Gutierrez Getting Reacquainted with Gulfstream Winner’s Circle

Saturday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $125,000
Meet-Leading Rider Irad Ortiz Jr. Registers Friday Hat Trick

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Prior to riding his first race on the Thanksgiving Day opener of the 2025-2026 Championship Meet, Mario Guiterrez hadn’t been part of the action at Gulfstream Park since he rode Nyquist to a popular victory in the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) April 2, 2016.

“I was going to stay in Kentucky, but I got a great opportunity from Mr. Brian Lynch to come here for the winter,” Gutierrez said. “I’m extremely happy with the support I’m getting from the local trainers. I’m very, very happy. I’m relatively new to the circuit in Miami, and I’m getting a lot of support from the trainers.

Heading into Friday’s program, Gutierrez had won seven races from 39 mounts for an 18-percent strike rate. The 39-year-old veteran guided Lynch-trained Sister Troienne to stakes victories in the Jan. 3 Ginger Brew and Nov. 27 Wait a While.

The son of a jockey, Gutierrez started riding quarter horses in his native Mexico at the age of 14 before emigrating to Canada in 2006 and venturing to Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver, where he won titles in 2007 and 2008.

After relocating to Santa Anita in 2011, he caught the attention of prominent owner J. Paul Reddam, a Canadian businessman who had become aware of his riding prowess at Hastings.

Gutierrez won the mount on Reddam’s I’ll Have Another, whom he guided to victories in the 2012 Robert Lewis (G2), Santa Anita Derby (G1), Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1).

“That was one of the happiest times of my life. I was very new to the United States circuit and to be able to go to Kentucky and get my first Kentucky Derby win was very amazing for me,” Gutierrez said.

Four years later, Gutierrez, Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill would team for a second Kentucky Derby victory with an undefeated Nyquist, who prepped for the first jewel of the Triple Crown with a 3 ¼-length win in the Florida Derby with Gutierrez aboard.

Gutierrez readily recalls Nyquist’s Florida Derby score that prepared the son of Uncle Mo for his 1 ½-length victory in the Kentucky Derby.

“It was a very good course. He was undefeated at the time. We wanted to see how he stacked up against the best of the best at the time,” Gutierrez said. “We came for the victory and from there we went on to win the Kentucky Derby. Again, it was a part of my life I’ll be forever grateful for.”

Saturday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $125,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 will have its jackpot pool estimated at $125,000 for Saturday’s 11-race program at Gulfstream Park.

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

The popular multi-race wager, solved for a life-changing $416,348.44 jackpot payout Thursday, spans Races 6-11 and includes each of the day’s featured stakes for older Florida-bred horses.

Race 10 is the 23rd running of the $75,000 Sunshine Classic going 1 1/16 miles on the main track that lured 2023 winner Lure Him In and defending champion Lightning Tones, as well as 2024 Holy Bull (G3) winner Hades, the latter exiting a Dec. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs. Together, the trio own 21 wins, seven in stakes, and $1.48 million in purse earnings from 103 starts.

The Race 11 finale is the 24th running of the $75,000 Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf scheduled for a two-turn mile on the grass. Ashima, last out winner of the Claiming Crown Tiara Nov. 15, is entered to make a title defense against 10 rivals including last year’s runner-up, multiple stakes winner Great Venezuela, and 2025 Sanibel Island winner Spirited Boss.

Also in the sequence is a maiden special weight for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles on the main track in Race 8 featuring two-time runner-up Pax Mundi and first-time starter Thunderously, both by Gun Runner, and Knicks Go gelding Ramajay, second in each of his three starts; and an optional claiming allowance for older fillies and mares scheduled for five furlongs on the grass in Race 9, where stakes winner Mz Big Bucks returns from 14 months away seeking a fifth career win, and Greenfield Cougar looks to rebound after having a three-race win streak snapped Nov. 27.

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.

Since the 2025-2026 Championship Meet opened Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, the Rainbow 6 has been solved three times including mandatory payouts of $13,268.58 Nov. 29 and $2,390.64 Dec. 21.

Who’s Hot: Championship Meet-leading jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. rode three winners Friday, Call the Bullpen ($5.20) in Race 1, Skellig Michael ($4) in Race 6 and Operation Overload ($7) in Race 8 … Hall of Famer Javier Castellano doubled aboard I C Light ($6.80) in Race 5 and Mi Triguena ($13.60) in Race 7.