British Jockey Mia Nicholls Set for Saturday U.S. Debut<br> Saturday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $100,000<br> Undefeated Rated by Merit Seeks Sweep in $300,000 In Reality<br> New Face Stunner Strong Favorite for $300,000 My Dear Girl<br>

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Trainer Heather Smullen saddled her first Championship Meet winner Friday at Gulfstream Park, visiting the winner’s circle with 52-1 longshot Skinny Cosmo following a front-running performance in Race 2.

Skinny Cosmos ($106.40), who was coming off a 5 ½-month layoff, was in control throughout the 1 1/16-mile claiming race for fillies and mares on turf, scoring by 3 ¾ lengths under Jose Morelos.

“She was dropping down. She was training very well, but if you look her works, they’re slow, but she’s not a dirt horse. She’s a turf horse,” Smullen said. “She got a lot out of the works. She was getting better each week. When I put her in, I didn’t know if she was quite tight enough to get a mile and a sixteenth, but obviously she was.”

Smullen saddled her first winner as a head trainer at Gulfstream shortly after going out on her own last April, but she is hardly a novice at her craft.

“I’ve been really lucky to be an assistant for some very good people,” said Smullen, who trains a stable of 26 at Gulfstream. “I was assistant to Barclay Tag for a long time – for Ralph Nicks, and I helped Dale [Romans] last winter. Dale had this filly. They gave her some time off, and this was her first start back.”

British Jockey Mia Nicholls Set for Saturday U.S. Debut

British jockey Mia Nicholls is scheduled to ride in her first U.S. race Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

The promising 20-year-old apprentice is named to ride Jeremiah O’Dwyer-trained Sweet Jody Blue in Race 4, a mile-and-70-yard $12,500 claiming race for fillies and mares on Tapeta.

“She came over last winter and galloped for us mornings for a few months,” said O’Dwyer, who rode with Nicholls father, Adrian Nicholls, in England before venturing to the U.S. “This year she decided to ride in the afternoon. She has very good hands.”

Nicholls, who is a seven-pound apprentice in the U.S., has ridden nearly 20 winners in England.

Friday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $100,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool is expected to grow to an estimated $100,000 Saturday at Gulfstream Park, where the popular multi-race wager went unsolved Friday for the second racing day following a mandatory payout last Sunday.

The Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 6-11, co-headlined by the $300,000 My Dear Girl in Race 6 and the $300,000 In Reality in Race 10, the final legs of the 2024 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series for 2-year-olds sired by accredited Florida stallions.

St. Elias Stable’s Rated by Merit will seek to sweep the series for colts and geldings while making his first start around two turns in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality. The homebred son of Battalion Runner won the $100,000 Dr. Fager, the six-furlong first leg of the FSS series by 6 ¼ lengths, after debuting with a 9 ¾-length romp. The Michael Yates trainee was subsequently assigned the highest Beyer Speed Figure (99) of any 2-year-old in North America this year while scoring a 3 ¾-length victory in the $200,000 Affirmed, the seven-furlong second leg.

Rated by Merit, who will seek to become the 11th colt or gelding to complete a sweep of the FSS series since its inception in 1982, is the 3-5 morning-line favorite in a field that is expected to be reduced to eight by the intended scratch of Neoequos due to an infection.

Rated by Merit will surely be a popular ‘single’ with Rainbow 6 bettors.

Brad Cox-trained Stunner is also likely to be ‘singled’ out in the My Dear Girl, the 1 1/16-mile third leg of the FSS series for fillies, despite being a non-participant in the first two legs. Stunner, the 3-5 morning-line favorite, is coming off a 3 ½-length triumph in the Tempted Stakes at Aqueduct Nov. 2. The daughter of Girvin finished second in her debut at Saratoga before graduating at Aqueduct in her next start. Carlos David-trained Win N Your In, the winner of the $200,000 Susan’s Girl, the seven-furlong second leg, and Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained R Morning Brew, who captured the $100,000 Desert Vixen, the six-furlong second leg, will return in the final. All three fillies will run around two turns for the first time.

The Rainbow 6 sequence will also feature the $100,000 Sabal Palm, a mile-and-70-yard overnight handicap for older horses on Tapeta, in Race 9. Bobby Dibona-trained Fly the W will seek his 21st victory and his 37th in-the-money finish in just 44 career starts. The ageless 8-year-old gelding has notched 14 victories on Tapeta. Shug McGaughey-trained Dripping Gold, at 2-1, is narrowly favored over Fly the W on the morning line will carrying highweight of 123 pounds, one more than the Dibona trainee. Dripping Gold is scheduled to make his first start on Tapeta.

The Rainbow 6 carryover 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 usually 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 Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is paid out to the bettor or bettors with the most winners in the wager’s six-race sequence.

Who’s Hot: Paco Lopez doubled Friday aboard Cosmo Prime ($4.20) in Race 1 and Supreme Dominance ($4.60) om Race 6. Emisael Jaramillo also rode a pair of winners, scoring back-to-back aboard Relator ($6) in Race 7 and Heir to the Roar ($5.60) in Race 8.