Following strong growth in its Pick Four and Pick Five bets when they were shifted to a 50¢ wager, Del Mar will change its traditional $2 Pick Six bet to a 50¢ one with the start of its fall race meeting on Saturday, October 31.
Otherwise, the seaside oval will conduct its seventh Bing Crosby Season with the same betting format it has presented at all its recent meets, offering 17 different ways to wager during the 15-day session that will run through Sunday, November 29.
The Pick Six, first introduced to Del Mar in 1980, is one of the track’s most popular bets for those who like to “take a swing” at a difficult – but potentially very rewarding – wager where the bettor has to select each winner of the last six races on the day’s card. Payouts of six-figures – and occasionally even seven-figures – have become part of the lure and lore of the bet.
“We think our shift to the 50¢ bet will make our Pick Six even more accessible and more exciting to a broad cross section of our fans,” said Bill Navarro, Del Mar’s director of mutuels. “When we went to the 50¢ bet with our other two big exotics – the Pick 4 and the Pick 5 – the betting quickly swelled to double digit increases. They are our most favored bets right now and we foresee a similar enhancement happening with the Pick Six.”
Under the previous Pick Six arrangement, the payout was 70% of the pool to the winner(s), 15% to consolations (those with the next-most winners) and 15% to the track’s “Jackpot” pool, where a separate pot grows and is only paid out in the case of a single-ticket winner. With the new Pick Six presentation the breakdown will be 80% to the winner(s) and 20% to the “Jackpot” pool. If there are no winners (6 of 6), the 80% of the pool is carried over to the next day (the same as the track’s Pick 5 bet).
The betting menu starts with the traditional win, place and show wagers and expands out to popular exotic bets mentioned above.
The full array of Del Mar bets is as follows: $2 win, place and show (on all races); $1 Exacta (all); $2 Quinella (all); 50¢ Trifecta (all); $2 Rolling Doubles (all but last); 50¢ Rolling Pick 3 (all but last two); $1 Superfecta (10¢ minimum – all); $1 Place Pick All (all); $1 Super High Five (last); 50¢ Jackpot Pick Six (last six); 50¢ Pick 5 (first five, last five); 50¢ Pick 4 (second through fifth, last four); $2 Win-Place-Show Parlay (all but last).
After its Saturday/Sunday opening, the track will present three weekends of Friday-Saturday-Sunday cards, then finish up the meet with a four-day run beginning with the Thursday (November 26) Thanksgiving program.
First post daily will be at 12:30 p.m. throughout the stand with the exception of the Thanksgiving Day holiday and its early 11 a.m. start time.
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is committed to ensuring the safety and welfare of our human and equine athletes. Due to the proactive implementation of industry-leading reforms and the vigilance of the Del Mar team, the track has been recognized as the safest major horse racing venue in North America since 2018 per The Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database. For more on Del Mar’s commitment to safety, please visit https://www.dmtc.com/media/safety.
