Goodbye, jackpot: Santa Anita will replace Rainbow 6 with $1 bet

When the Santa Anita meet begins Sept. 29, the track plans to take the 20-cent jackpot Rainbow Pick 6 off the wagering menu. Instead, Santa Anita's fall meet application with the California Horse Racing Board reflects a Pick 6 wager with a $1 minimum and no jackpot rule.

Under the proposed new Pick 6 structure, the pool pays out completely if there are any winning tickets, no matter how many there are. In that case, 70 percent of the pool goes to players who had all six correct, while the remaining 30 percent goes to consolation tickets, typically tickets with five out of six horses correct. If there is no winning ticket, 70 percent of the pool carries over to the next day while 30 percent is paid as a consolation to bettors with the most correct horses. As previously reported by Steve Andersen of Daily Racing Form, this structure is similar to the Pick 6 at Santa Anita until autumn 2016, except the minimum then was $2.

Santa Anita plans to offer the $1 Pick 6 for the last six races on most race days. For Breeders' Cup Friday, the wager will be offered on races no. 4 through no. 9, with any carryover going to Breeders' Cup Saturday. The sequence will cover races no. 6 through no. 11 on Breeders' Cup Saturday, with mandatory payout of the whole pool.