Video: MJC Host-Analyst Naomi Tukker Handicaps Sequence

BALTIMORE – Unsolved during an action-packed Sunday featuring five stakes worth $475,000 in purses, the Maryland state record carryover jackpot in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 stands at $1,093,866.44 when live racing returns to historic Pimlico Race Course Friday.

Post time for the first of eight races is 12:40 p.m.

A total of $270,155.04 was put into the popular multi-race wager on top of a $1.07 million carryover Sunday, when multiple tickets with all six winners each returned $671.74. Included in the sequence were wins by Valued Notion in the $75,000 Ben’s Cat, Pixelate in the $100,000 Prince George’s County, undefeated Chub Wagon in the $100,000 Shine Again and Street Lute in the $100,000 Stormy Blues.

Grade 3 winner Blame Debbie, racing for the first time in 200 days, opened Sunday’s stakes action with a victory in the $100,000 Searching.

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.

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.

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Friday’s Rainbow 6 begins in Race 3 (1:37 p.m.), a starter-optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass which attracted an overflow field of 15 including 2019 Maryland Million Turf winner Mr. d’Angelo and King Causeway, Maryland Jockey Club host and analyst Naomi Tukker’s “must-use” horse in the sequence.

King Causeway will be making his just second start since last November for trainer Justin Nixon, having rallied to be third in his comeback in a similar spot May 23 at Pimlico. It was only the second time racing away from Woodbine for a 5-year-old gelding that has been third or better in 10 of 17 career starts.

“This horse is an out-and-out closer and they didn’t go fast up front, meaning anyone would struggle to make up ground, and still he ended up making six lengths,” Tukker said. “I feel like if the flow sets up in his favor, he could be much impressive in the latter stages of the race and quite the danger at 6-1.”

No Guts No Glory Farm’s Blue Sky Painter, owned and trained by Jerry Robb, is favored at 7-5 in Race 4 (2:09 p.m.), a 1 1/16-mile claimer for 3-year-olds and up which have never won three races, or 3-year-olds. The 4-year-old Paynter gelding won first off the claim Feb. 4 at Laurel Park and has been narrowly beaten in three of four subsequent starts, including one each by a nose and a neck.

Tukker’s price play comes in Race 5 (2:40 p.m.), a waiver maiden claimer for fillies and mares age 3, 4 and 5, also scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the turf where Kinda Lucky, racing first time for trainer Brittany Russell after four starts last year for Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox, is the 2-1 program favorite.

Richard Golden’s 3-year-old Maryland homebred filly Fire in the Hole is one of two horses among 16 entered trained by Graham Motion, listed at 6-1 on the morning line. She debuted running third behind Replicant and next-out winner Sebastian, beaten 1 ¼ lengths, May 8 in an off-the-turf maiden claimer.

“What I very much liked about her is, she’s not prominent early but she has this really big, large, reaching stride which makes me think she can easily skip over the turf,” Tukker said. “Plus, she seems to stay for days.”

Claimers 3 and up which have never won three races will sprint six furlongs in Race 6 (3:12 p.m.). Robb and stable rider Xavier Perez once again have the program favorite in Maryland-bred Zip the Lip, off the board in three races since breaking his maiden beating older horses in a six-furlong claimer April 22 at Pimlico.

Back to the grass for a scheduled 1 1/16-mile claiming event for 3-year-olds and up in Race 7 (3:45 p.m.), trainer Hugh McMahon entered the pair of Laddie Liam, making his turf debut in just his fourth start since winning the 2019 Maryland Juvenile Futurity, and Rohrbacher, a five-time winner unraced since February 2020. Breaking side by side from Posts 4 and 5, they are respectively listed at 4-1 and 7-2 odds.

Completing the sequence in Race 8 (4:17 p.m.) is a 5 ½-furlong claiming sprint for maidens age 3, 4 and 5. The 4-5 program favorite from Post 6 in a field of nine is Lugamo Racing Stable’s Golden G, making his second start for leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez after running second as the favorite going six furlongs May 30 at Pimlico over a sloppy track. Gonzalez and jockey Angel Cruz have connected at 29 percent from nearly 200 starters over the past two years.

Notes: Three horses scratched when the Ben’s Cat was moved from the grass to the main track return in Saturday’s Race 7, a five-furlong allowance for Maryland-bred/sired horses scheduled for the turf – Joseph, Matta and Railmaster. Also among the overflow field of nine are Grateful Bred, racing first time since finishing fourth behind Fiya in the Maryland Million Turf Sprint last October, and Little Bold Bandit, the 3-year-old younger full brother to 11-time stakes winner Anna’s Bandit who graduated in a 4 ½-furlong maiden special weight May 15 at Charles Town …

The next scheduled stakes during Pimlico’s Preakness Meet, extended through Aug. 22 with ongoing renovations on Laurel Park’s main track, come Sunday, July 4 with the $100,000 Concern for 3-year-olds sprinting seven furlongs, $100,000 Lite the Fuse at seven furlongs for 3-year-olds and up and $100,000 Caesar’s Wish going one mile for females 3 and older – both part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series – and $75,000 Jameela for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting five furlongs on the grass. Nominations close Friday, June 25.