State Record Rainbow 6 Carryover of $295,763 Friday at Laurel
State Record Rainbow 6 Carryover of $295,763 Friday at Laurel
Racing Returns to Laurel’s World-Class Turf Course Saturday
G3 Pimlico Special Winner Shaman Ghost Named to Canadian Hall of Fame
LAUREL, MD – Live racing returns to Laurel Park Friday, April 13 with a Maryland state record jackpot carryover of $295,762.95 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6.
It is the largest jackpot carryover since the popular multi-race wager was introduced in Maryland on April 2, 2015, opening day of the spring meet at legendary Pimlico Race Course.
The Rainbow 6 has gone unsolved for 28 consecutive programs dating back to Feb. 4, when it was taken down for a $5,896.30 payoff.
The previous state record for the largest Pick 6 carryover was $275,322, reached heading into closing day of Pimlico Race Course’s spring meet on June 6, 2015. A mandatory payout that day produced multiple returns of $12,518.28.
In the Rainbow 6, 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.
Friday’s Rainbow 6 covers Races 4-9 highlighted by a $35,000 entry-level allowance for Maryland-bred 3-year-olds and up going one mile in Race 7 and a $45,000 second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up at 5 ½ furlongs in Race 8.
There will also be a carryover of $2,404.11 in the $1 Super Hi-5 for Friday’s opener. First race post time is 1:10 p.m.
Racing Returns to Laurel’s World-Class Turf Course Saturday
Maryland is set to kick off its grass season with three of Saturday’s 10 live races scheduled to be run over Laurel’s world-class turf course.
Carded on the Kelso Turf Course layout are claiming events for 3-year-olds and up in Races 3 and 7, and a $40,000 maiden special weight for 3-year-olds and up in Race 5 over the Fort Marcy Turf Course. All three races will be run at 1 1/16 miles.
The trio of turf races attracted a total of 31 entries, an average of 10.33 per race. Race 5 includes three homebred first-time starters – Stronach Stables’ Sandy Lane, Gunpowder Farms’ Helicat and Thomas Teal’s Best Way – as well as Jacks or Better Farm’s Kingston Pike, off the board in a pair of Florida Sire Stakes races on dirt last summer at Gulfstream Park.
Team Gaudet’s Painted Patchen, a rare registered white Thoroughbred, makes his fifth start this year and first on the turf since September 2016 in Race 7. The 5-year-old Thunder Gulch gelding has a second and two thirds from four starts this year since being claimed for $10,000 last March.
G3 Pimlico Special Winner Shaman Ghost Named to Canadian Hall of Fame
Adena Springs’ multiple Grade 1-winning homebred Shaman Ghost, whose final victory came in the 2017 Pimlico Special (G3) last May, has been selected for induction into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Shaman Ghost was named Canada’s champion 3-year-old colt in 2015 after winning four of six starts highlighted by the Queen’s Plate, the Canadian equivalent of the Kentucky Derby, and Marine (G3) Stakes, and was second in the Prince of Wales Stakes.
In 2016 the son of National Museum of Racing Hall of Famer Ghostzapper won the Woodward (G1) and Brooklyn (G2) and he followed up with victories in the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) and Pimlico Special in 2017, also finishing second to Arrogate in the inaugural Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park.
Shaman Ghost was retired from racing in December 2017 as the second-richest Canadian-bred of all-time behind his paternal grandsire and fellow Hall of Famer, Awesome Again. Shaman Ghost finished with eight wins, three seconds, two thirds and purse earnings of $3,859,311 from 17 starts. The 6-year-old is standing his first season as a stallion at Tommy Town Thoroughbreds near Santa Ynez, Calif.
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony is Aug. 8 in Mississauga, Ontario.
