Big mandatory payout Saturday at Beulah

Beulah Park will offer a rare wagering opportunity Saturday. While the attention of the racing world will be focused on the Kentucky Derby, fans wagering on Beulah will likely be most interested in the "will pays" for the eighth race, the final event of the Fortune 6.

The Fortune 6 is a unique pick-six bet with a 25-cent minimum offered at Beulah Park. While normally the pool is paid out only when there is one winning ticket, on Saturday, closing day of the meet, the Fortune 6 carryover is $445,000 and there will be a mandatory payout of the entire pool.

Beulah management expects the jackpot to grow to between $750,000 and $1 million. Under normal circumstances, Beulah would be allowed to carry over the jackpot until its fall meet, according to Ohio Racing Commission rules. However, because a sale of the track to Penn National Gaming is pending, management decided to pay out the pool.

The first five of the Fortune 6 races are starter-allowance races for horses who have started at the fall/winter/spring meets at Beulah. The final race will be the $50,000 Babst/Palacios, a six-furlong handicap for 3-year-olds and up. A field of 14, including two entries, will go six furlongs. Besides matching seven former or current Ohio champions, it will decide how many will share in the Fortune 6 jackpot.

Tri Uimet is the highweight and the 2009 Ohio sprint champion, having won 4 of 6 starts last season. Trained by Jeff Radosevich, he has yet to race this year, but posted a best-of-50 work April 17 at Thistledown. Regular rider Scott Spieth will come in to ride.

Catlaunch, who has been named Ohio handicap horse of the year multiple times, comes off an impressive open allowance win April 19 at River Downs for trainer Ivan Vazquez. Catlaunch earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 91 in that race under regular jockey Ivan Gonzalez, the highest last-start Beyer in the field.

The trainers' race also is on the line this weekend. Leader Charlie Lawson has 45 wins and will run eight horses in six races on the Saturday card. Joe Woodard has 44 wins going in and will run 11 horses in nine races.