Kentucky Downs expands Super Hi 5 to all stakes races

Kentucky Downs is expanding the Super Hi 5 wager to all its 17 stakes races in addition to the last race of the day at the upcoming all-grass meet.

The meet runs Aug. 31 and Sept. 2, 3, 7, 9, 10 and 13 over America’s only European-style course. Post time is 1:30 p.m. EDT except for 12:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 9. That 12-race card features six graded stakes, five worth as much as $1 million apiece along with the $1.7 million Kentucky Turf Cup, all including $400,000 in purse supplements for registered Kentucky-bred horses.

The Super Hi 5, a 50-cent minimum bet, requires handicappers to select the first five finishers of the race in correct order to win. If no one has the winning combination, the bet carries over to the pool the next time the wager is offered. The exception is the last race of the meet, when there’s a mandatory payout to those with the top four finishers if there are no winning tickets.

The Super Hi 5 previously was held only on the last race of the day. Last year the average 50-cent payoff for the Super Hi 5 was $7,283, according to Equibase.

Last year the payout for the Pick 5, where horseplayers must have the winners of five consecutive races in one combination on a ticket, averaged $19,630 for 50 cents, while the Pick 4 payout averaged $4,464. For exacta players, the $74 average for a $1 bet is among the highest in the country, while the $571 average for the 10-cent superfecta also is very strong.

The Pick 5 offers Kentucky Downs’ largest betting pool, averaging $553,613 each time the wager was offered last year, according to Equibase. The Pick 5 is offered twice daily, except for three times on Sept. 9.