Maryland State Record Rainbow 6 Carryover Reaches $598,522 for Friday

BALTIMORE – Mark B. Grier’s Sosua, favored at 4-5 off a 12 ¾-length debut victory March 31 at Tampa Bay Downs, set the pace into mid-stretch, briefly lost the lead and then fought back again along the inside to edge Pretty Edgy by a nose in Thursday’s featured seventh race at Pimlico Race Course.

Ridden by Hector Diaz Jr. for trainer Arnaud Delacour, Sosua ($3.60) covered six furlongs in 1:10.81 over a fast main track in the open, first-level allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up.

“I thought it was impressive,” Delacour said. “She stumbled pretty bad coming out of the gate, so it probably cost her a little bit. She’s obviously not as seasoned as the other fillies. It was only her second race, so being able to dig in like that against winners was a pretty game performance in my opinion.”

Breaking from Post 1, Sosua overcame her stumble when the doors opened to ride the rail to the lead, setting fractions of 23.03 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 46.03 for the half under mild pressure to her outside by Be Present. Sosua was still in front after going five furlongs in 58.31 when Pretty Edgy ranged up on the outside, forged a short lead inside the eighth pole but was outrun to the wire. It was another 4 ½ lengths back to Map of America in third.

“First time out, I liked her in that spot because I didn’t think it was the strongest bunch,” Delacour said. “Today was, to me, a much better race. She answered some questions today and I think that was a pretty good performance.”

Sosua was purchased for $260,000 as a yearling in September 2018 and went unraced at 2. She is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Girl Daddy, who ran third to 2020 champion 2-year-old filly Vequist in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) last fall at Keeneland.

“It’s definitely a nice family,” Delacour said. “She had some setbacks at the beginning and that’s why she had a slow start, but she’s a nice filly. She’s kind of a very tall filly. She did a lot of growing, pretty much in the last six months, and I think she really needed that time to come into herself.”

Delacour said he had not looked beyond Thursday’s race, but hinted Sosua may stretch out for her next start.

“We’ll have to see what the best thing to do is, see how she comes back. At some stage we would imagine trying her two turns,” he said. “She got it done very well today and she’s got obviously plenty of tactical speed so that could be a nice weapon. I think with that second race under her belt, she might be ready to do that now. We’ll see how she comes back, but that would be something to consider.”

Maryland State Record Rainbow 6 Carryover Reaches $598,522 for Friday

The Maryland state record carryover jackpot in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 grew to $598,522.24 for Friday after going unsolved during Thursday’s program at Pimlico Race Course.

No horses were live to take down the jackpot heading into the eighth-race finale. A total of $111,257 was bet into the popular multi-race wager, which began with a carryover of $562,931 from the last live program May 15 when the sequence ended with Rombauer’s upset of the 146th Preakness Stakes (G1). Multiple tickets with all six winners Thursday each returned $4,448.96.

The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out only 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.

Introduced in Maryland April 2, 2015 on opening day of Pimlico’s spring meet, the Rainbow 6 had its previous state record carryover reach $345,898.33 spanning 31 racing programs before being solved by one lucky bettor for a life-changing $399,545.94 payout April 15, 2018 at Laurel Park. The winning ticket was purchased through Maine off-track betting.

Friday’s Rainbow 6 sequence spans Races 4-9 and includes a pair of maiden special weight events on the grass. The first, a one-mile test for fillies and mares 4 and 5 years old, comes in Race 5 and attracted a field of 13 led by 5-2 program favorite Hightailing, a Stuart Janney III homebred trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey. The second comes in Race 7 for maidens 3, 4 and 5 going 1 1/16 miles where Margaret Alexander-owned and trained Saint Marco is the narrow 7-2 morning line favorite among 10 entrants.

The Rainbow 6 sequence is capped in Pimlico’s Race 9 finale, a five-furlong turf allowance for 3-year-olds and up that also serves as the opener in the national weekly Stronach 5 wager that continues with races from Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields. Fourteen horses were entered including stakes-placed Sky’s Not Falling, Forced and Godlovesasinner; and the favored 2-1 entry of Nothing Better, racing for the first time as a gelding in his 2021 debut, and stakes-placed Town of Gold.

First race post time Friday is 12:40 p.m.