ARCADIA, Calif. (Aug. 24, 2018) — In an effort to attract new players, Santa Anita Park will begin offering a 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six wager on Friday, Sept. 28, opening day of its 22-day Autumn Meet.  Patterned after the tremendously successful Rainbow 6 at Gulfstream Park, the 20 cent minimum wager enables players to cover many more horses per race than Santa Anita’s previous two dollar minimum, which has been a big key to its success at Gulfstream.  

The prospect of a life-changing score will be in play immediately, as Santa Anita will guarantee a pair of one-day only Rainbow Pick Six jackpot pools, a $250,000 pool on opening day, Sept. 28 and a $1 million jackpot pool on Saturday, Sept. 29.

In the event there are no single ticket winners, 70 percent of the pool is paid to those tickets with the highest number of winning horses and 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool, less takeout.  This formula has resulted in massive pools leading into mandatory payout days (such as closing day) at Gulfstream.

“The Rainbow 6 has proven to be a smash hit at Gulfstream, helping to generate bigger purses and larger fields in the long term,” said Tim Ritvo, COO for The Stronach Group (TSG).  “The Pick Six has obviously been an incredibly popular wager here in California, dating back four decades.  Unfortunately, the two dollar minimum and other factors, have rendered it far less popular over the past few years.

“We’re excited to be able to offer huge guaranteed jackpot pools on the first two days of the meet and we see this as a great opportunity to test drive the Rainbow wager here at Santa Anita.  We’ll look at it very closely throughout the course of the meet and if we get into a situation that leading into closing weekend (Nov. 3 & 4) there’s a massive amount of money built in the jackpot, things could get very exciting, especially with the Breeders’ Cup running in Kentucky on Nov. 2 and 3.”

Approved for implementation at a CHRB meeting Thursday at Del Mar, the new 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six is the latest iteration of a wager that was first instituted at Santa Anita on Oct. 17, 1980.  Santa Anita’s complete 2018 Autumn Meet Wagering Menu will be available in the coming days at www.santaanita.com.