Santa Anita to launch 20-cent pick-six jackpot bet this fall

Santa Anita plans to launch a 20-cent Rainbow Six at its 22-day autumn meeting, which begins on Sept. 28, according to track executive Tim Ritvo.

The proposed change is part of Santa Anita’s license application for the autumn meeting, which will be discussed at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting at Del Mar.

The 20-cent pick six will be structured similarly to the bet in place at Gulfstream Park, where 70 percent of the net pool is paid to ticketholders with six winners, and the remainder is paid only if there is a single winning ticket. If there are multiple winning tickets, which is often the case, there is a carryover in the single-ticket portion of the pool until there is one winning ticket, or until a specified day when the entire pool is disbursed.

Santa Anita will have a mandatory payout on Nov. 4, closing day of the autumn meeting.

Gulfstream Park is owned by The Stronach Group, the parent company of Santa Anita. With a Rainbow-style format, Gulfstream Park has seen interest in the pick six soar. On March 31, Gulfstream Park had a record pick-six handle of $16,583,425 in pursuit of a carryover of $4.5 million that had grown over 40 racing days.

In recent years, Santa Anita has had a $2 pick six with a single-ticket provision but also had a carryover in the main pool when there were no tickets with six winners. The bet has lost popularity to 50-cent pick-four and pick-five wagers.

“The lower-denomination bets seem to work for the everyday customer,” Ritvo said on Thursday. “It’s a short meeting. We’ll try it. We want to let people jump in.

“If it doesn’t work, we’ll change.”