Cintron Notches Five-Win Day Friday
Cintron Notches Five-Win Day Friday
Carryovers in Rainbow 6, Late Pick 5 Saturday
$75,000 Henry S. Clark Stakes Highlights 11-Race Program
Large Fields Entered Throughout Weekend Races
Ben’s Cat Fires Bullet in Friday Breeze, Classic Wildcat Wins 21st
LAUREL, MD – Jockey Alex Cintron won with five of his eight mounts on Friday’s 10-race program, including a sweep of the day’s co-featured events.
Cintron, a 28-year-old native of Puerto Rico, reeled off three consecutive victories aboard Classic Wildcat ($13.40) in the third race, Swellelegent ($17) in the fourth and undefeated Bobcat ($5) in the fifth.
Upset winner of the $75,000 Dahlia Stakes April 16 on Seeking Treasure, Cintron followed with front-running victories in a pair of $42,000 one-mile allowance events aboard favored Holy Solider ($5.80) in the eighth on the main track and 9-1 long shot Burndines ($21.40) in the ninth over the Kelso Turf Course.
Cintron has been limited by injuries and has 10 wins from just 49 mounts at Laurel’s current winter meet which began Jan. 1 and closes May 8. It is the first time in his career Cintron has won five races in one day at a single racetrack, though he has had five- and six-win days split over two tracks.
“It was really good. The winter was hard for me so it feels good to get back to business,” Cintron said. “A race like [the Dahlia] makes you feel a lot of confidence. I thought I had a good shot today. All my horses were live and when you’ve got a live horse you can do your work.”
Carryovers in Rainbow 6, Late Pick 5 Saturday
For the second straight live program at Laurel Park, there will be carryovers in both the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and 50-cent Late Pick 5 available to bettors during Saturday’s 11-race card.
First race post time is 1:10 p.m.
No one selected all six winners in the Rainbow 6 on Friday, producing a carryover of $4,224.87 for the popular multi-race wager. Tickets with five of six winners returned $144.40.
There will also be a carryover of $7,611.57 in the Late Pick 5, which saw tickets with four of five winners return $189.40 Friday.
The Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
Saturday’s Rainbow 6 spans Races 6-11 and includes the 16th running of the $75,000 Henry S. Clark Stakes for 3-year-olds and up going one mile on the Kelso Turf Course in Race 10. The race marks the season debut of 2015 Maryland-bred turf champion Phlash Phelps.
The Late Pick 5 begins in Race 7.
Large Fields Entered Throughout Weekend Races
After seeing 127 horses entered for Friday’s 10-race card at Laurel, an average of 12.7 per race, a total of 246 horses were entered in 21 races on the remaining weekend programs.
Saturday’s 11-race card saw 130 horses entered, an average of 11.8 per race, while Sunday’s program has 116 horses entered for 10 races, an average of 11.6.
Eight of 11 races on Saturday drew double-digit fields, led by 16 in each of the third and seventh races, both maiden claiming events on turf, and Race 8, a six-furlong claimer on the main track. The featured $75,000 Henry S. Clark Stakes attracted a field of 11.
Fields also reached double figures in seven of Sunday’s 10 races topped by 16 in featured Race 9, a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint allowance for females 3 and up.
Ben’s Cat Fires Bullet in Friday Breeze, Classic Wildcat Wins 21st
Prepping for his 10-year-old debut, multiple Grade 3 winner Ben’s Cat breezed five furlongs in 1:01.20 Friday morning over Laurel’s main track, the fastest of seven horses at the distance.
Bred, owned and trained by Hall of Famer King Leatherbury, Ben’s Cat is being pointed to the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint May 20 at Pimlico Race Course. Leatherbury is hoping to get a prep into the multi-millionaire gelding before then.
Ben’s Cat has 30 wins, 25 of them in stakes, and nearly $2.5 million from 53 lifetime starts, 41 of them under regular rider Julian Pimentel including 30 in a row dating back to June 17, 2012.
Classic Wildcat, another 10-year-old gelding owned and trained by Leatherbury, earned his 21st victory from 72 lifetime starts in Friday’s third race, an $18,000 claiming event going 5 ½ furlongs on the grass.
Note: Shaken up after being unseated during the last live program on Sunday, jockeys Victor Carrasco and Trevor McCarthy returned to sweep the early daily double Friday. Carrasco captured the first race with Mountain Hero ($4.80) while McCarthy was first with Justlookatmenow ($11.60) in the second.
