Zayas Enjoys ‘Special’ Trip Home to Puerto Rico

Champion Rider Captures Inaugural Jockey Challenge
Rainbow 6 Solved Thursday for $416,348 Jackpot Payout

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Going back to Puerto Rico for its Three Kings Day holiday celebration proved to be more than just a happy homecoming for jockey Edgard Zayas.

Competing Tuesday at Hipodromo Camararo, the 32-year-old Zayas won for the first time in his native country and, in the process, captured first place in the racetrack’s Three Kings Day Jockey Challenge.

Zayas finished with 29 points to edge Manny Franco (25 points) with Juan Carlos Diaz (19), Edwin Castro (15) and Ramon Vazquez (14) completing the standings. Zayas was back at Gulfstream Park Thursday, winning Race 7 aboard Starry Night Racing’s Adversary ($6.40) for trainer Kent Sweezey.

“It was special to have my whole family there, all my friends. It was amazing,” Zayas said between races. “It was my first win in Puerto Rico, so it was really special. I never got to ride there full-time. I went one time to ride a couple horses but it was no good. It was my second time riding over there. It was really nice.”

Zayas’ victory came on the mare Zalamera Baby Boy, owned by Solivan Racing and trained by Jason Lisboa, winning by 2 ½ lengths in 1:19.12 for 1,300 meters. Zayas finished third in his other two jockey challenge races.

“They made three races for the jockey challenge and the horses were picked randomly. They had the horse and randomly picked a jockey for that horse,” Zayas said. “That was pretty cool. I feel like that way, nobody really had an advantage. It was the luck of the draw and hopefully the horses come out to run.”

It was the first time Camarero hosted a jockey challenge, bringing together local and international riders. Three percent of all on-track wagers for the 10-race card was donated to programs accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.

“They did a really well-organized event,” Zayas said. “There was a lot of people, more than 7,000, and they hadn’t seen that in years. It was very successful.”

Zayas has won nine riding titles at Gulfstream including the 2025 Royal Palm and Sunshine meets that preceded the ongoing Championship Meet. An Eclipse Award finalist for champion apprentice of 2013, he owns more than 2,600 career winners and nearly $85 million in purse earnings since coming to the U.S. in 2012.

Rainbow 6 Solved Thursday for $416,348 Jackpot Payout

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 was solved by one lucky bettor for a $416,348.44 jackpot payout Thursday at Gulfstream Park.

Ifyousaidso ($76.60), went gate-to-wire at odds of 35-1 to captured the Race 10 finale and complete the winning 9-2-5-3-6-6 combination.

Other winners in the sequence were My Man Money ($67.60) in Race 5, Quizler ($17.20) in Race 6, Adversary ($6.40) in Race 7, Manoah’s Glory ($17.40) in Race 8 and Contrary ($5.60) in Race 9.

The popular multi-race wager had gone unsolved for eight consecutive racing days following multiple mandatory payouts of $2,390.64 Dec. 21.

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.

The Rainbow 6 begins new Friday starting with Race 5, an optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds scheduled for five furlongs on the grass. Arindel’s Fear, unraced since early September, makes his season debut as a new gelding and with first-time Lasix, having graduated at the course and distance in an Aug. 2 maiden special weight. Augustinian, Itza Lock, Ababajoni, Elston Gunn and I C Light all exit victories.

Seven older Florida-bred horses are set to contest Race 7, an optional claiming allowance going a one-turn mile on the main track. Looming large are 5-year-old Lou the Body and 7-year-old Slim Slow Slider, who have combined to win 12 races and more than $400,000 in purses in 63 starts. Skellig Michael, a dominant winner over elders in mid-October, stretches out after being fourth by less than three lengths in a seven-furlong optional claimer Dec. 7.

Race 8 is maiden special weight for 4-year-olds and up going 1 3/16 miles over the all-weather Tapeta course. Joseph Allen’s Operation Overload, a homebred son of Into Mischief trained by Hal of Famer Todd Pletcher, adds blinkers looking to graduate after placing once in three previous tries, all in New York. Calumet Farm homebred Gold Sovereign, by English Channel, seeks a similar breakthrough in his fourth start.

The Race 10 finale is an optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass. The narrow 3-1 program favorite is Backgammon, a maiden winner last fall on the Keeneland turf exiting a fifth in Gulfstream’s Nov. 27 Wait a While over the Tapeta. Covered in Crystal, a debut winner in September at Laurel Park, adds blinkers and Lasix in her third start. Bayou Brigid drops after three straight stakes starts including a third in Gulfstream’s Oct. 25 Our Dear Peggy.

Who’s hot: Jockey Tyler Gaffalione doubled Thursday aboard Quizler ($17.20) in Race 6 and Contrary ($5.60) in Race 9 … Jockey Miguel Vasquez also won twice, with Plum Irish ($6) in Race 4 and Ifyousaidso ($76.60) in Race 10 … Both Quizler and Adversary ($6.40) in Race 7 are trained by Kent Sweezey.