Gulfstream news: Gunnevera breezes, Strike Power impresses
Gunnevera breezed six furlongs in 1:16.40 Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park West in preparation for a scheduled start in the $16 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park Jan. 27.
Margoth’s 3-year-old son of Dialed In worked in the company of Cheech Thunder, a 4-year-old allowance runner and stablemate in the barn of trainer Antonio Sano. Jockey Edgard Zayas was aboard the Pegasus candidate for the breeze.
“I’m very happy how he worked. We just wanted not to rush him in the beginning. He was on the bit the whole way. In the stretch I rode him out a little bit and he took off and galloped out great,” Zayas said. “The gallop-out all the way to the three-eighths (pole) was very strong.”
Gunnevera, who captured the Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth (G2) over the Gulfstream Park track, finished in a dead-heat with inaugural Pegasus World Cup winner Arrogate in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar last time out.
Gidu, Strike Power Make Impressive Debuts
A couple of 2-year-olds made promising debuts at Gulfstream on Saturday afternoon.
Courtlandt Farm’s Strike Power, a son of Speightstown trained by Mark Hennig and ridden by Luis Saez, coasted to an 8-length victory in the seventh race, covering 5 ½ furlongs in 1:02.67, just a couple ticks off the track record of 1:02.34 set by Discreet Dancer in 2011.
Earlier in the afternoon, Zayat Stables' Gidu, a son of Frankel trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by John Velazquez, drew away down the stretch to win over five furlongs on the turf by 3 ¼ lengths. The Irish-bred covered a firm course in :55.84.
Rainbow 6 Carryover Nears $300,000
Gulfstream Park’s Rainbow 6 could provide a merry holiday for one lucky fan Christmas Eve with a carryover entering Sunday’s 10-race program of $296,342.13.
Multiple tickets with six of six winners Saturday returned $56,935.60.
Gulfstream’s Sunday program will also have a Super Hi 5 carryover of $3,677.57.
Sunday’s six-race Rainbow 6 sequence will span races 5-10. The sequence kicks off with a five furlong maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies on the turf. First race post is noon.
The Rainbow 6 carryover 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 sold, 70 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those betters holding tickets with the most winners while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.