HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The mandatory Rainbow 6 scheduled for Sunday lost much of its luster after the jackpot was hit by one lucky winner to the tune of a $268,604 for a 20-cent ticket on Thursday. The jackpot was resolved just six programs after the previous mandatory force-out of the entire pool on March 2.
There were four “singles” heading into the final leg, which was won by Westhampton, who returned $101.60 to win after circling the field and drawing off to an impressive victory in the lower-level maiden claiming event on the turf.
Westhampton was ridden to victory by Jose Morelos, who completed a hat trick on the card, matching his colleague Tyler Gaffalione, who also posted three winners on Thursday.
Another contributing factor to the Rainbow 6 being hit on Thursday was the stunning victory by Literate in the afternoon’s feature event. The 16-1 outsider upset Grade 1 winner Just F Y I and the Grade 1-placed Gun Song in the one-mile allowance event.
Literate, making only her third career start on dirt, slipped inside the pacesetting Just F Y I turning for home before drawing off to a convincing 4 1/4-length victory, for which she received a career-best 87 Beyer Figure.
Previously considered a synthetic track specialist, Literate is trained by Martin Drexler for C2 Racing.
“This race came up with a short field and the owners wanted to give her one more shot on dirt before they sent her up to Toronto [Woodbine],” Drexler explained. “This opens up a lot of avenues now.”
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