HorseracingFLA Staff Report
Saturday, Aug. 29 — At Gulfstream Park, today will be a day for keeping one eye on the track and the other eye on a simulcast monitor with the Travers Stakes and other races from Saratoga.
Gulfstream will have 12 races with an early first post-time of 12:45 p.m., rather than the summer meet standard of 1:15 p.m.
There are no stakes races on the Gulfstream card. But because of a large Rainbow 6 pool, with $650,000 guaranteed to a single winner, Gulfstream will attract considerable interest on-track and from simulcast and ADW bettors
The Rainbow 6 is a 20-cent only per combination bet on each day’s last six races. Multiple horses can be used in each race. For example, a ticket with two horses per race has 64 combinations and costs $12.80.
Today, it will be on the seventh through 12th races–starting at 3:41 p.m.
Of those six races two are maiden special weights, two are claiming and two are maiden claiming. They have a total of 63 entrants, including main track only and also eligibles.
Thus, the Rainbow 6 will be its usual handicapping challenge.
Gulfstream pays out the full Rainbow 6 pool (day’s bets plus carryover) only on days when there is just one ticket with all six winners. On other days, Gulfstream divides 70 percent of the day’s Rainbow
6 bets among the multiple winning tickets and puts 30 percent into the carryover.
For example, the carryover going into Friday was $419,278. Bettors wagered an additional $112,854 on the Rainbow 6. Minus the 20 percent takeout that left about $90,300 for bettors.
There were two tickets with all six winners. So about $27,000, i.e. 30 percent of the day’s wager, was added to the carryover.
That left just over $63,000 for the two winning tickets. Each received $31,587.42
The Rainbow 6 carryover has been growing since July 16. That was 25 Gulfstream race days ago, and the last day on which there was just one Rainbow 6 ticket with the winners of all six races. The payoff on July 16 was $164,483.32
The carryover going into today is about $446,000. Based on past experience, there is a good chance that $200,000 could be bet on the Rainbow 6 today. So, Gulfstream is relatively safe that the day’s pool and carryover will be in the $650,000 range or higher.
Here is today’s starting point: If you have the only ticket with all six winners today, you will win at least $650,000. If there are multiple tickets with all six winners, they will divide up about $100,000 to $125,000 from today’s betting pool.
Saratoga Simulcast
Silks, Gulfstream’s ground floor simulcast facility, will open at 10:30 a.m. today to accommodate the11:45 a.m. first-race post time at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Saratoga will have 13 races, with the Travers (Grade 1) for 3-year-olds and six other graded stakes. Post time for the Travers is 5:46 p.m. Triple Crown winner American Pharoah heads the 10-horse field in the Travers.
