Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.
Unsolved during a special Memorial Day holiday program, when the total pool surpassed the $1 million mark, the 20-cent Rainbow 6 had its Maryland state record carryover jackpot approach $900,000 for the return of live racing Friday at historic Pimlico Race Course.
The Rainbow 6 pool is expected to top $1 million for the second straight racing day, building on a carryover of $895,264.82 from Monday’s program. Friday’s sequence begins with 2-year-old fillies on the dirt and features full fields in a pair of races scheduled for the grass.
Introduced in Maryland April 2, 2015 on opening day of Pimlico’s spring meet, the Rainbow 6 had its previous state record carryover reach $345,898.33 spanning 31 racing programs before being solved by one lucky bettor for a life-changing $399,545.94 payout April 15, 2018 at Laurel Park. The winning ticket was purchased through Maine off-track betting.
The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out only when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 60 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 40 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
Post time for the first of eight races Friday is 12:40 p.m. The Rainbow 6 begins in Race 3, a waiver maiden claimer for juvenile fillies sprinting five furlongs that attracted a field of seven including the Kevin Boniface-trained entry of homebreds Evangeline Allons and Sommer Velvet. Sommer Velvet is one of three horses not in for a tag, along with R. Larry Johnson-bred and owned Clouds of White and Magic in Me, both first-time starters for trainer Mike Trombetta.
Race 4 is a six-furlong starter allowance for 3-year-olds and up led by 7-5 program favorite To the Front, a six-figure earner that has finished in the top three in 14 of 19 career starts but is racing first time for trainer Derrick Goetz. Trainer Anthony Aguirre counters from outside Post 6 with Unequivocal, cutting back after running third by less than a length in a similar spot going 1 1/16 miles May 21 at Pimlico.
Nine horses 3 and up were entered in Race 5, an open, entry-level allowance carded at one mile on the grass. Dig Charlie Dig, trained and co-owned by Jamie Ness, is the 9-5 morning-line favorite from Post 1, looking to break a nine-race winless streak dating back to last fall. The 7-year-old gelding has earned nearly $250,000 in purses from 46 starts with five wins and 14 seconds, four of them coming during the recent drought. He has two seconds and two thirds from nine previous tries on turf. Uncle Andrew is unraced since rallying to be fourth in the 5 ½-furlong Punch Line for Virginia-breds last October at Laurel Park.
Marshall E. Dowell’s Speightster Red, an $85,000 son of champion sprinter Speightstown, is favored to graduate in his fifth career start in Race 6, a six-furlong maiden claimer for horses 3, 4 and 5. Plissken drops in off a seventh in maiden special weight company April 9 at Laurel for trainer Brittany Russell. Dialing Dixie, a 3-year-old Maryland homebred son of Grade 1 winner Dialed In, is entered to make his debut from outside Post 6.
James Wolf’s 4-year-old gelding Titan’s Will seeks his fourth consecutive win for a fourth different trainer in Race 7, a 1 1/16-mile starter-optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up. Titan’s Will began his streak March 21 with a 5 ¾-length triumph going one mile at Laurel, and was claimed away from Brittany Russell. He won April 25 for Andres Garibay Sr. and was claimed again, then scored in a similar spot May 9 for Anthony Farrior, both times at Pimlico. He will be racing first time for Derrick Goetz.
Among the competition are Glengar, coming back seven days off a front-running three-quarter-length triumph at Pimlico for trainer Joel Maldonado; Other Things Equal, beaten by Titan’s Will in each of his last two starts; and Jamie Ness-trained entrymate Bellarmine Hall.
The Rainbow 6 wraps up in Race 8, a claiming event for maidens aged 3, 4 and 5 scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the grass, which also serves as the opening leg of the weekly national Stronach 5 wager that continues with races from Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields.
Narrowly favored at 4-1 in the program is Marshall E. Dowell’s Tipyourhattothat, a 3-year-old Congrats gelding that has run second three times in six previous starts but will be trying turf for the first time. Rip It LLC’s eponymous 3-year-old Tapit colt, bred by Juddmonte Farms, also has six prior races having most recently finished second against older horses in a one-mile maiden claimer on the Pimlico turf May 13.
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