Reyes Continues Hot Hand with Five Wins, Four in a Row

Sunday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $175,000
Mandatory 20-cent Rainbow 6 Payout Slated for Monday
Undefeated Hot Rod Honey Targeting FHBPA Scandalous Act

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Comebacking jockey Leonel Reyes continued his hot hand Saturday at Gulfstream, where he rode five winners, including four consecutive winners in Races 4 through 7. The 40-year-old two-time Venezuelan champion, who was sidelined for the entire 2025-2026 Championship Meet with a left-ankle fracture sustained in a Nov. 2 racing mishap, had won aboard six of his last 14 mounts heading into Saturday’s program.

“I feel really good, 100 percent now. We want to keep going,” Reyes said.

Reyes scored aboard Restock ($5.40) in Race 4, Valdero ($5.60) in Race 5, Army Salute ($10) in Race 6 and Private Thoughts ($5.80) in Race 7, before concluding his big day with an open lengths score aboard Nina’s Last Gift ($5.20) in Race 11.

“It is a beautiful day. Everybody looks at the races on Saturday. I try to work hard every day and today things work out,” Reyes said. “I had 11 mounts but two scratched. All the horses I felt had a good chance and the results were there.”

Reyes, who has established himself as a prominent year-round member of the Gulfstream jockey colony since arriving from Venezuela in 2016, notched his 1000th North American victory April 25, shortly after returning from his injury-imposed layoff.

Reyes rode two of trainer Jose D’Angelo’s three winners on the program – Restock and Army Salute. D’Angelo-trained Vincey Girl ($9.80) won the featured $100,000 Powder Break in Race 9.

Sunday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $175,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is expected to grow to an estimated $175,000 at Gulfstream Park Sunday, the second day of the summer season’s new weekly live-racing schedule.

With the addition of a live card Monday, July 13, live racing at Gulfstream will now be offered on a Saturday, Sunday, Monday schedule through August 31.

There will be a mandatory payout of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool Monday and every Monday going forward through August 31. In addition to ‘Mandatory Mondays,’ three new player-friendly multi-race wagers will be introduced Monday and will be offered every Monday during the summer season.

The $1 Players Place Pick 8, a $1 base wager that challenges bettors to pick the winners or second-place finishers in each of the final eight races; the $3 Players Late Pick 3, a $3 base wager that requires bettors to buy a ticket with the winners of the final three races; and the $5 Players Late Double, a $5 minimum bet that calls upon bettors to have the winners of the final two races; will spice up the action on Mondays.

Sunday’s Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 5-10, featuring a pair of maiden special weight events for fillies and mares in Races 6 and 9. A field of seven will contest Race 6, a five-furlong dash, including Dependence, a debuting Fernando Abreu-trained daughter of Independence Hall; and Jose D’Angelo-trained Epic Romance, a debuting daughter of Flatter. In Race 9, a six-furlong sprint on the main track, Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Sweetcity, who was second in her first two career races during the Championship Meet, is the 7-5 morning-line favorite. Joseph is also represented in the field of eight by Guns of Roses, a debuting daughter of Gun Runner.

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. On mandatory payout days, the entire pool is disbursed to the bettor or bettors holding tickets with the most winners in the six-race sequence.

Undefeated Hot Rod Honey Targeting FHBPA Scandalous Act

Troy Johnson, Wendell Yates and Robert Fritts’ promising juvenile Hot Rod Honey, undefeated winner of the $100,000 Sharp Susan against open company July 3, is being pointed to a return against fellow Florida-breds in the $100,000 FHBPA Scandalous Act Aug. 8 at Gulfstream Park.

The Scandalous Act for 2-year-old fillies is joined on the Aug. 8 program by the $100,000 FHBPA In Summation for 2-year-olds, both sprinting six furlongs on the main track.

Bred by the Estate of Brereton C. Jones and trained by Carlos David, Hot Rod Honey ran her record to 2-0 with a dominant 4 ¼-length victory in the Sharp Susan, contested at 5 ½ furlongs. The daughter of first-year sire Roadster debuted with a popular 1 ¼-length maiden special weight triumph going five furlongs against state-breds June 5.

“We’re going to point to the Florida-bred stake the first week of August. That’s where we’re going to go with her,” David said. “She came out of the last race in good form, so that’s where she’s going to go.”

Hot Rod Honey made a three-wide bid to win her unveiling and was again on the outside coming into the stretch of the Sharp Susan before jockey Leonel Reyes angled her inside where she finished stoutly to put away pacesetter Columbina and draw clear.

“I knew I’d win the maiden with her, but I didn’t know if she could beat winners the next time out. After I saw the field, I was pretty confident she had a good shot,” David said. “She didn’t get the best post position in that race coming out of the one-hole because she doesn’t have that really fast early speed, but I loved the fact that she can sit back and relax and then finish up well.”

Purchased for $27,000 at Keeneland’s November 2024 breeding stock sale, Hot Rod Honey had five works at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, for her debut, and another two heading into the Sharp Susan. The Scandalous Act would be her third race in nine weeks.

“They’re still young so we’ve just got to give her proper time between races and make sure she’s healthy and gaining weight and that she doesn’t get sick and she has no problems with her legs and then she can keep going,” David said. “I think she’s going to stretch out well.”