Possible Rainbow 6 carryover but no high-class offering

The give-and-take of racingoffice maneuvering sometimes results in the type of card that’s on tap Friday at Gulfstream Park. Not even one allowance is in play.

That’s a downside. The upsides include the back-loading of numerous goodies being saved for next week – closing week of the 2022-23 championship meet – highlighted by an April 1 card that will include the $1 million Florida Derby and nine other stakes. The coming weekend also has a decent number of higher-end races, with two $100,000 stakes (the Texas Glitter and Melody of Colors) and two allowances carded for Saturday, and two more allowances set for Sunday.

And don’t let it go unnoticed that there’s always a chance that fans can make a score Friday during a serviceable program that starts at 12:40 p.m. Eastern. Three starter-optional races with purses ranging from $35,000 to $42,000 are among the offerings, with interesting fields set for each. Listed purses include Florida-bred bonuses.

Two of the Friday starter-optionals are part of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (races 4-9), which began the week Wednesday with $415,596 in the carryover jackpot. Sunshine and a high of 83 are in the Friday forecast for Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Here’s a quick look at the Friday co-features:

Race 3

Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse and the Ortiz brothers are the central figures in this 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-yearold fillies who previously have raced for a $35,000 claiming tag or less. Casse trains Cloud Storage (post 5, Jose Ortiz) and had trained Calling All Angels (post 4, Irad Ortiz Jr.) until she was claimed for $25,000 by Bobby Dibona from a last-out victory March 10. Both fillies figure among a core of lukewarm favorites that also could include Pawky (post 6, Edgard Zayas) and Artifact (post 7, Sonny Leon) in a field of seven.

Cloud Storage, claimed by Casse for Gary Barber in January, owns the two highest Beyer Speed Figures (71, 70) in this lineup and was narrowly defeated as an odds-on favorite in this same kind of race Feb. 22, but the other contenders also have Beyer tops in close range and are in good form.

Race 6

Trainer Herman Wilensky appears to be taking a sizable edge here with My Destiny as the 6-year-old mare drops out of stakes company while still eligible for the $12,500 starter condition governing this 6 1/2-furlong race for fillies and mares. My Destiny (post 1, Javier Castellano) was a fourlength winner of a December allowance at Gulfstream with an 84 Beyer prior to winning the Orleans at Delta Downs in January with an 88 Beyer and finishing a creditable third to the red-hot Drifaros in the Minaret at Tampa Bay Downs last month with a 78 Beyer.

If something else is to jump up to beat her, it could be Dem a Wonder or Your Inheritance, both last-out winning favorites at lower levels.

Race 7

Loco Abarrio (post 6, Irad Ortiz Jr.) has earned 81 and 79 Beyers within his last three starts, which, along with having Ortiz back aboard, surely will make him a solid public choice among eight 3-year-olds going seven furlongs under a $50,000 starter condition. The Florida-bred gelding exits a 5 1/2-furlong Tapeta race as trainer Ron Spatz sure seems to have found the right circumstances for a slight stretchout and surface switch.

For a potential upsetter, the Arindel homebred Knox (post 7, Zayas) has competed in stakes in three of his five starts and is eligible for this spot because Saffie Joseph Jr. has him in for the $50,000-claiming clause that’s part of the hybrid conditions.

COADY PHOTOGRAPHY My Destiny, winning the Orleans at Delta Downs in January, drops into a starter allowance.