Santa Anita Park officials expect Monday’s 20 cent Rainbow Six jackpot to hit $5 million as horseplayers pile into the wager on a mandatory payout day.
Nobody hit the wager Sunday, which requires holding a single ticket with six winners. That sends a $588,484 carryover into Monday’s 10-race Memorial Day card. There, three Grade 1 races await: the Hollywood Gold Cup, the Shoemaker Mile and the Gamely Stakes.
The Rainbow Six begins with the fifth race: the Shoemaker Mile. Smooth Like Strait, the 4/5 favorite with Flavien Prat in the irons, leads a field of six into the gates for what is the first US Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In†Challenge Series race. The winner of the Shoemaker Mile earns a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Race No. 6 is a $50,000 maiden claimer featuring eight older fillies and mares going 6 ½ furlongs. Warren’s Queen Bee is the 8/5 morning line favorite who could warrant a single. But there are two 4/1 second choices: Cal and Miss Baylee.
Few middle-leg races with slam-dunk single possibilities
The seventh race is another maiden claimer, this one sending its eight older filly and mare contestants a mile on the turf. Isola Mio holds 5/2 favorite status but expect her to face pressure from 3/1 second choices Exit Soul and French-bred Sunny Morning.
Race No. 8 is a six-furlong maiden special weight for horses 3 and up. Famous Star is the 9/5 favorite in a six-horse field with five horses holding single-digit odds. Recall and Reload, with Prat aboard, is the 2/1 second choice.
The penultimate Rainbow Six race is a $69,000 allowance that sends its eight older horses 6 ½ furlongs down Santa Anita’s hillside turf course. British-bred Landsdowne and Irad Ortiz Jr. are the lukewarm 3/1 favorites. Mubtadaa is 7/2 and two others are 4/1.
Rainbow Six could hinge on if Going Global stumbles
Wrapping up the Rainbow Six is the Gamely, a 1 1/8-mile trek around Santa Anita’s turf course. It’s tempting to single 8/5 favorite Going Global here, based on her dominance and Prat’s presence in the irons. But 3/1 Going to Vegas and 4/1 Irish-bred Ocean Road could figure.
Along with the Rainbow Six, Santa Anita offers a 50 cent Late Pick 5 with a guaranteed $500,000 pool. That covers races six through 10.