HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mother Nature disappointed Rainbow 6 players on March 30 at Gulfstream Park when heavy rains and lightning forced the cancellation of the second half of a card that featured a bi-weekly force out of the pool. But there was a rainbow at the end of all that bad weather as nobody has solved the Rainbow 6 since, meaning a much larger carryover, likely in the vicinity of $600,000, will be up for grabs when a mandatory payout is offered Sunday. Track officials estimate that the total pool could reach $4.5 million.
The end of the Championship meet on March 30 has seen a little thinning out of field sizes, with Sunday’s Rainbow 6 sequence a lot lighter on quantity and perhaps a lot less formidable than the majority of those during the winter session. The sequence has only a single full field – a dozen 3-year-olds will go five furlongs on the turf in leg 3 – and smaller players might actually have a chance of solving the puzzle.
Here’s one man’s opinion of how to approach the sequence with a relatively short stack of ammunition.
Race 5: Carnane is in peak form and had her last flattered when two of her victims won their maidens at next asking. I will use her and Seekingbythestorm, who finished a sharp third behind Carnane’s Carlos Narvaez-trained stablemate Buddhist Prodigy under similar conditions four weeks earlier. Designer Bag is a 3-year-old taking on elders, but she is back on her preferred surface after exiting a fast, key race last time from which the winner, Spirited Boss, came back to win the Sanibel Island Stakes in her next start.
Race 6: I’ll take my chances with one of the new faces in this lineup, choosing from a trio of first-time starters – Whoa Lil Lady, Oh Margot, and Tater Tot, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Street Band. It’s interesting that California-based Hector Berrios is named on Oh Margot, while Whoa Lil Lady, a full sister to stakes winner Cajun Cassanova, is coming off a couple of solid works on a very limited tab. She obviously put in the bulk of her preparations on the farm before shipping locally.
Race 7: The big question here is which Thought shows up for the race. If it’s the one who beat this same kind two back and was extremely competitive in his 2024 finale at the starter-allowance level, he’d be considered a potential single, especially in a race lacking much in the way of any real early pace. For those looking for a little more support and who can afford to spread some, Belts ’n Brooks and perhaps Luni Sima at a little bigger price, will fit the bill.
Race 8: A full field of young and unproven 3-year-olds logically should be the biggest test in the sequence, although I will try to get through this leg with just two picks. Magnolia Prime showed a ton of speed and promise in her debut, but she got hung wide and disappointed without the lead at second asking. She switches to turf for first time with a modicum of breeding for the surface. She gets a mulligan for her last race and is a must-use in here along with likely favorite Make Haste, who perhaps is a single for many while dropping off a solid U.S. debut against the likes of Me Governor three weeks ago.
Race 9: Question marks abound in this one with many of the key contenders having little or no experience over the Tapeta track. In addition, figuring who might control the pace is almost anybody’s guess with a total lack of speed in the field. I’ll use proven synthetic runners Escape Room, Tape Runner, and even Pemberley, with North End Lady perhaps trying to steal this one on the front end off a career-best showing last time on grass.
Race 10: Anyone still fortunate enough to be alive heading into the finale might want to have a pretty good spread in this wide-open maiden special weight affair on the grass. You can make a case for most in here, including Wonderlane off an extremely wide trip in perhaps a much-needed outing off the layoff; A Great Date, who showed a lot of promise working on grass during the winter and might be a price; Sara’s Rose, who exits a key race when trapped wide from a tough post; Yesterday, who dons shades for the first time and has three stakes winners in the family tree; and Timeless Wonder, who will be undervalued but is hard to ignore off a promising debut at five furlongs.