GP West Weekend: Graded Stakes, Mandatory Rainbow 6 Payout

On Friday, the Gulfstream Park West meet will begin its final weekend for 2016.

First post times will be 12:35 p.m. on Friday, 12:00 p.m. on Saturday and 12:35 p.m. on closing day Sunday. Gulfstream Park is holding the meet at Calder in Miami Gardens.

The Saturday card will have two Grade 3 stakes races. On Sunday, there will be a mandatory payout on the Rainbow 6—with the prospect of multiple winners dividing $500,000 or more.

The Friday card has eight races—seven claiming and one maiden special weight.  The Rainbow 6 is on races three through eight and has a carryover of $85,822.

It is a 20-cent only bet. Multiple horses can be included in each race, thus having multiple 20-cent combinations on a ticket.

For example, a ticket with two horses in each leg has 64 combinations and pays $12.80 (64 x .20).

The carryover has been growing because there have been 14 straight race days without the carryover/jackpot                   payoff requirement of just one ticket with the winners of all six Rainbow 6 races.

On other days Gulfstream takes out 20 percent of the day’s Rainbow 6 pool.  It divides 56 percent among tickets with the most winners and puts 24 percent into the carryover.

Because Sunday is the final day of a meet, a Florida law requires Gulfstream to pay out the full carryover plus 80 percent of the day’s pool regardless of the number of winning tickets.

If there is no jackpot winning ticket on Friday or Saturday it is likely that $500,000 or more will be bet on the Rainbow 6 on Sunday.

The Saturday stakes at GP West are:
*100,000 Tropical Turf (Grade 3) --  1 1/16 miles on turf, 3-YO  and up

*$100,000 My Charmer (Grade 3) – 1 1/16 miles turf, fillies and mares 3-YO and up

*75.000 Gin Rummy Champ  --  5 furlongs turf, 3-YO and up

On Sunday Dec. 3, Gulfstream Park will open its 2016-2017 championship meet at its track in Hallandale Beach.

--Jim Freer