Abundantia by 1 ½ lengths to close out her 4-year-old season. Just a Care will be ridden by Luis Saez while John Velazquez is named on Karaya for trainer Mark Casse.

Beauty of the Sea, trained by Joe Orseno, drew the outside post. The 5-year-old mare makes her seasonal debut after finishing seventh Dec. 14 at Turfway in the Holiday Inaugural. She was third in October in the Ontario Fashion Stakes (G3) at Woodbine.

Sinead, a 4-year-old daughter of Mendelssohn, was 10th in her debut on Saratoga’s turf course in August before winning her only other start in October on Aqueduct’s outer turf. Jorge Abreau trains and Javier Castellano has been named to ride.

Who’s Hot: Jockey Edgard Zayas had two winners Sunday, Otto ($3.40) in Race 2 and Bet Stormy ($9.20) in Race 5 … Luis Saez also doubled aboard Get Ready to Rock ($5.60) in Race 3 and Biz Biz Buzz ($12) in Race 7 … Both Trendy ($3.40) in Race 4 and Bet Stormy are trained by Saffie Joseph Jr.