Pick six carryover to be divided

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With new rules having been approved in March by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, this is what’s happening with the $686,309 pick six carryover from Kentucky Derby Day:

◗ Half of it ($343,154) is being used in a mandatory-payout pick six with 20-cent increments (called the Single Six) when racing resumes Thursday at 5 p.m. Eastern with an eight-race card (races 3-8).

◗ The other half is being used to seed a new Single Six wager on Friday.

The Single Six is conducted in much the same way that Gulfstream Park runs its Rainbow 6. After a 15 percent takeout, Churchill will make an immediate payout of 90 percent of that day’s pool to bettors while retaining 10 percent for a building jackpot (the Gulfstream split is 70/30).

On a related note, Daily Racing Form will not be able to immediately offer Thursday past performances for Churchill in the paper because of a scheduling conflict. For this week only, Churchill opted to draw both its Thursday and Friday cards on Tuesday, and DRF prints the Thursday editions on Mondays.

◗ With 15 of the 26 stakes scheduled for the 38-day spring meet already in the books, the next graded stakes at Churchill will be the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap on May 21.

The feature for Saturday is the $65,000 Unbridled Sidney, an ungraded turf sprint in which the 3-year-old filly Acapulco figures as a heavy favorite for trainer Wesley Ward even though she opposes older fillies and mares. Saturday’s entries were to be drawn Wednesday.

◗ Through the meet’s first six days of racing, Mark Casse leads the trainer standings with an 8-for-21 mark, followed by Dale Romans (5 for 23). Casse’s earnings total of $612,159 is second only to Doug O’Neill, who, of course, won the Derby with Nyquist.

Julien Leparoux leads the jockey standings with 13 winners, followed by Corey Lanerie and Florent Geroux with eight apiece.