Tucker, Gilbert Handicap Sunday's $1 Million Rainbow 6
Tucker, Gilbert Handicap Sunday's $1 Million Rainbow 6
Sequence Includes Four of Five Stakes Worth $475,000 in Purses
BALTIMORE – With the Maryland state record 20-cent Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot having surpassed the $1 million mark for Sunday, Maryland Jockey Club host and analyst Naomi Tukker and WBAL-TV sports anchor and reporter Pete Gilbert weighed in with ways to take down the life-changing prize.
Tukker’s “must use” horse in the sequence comes in the Race 5 opener with Richard Sillaman-trained Live and Let Liv. The 3-year-old filly has been worse than third just once from eight career starts, five of them wins, and “ran a career-best 45 days ago at this level, so plenty of time for her to get re-energized and ready to go.”
Race 6, the $75,000 Ben’s Cat for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up sprinting five furlongs on the turf, is where Tucker’s price play comes with 2020 Maryland Million Turf runner-up Cannon’s Roar (8-1). “I love that he had a breeze from the gate coming into this, and he has held his own sprinting on the turf.”
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Constructed at a cost of $86.40, Gilbert’s Rainbow 6 ticket utilizes at least two horses in each leg of the sequence, spreading out to four – undefeated 8-5 favorite Chub Wagon and fellow multiple stakes winners Hello Beautiful, Dontletsweetfoolya and Anna’s Bandit – in the $100,000 Shine Again (Race 9).
Gilbert used Matta (9-2) and So Street (4-1) in the $75,000 Ben’s Cat (Race 6); Pixelate (3-1), Argonne (8-1) and Midnight Tea Time (8-1) in the $100,000 Prince George’s County (Race 8); and long shots Door Buster (30-1) and Proper Attire (20-1) and Malibu Beauty (7-2) in the $100,000 Stormy Blues, the latter entered for main track only.
In non-stakes races, Gilbert used recent Pimlico maiden special weight winner Blushable (8-1); Live and Let Liv (2-1), a five-time winner from eight starts; and Six Pack Sara (8-1), on a two-race win streak, in the opening sequence (Race 5), an optional claiming allowance for 3-year-old fillies sprinting six furlongs.
Race 7 is a six-furlong claiming sprint for maidens 3, 4 and 5 years old where Gilbert has both Snow Job (5-1), unraced since Dec. 9 and trying dirt for the first time after six grass starts, and Harbor Crossing (9-2), a second-time starter from trainer Hugh McMahon.
Gilbert’s Rainbow 6 Ticket
Race 5: 1, 3, 8
Race 6: 4, 6
Race 7: 5, 8
Race 8: 1, 5, 12
Race 9: 1, 2, 5, 8
Race 10: 4, 5, 6