Championship Meet Resumes Thursday at Gulfstream Park

20-Cent Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated to Reach $600,000
10-Race Program Starts Daily Tropical Turf Pick 3 Wager Offering
Familiar Names Continue to Lead Championship Meet Standings

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – The 2025-2026 Championship Meet resumes Thursday at Gulfstream Park with a live 10-race program, an estimated jackpot pool of $600,000 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and the start of daily Tropical Turf Pick 3 wagering.

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

The Rainbow 6 has gone unsolved for nine consecutive racing days following multiple mandatory payouts of $71,527.20 on the Jan. 24 Pegasus World Cup program. Since the Championship Meet opened Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, the largest jackpot payout was $416,348.44 Jan. 8.

Thursday’s sequence begins in Race 5, a starter optional claimer for 3-year-olds scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass that drew a field of 10. The wide-open affair is led by 9-2 program favorite Bolero Bay, who romped by seven lengths in front-running fashion going 7 ½ furlongs Jan. 4 at Gulfstream in his third start and first on the turf.

Race 6 is a maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the main track where five of the six entrants each fetched six figures at auction led by Song of Sarah, a chestnut daughter of Hall of Famer Curlin that cost $500,000 as a 2-year-old in training and ran fifth in her Jan. 4 debut at Gulfstream. Gary and Mary West homebred Prom Queen ran second as the favorite in her Jan. 23 unveiling at Gulfstream going one mile. Three to G, by Tiz the Law, was beaten a neck at 45-1 when second in a one-mile maiden special weight on the Gulfstream turf Dec. 7 and now races for trainer Danny Gargan.

An optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds scheduled at 7 ½ furlongs on the turf in Race 7 serves as the Thursday feature. Carbourg races for the first time as a gelding and debuts on grass after most recently running seventh as the pacesetter in the Jan. 3 Mucho Macho Man. Jose D’Angelo-trained stablemate Bronze Bullet will also try turf after three starts on the all-weather Tapeta course, the last disqualified from first to second in the Nov. 28 Pulpit.

Immortalised, Zucchero, Sure to Appeal and Doctrine all exit victories. Zucchero won on the front end at the course and distance Dec. 5 and returns as a gelding for trainer Brian Lynch, while Brad Cox-trained and Triple Crown-nominated Doctrine cuts back after capturing a one-mile maiden special weight on the Gulfstream turf in debut Jan. 4.

Race 8 is a starter allowance for older fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles on the all-weather Tapeta course where five-time winner Mom’s Martini makes her third straight start for a new trainer after being claimed for $25,000 out of a runner-up finish Nov. 1 by Saffie Joseph Jr., who clicks at 25 percent first time off the claim.

Older fillies and mares will sprint 5 ½ furlongs on the Tapeta in a Race 9 starter allowance that drew 10 entrants led by Spicy Guacamole, a 5-year-old winner of back-to-back races that has been third or better in 16 of 25 career starts including 14 of 17 on Tapeta. Bad Gal Party returned from nearly a year away to win at the course and distance Jan. 9 in her first start for trainer David Fawkes.

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.

Thursday will also mark the daily start of the Tropical Turf Pick 3 wager at Gulfstream. Previously offered Friday through Sunday, the $3 wager with a 15 percent takeout will cover the last three grass races on each live program. If the races are taken off the turf, the wager transfers over to the all-weather Tapeta course.

Along with Races 5 and 7, Thursday’s Tropical Turf Pick 3 wraps up in the Race 10 finale, a claiming event for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles. Bay of Bengal drops, adds blinkers and returns to grass in his first race off a $35,000 claim for trainer Carlos David. Saratoga Flash is 4-for-12 at the distance and an eight-time career winners, though he is 2-for-16 over the past two seasons.

Familiar Names Continue to Lead Championship Meet Standings

With 28 racing days remaining in the 2025-2026 Championship Meet, Irad Ortiz Jr. is well-positioned to add a fourth straight riding title and extend his record to seven overall since the 2018-2019 season.

Ortiz ranks first with 66 wins from 234 mounts and is second with $3,051,703 in purse earnings. Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Skippylongstocking to an upset victory in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) Jan. 24, is first with 269 mounts and $3,882,841 in purses earned and second with 42 wins.

Saffie Joseph Jr. has won the past three Championship Meet training titles and 14 consecutive Gulfstream meets overall, and this year holds a slim 27-25 lead over Carlos David in the standings with Hall of Famer Mark Casse (22) and Brian Lynch (21) close behind.

Joseph, who trains Skippylongstocking and Pegasus World Cup runner-up White Abarrio, is far and away the training leader with $3,693,840 in purse earnings. Lynch, whose eight stakes victories are most among trainers at the meet, is second at $1.2 million with Casse third at $1.01 million.

Arindel and Live Oak Plantation share the owner’s lead with six wins apiece. Skippylongstocking’s Daniel Alonso has a meet-best $1,778,520 in purses earned.