Santa Anita to offer several low-takeout wagers

There will be no shortage of low takeout multi-race bets when Santa Anita opens its autumn meeting on Sept. 27.

Santa Anita will offer a $5 late daily double and a $3 late pick three with a lower than normal takeout rate of 15 percent. The bets replace wagers with the same takeout held in recent years in conjunction with Golden Gate Fields in Northern California, which closed permanently in June.

The standard takeout for other pick threes at Santa Anita is 23.68 percent. Other daily double bets held throughout the day have a takeout of 20 percent.

Through the fall meeting, Santa Anita will offer a $1 pick five with a 15 percent takeout on Saturdays and Sundays consisting of races from Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita. In a change from the past, the bet will not be available to computer-assisted wagering customers who comprise a large portion of handle on a given day, officials said.

A daily $3 all-turf pick three will remain on the betting schedule.

The track previously announced that the pick six will have a $2 minimum this fall, an increase from $1 in the last year.

The Sept. 28 program will be one of the highlights of the five-week season, with the Grade 1 California Crown Stakes, worth $1 million, and two Grade 2 turf races, each worth $750,000 – the John Henry Turf Championship at 1 1/4 miles and the Eddie D Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside course.

A $2 all-turf pick four, with a 15 percent takeout, will be offered on Sept. 28, consisting of the Unzip Me Stakes, Grade 2 City of Hope Mile, John Henry Turf Championship, and Eddie D Stakes.

A $1 all stakes pick five, with a 15 percent takeout, will encompass those races and the California Crown.

All of those stakes are prep races for the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Nov. 1-2.

In addition, there are $5 daily doubles, a $1 all-stakes pick six, and a $2 all-stakes pick four linking races from Sept. 28 with stakes on Sept. 29, another day of prep races at Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup. Those bets will have takeouts of 15 percent.

Santa Anita is publicizing the Sept. 28 program as a California version of the Pegasus World Cup program held at Gulfstream Park in late January, which includes lucrative stakes as well as food and music promotions designed to lure a larger than normal crowd.

“We’re still promoting it,” track general manager Nate Newby said on Tuesday. “Anytime it’s a first-time event, people will want to see the review and some will try it.

“The Pegasus wasn’t what it is now in year one.”

The 13-race Pegasus World Cup program had total handle of $47.06 million in January, a 7.2 percent increase from $43.89 million in 2023.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.