Too Much Tip, Madame X. Claim Saturday Features
Jockey Ruiz Registers First Three-Win Day in Maryland

LAUREL, MD – The 20-cent Rainbow 6 went unsolved Saturday at Laurel Park, boosting the carryover jackpot to $46,721.51 for Sunday’s nine-race program.

No horses were live to take down the jackpot heading into Saturday’s ninth-race finale, won by Lucky Junior ($7.60). A total of $19,031 was bet into the popular multi-race wager, on top of a $40,644.57 carryover from Friday’s card.

Tickets with five of six winners Saturday were each worth $455.22.

The 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, 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.

Sunday’s Rainbow 6 spans Races 4-9. The sequence includes four races over Laurel’s world-class turf course as well as a $35,000 restricted allowance for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the main track in Race 7.

There will also be a $1 Super Hi-5 carryover of $3,463.51 for Sunday’s opener.

First race post time is 1:10 p.m.

Too Much Tip, Madame X. Claim Saturday Features

Norman Racing’s Too Much Tip, a multiple group stakes winner on the dirt in Puerto Rico, may have found a new home on the turf after a solid 1 ¼-length victory in Saturday’s co-featured seventh race, a $47,000 third-level optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and older.

Ridden by Jevian Toledo for trainer Francis ‘Tres’ Abbott III, Too Much Tip ($9.60) dueled on the outside of Discreet Deceit through fractions of 22.20 and 44.97 seconds before putting away the pacesetter in mid-stretch and edging clear in 56.98 for five furlongs over a Bowl Game turf course rated good.

It was the second straight start on grass since being claimed by Abbott for $30,000 out of a narrow March 22 loss at Gulfstream Park, and first win over the surface for Too Much Tip. The 5-year-old Too Much Bling mare had made her first 16 starts on dirt, winning each of her six in Puerto Rico before coming to the U.S. Among those victories were five group stakes races, topped by the 2016 Clasico Accion de Gracias (G1).

“We got a perfect trip. She can handle both surfaces, dirt and grass, so that’s pretty good,” Toledo said. “They just told me they want her close and during the stretch, don’t hit her or anything just keep going, so that’s what I did. I put her right there in good position and when I asked her she just took off. She handled it pretty good. She’s a pretty nice filly.”

Quest Realty’s Madame X. came flying with a dramatic burst on the far outside to sweep by the field and spring a 35-1 upset in the co-featured eighth race, a $45,000 second-level optional claiming allowance for females 3 and up. The winning time was 1:45.06 over a yielding Exceller turf course.

Trained by Susan Cooney and ridden by Jorge Ruiz, his third winner of the day, stakes-placed Madame X. ($74.20) successfully stretched out to 1 1/16 miles after a pair of 5 ½-furlong turf sprints to earn her third career win, six lengths ahead of Vortex Road. Stakes winner Peach of a Gal was fourth, while 3-2 favorite Ode to Joy, undefeated in two previous starts, set a pressured pace before tiring to be last of seven.

“I wanted to stretch her out again, but we’ve had a hard time getting this race to fill. She loves Laurel; she’s always run good here,” Cooney said. “I wasn’t quite expecting that. I thought she would run good; I didn’t think she would win easy like that. It was a very competitive field.”

Ruiz earned his first three-win day since moving his tack to Laurel earlier this year, also scoring on Two Step Sis ($12.20) in Race 5 and Past Perfect ($6.40) in Race 6.           

“She was nice and relaxed and then she just found her run,” Ruiz said. “It’s my first time with three wins at Laurel. I have to thank all the owners and trainers and everyone.”

Notes: Jockey Rosario Montanez posted back-to-back wins with Girl Next Door ($8) in Race 2 and Stomp Dance ($6.20) in Race 3. Girl Next Door was the second 2-year-old winner in as many days for trainer Cal Lynch, who also won Race 5 with Two Step Sis ($12.20).