First Call Bob Impresses in Sunday Maiden Triumph

Thursday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $600,000
Saturday’s G3 Royal Delta Attracts Four Graded Winners
Trainer Jose D’Angelo Sends Out Three Winners Sunday

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Flanagan Racing’s First Call Bob, a 4-year-old son of champion Uncle Mo making his race debut, swept to the lead on the far turn and pulled clear in the stretch for a 3 ?-length victory in the Sunday feature at Gulfstream Park.

Trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, his third win of the afternoon, First Call Bob ($11.40) ran a one-turn mile in 1:38.20 over a fast main track in the maiden special weight for older horses.

“Chad just told me that he’s a big, lengthy colt that’s going to want more distance so just let him get into that good rhythm,” Gaffalione said. “He broke alertly and was traveling so good throughout.”

Purchased for $525,000 as a yearling in August 2023, First Call Bob settled in second to the outside of favored pacesetter Mainstream through an opening quarter-mile in 24.90 seconds. Sidearm came up to inside to take over second after a half in 48.11 when Gaffalione gave First Call Bob his cue, rolling past horses on the far outside midway around the turn and heading for home with the lead.

First Call Bob cleared Mainstream once straightened for home and drew off when set down for a drive by Gaffalione in the final eighth of a mile. Love’m Or Liam made a belated run to get second, with Mainstream third.

“Going around the far turn, I had to let him out a little bit. He was going so easy, I didn’t want him to fall asleep,” Gaffalione said. “As soon as I asked him to pick it up at the eighth pole, he responded pretty well.”

Out of the Tapit mare Walk Close, a Grade 3 winner of nearly $300,000, First Call Bob is a half-brother to Anneau d’Or, who was second by a head in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and a neck in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) in 2019.

“If you look at him he’s a big, strong individual and he really shows it out there,” Gaffalione said. “He’s got a big, beautiful stride and he just keeps finding.”

Flanagan Racing campaigned 2024 Hopeful (G1) and Champagne (G1) winner Chancer McPatrick, who last year ran second in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) and third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1).

Other wins for Gaffalione Sunday were Kent Sweezey-trained Rockyta ($11.80) in Race 1 and I Don’t Get It ($4) for trainer Mike Maker in Race 5.

“Looking at the form I thought my horses all fit where they were running,” he said. “You just need a little bit of luck and [thankfully] we were able to find it.”

Thursday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $600,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is estimated to reach $600,000 when the Championship Meet resumes with a 10-race program Thursday at Gulfstream Park.

Thursday’s sequence spans Races 5-10 and includes a maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the main track in Race 6 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.

An optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds scheduled at 7 ? 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 Doctrine cuts back after capturing a one-mile maiden special weight on the Gulfstream turf in debut Jan. 4.

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.

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.

Saturday’s G3 Royal Delta Attracts Four Graded Winners

Saturday’s $175,000 Royal Delta (G3) for fillies and mares drew a field of eight including graded winners Shred the Gnar, Nothing Like You, Alpine Princess and defending champion Dazzling Move.

The 1 1/16-mile event, on the main track, is part of Saturday’s 12-race program. First race post is 12:20 p.m. ET.

Shred the Gnar, who will be saddled by Brian Lynch and ridden by Mario Gutierrez, has raced only four times but has won three of those races and enters the Royal Delta off a victory Nov. 15 at Churchill Downs in the Chilukki (G3) at a mile.

Nothing Like You enters the race for trainer Brendan Walsh off a victory in September at Los Alamitos in the Dark Mirage while trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. The 5-year-old was sold in November for $700,000. The mare won the Santa Anita Oaks (G2) in 2024 and the Starlet (G2) in 2023. Jorge Ruiz rides.

After winning the Royal Delta last winter, Dazzling Move failed to win another race in 2025 but finished second in the Phipps (G1) and Shuvee (G2). The Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained mare enters off two consecutive fifth-place finishes, including Jan. 24 in the Inside Information (G2). Tyler Gaffalione is named to ride.

Trainer Chad Brown has entered Senza Parole, a 4-year-old Gun Runner filly who steps up into graded company after victories against allowance company Jan. 15 at Gulfstream and November at Aqueduct. Miguel Vasquez is named.

Who’s hot: Trainer Jose D’Angelo saddled three winners Sunday, Il Alchemysta ($5.40) in Race 2, Itza Boss ($8.20) in Race 8 and Pop Rox ($5.60) in Race 9 … Both Il Alchemysta and Pop Rox were ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.