November 30, 2012 — The $850,000 Claiming Crown will highlight Saturday’s Opening Day of the 2012-2013 Gulfstream Park meeting, and racing fans will have the opportunity to take part in a special wager to celebrate the occasion.
The 10-cent Claiming Crown Pick 7 will offer a $100,000 guaranteed pool and a mandatory payout on the first of 90 racing programs of the Thoroughbred season that will run through April 5. Offered on the last seven races of a 10-race program, which will include all seven Claiming Crown races, the 10 cent-base wager will require bettors to pick the winners off all seven races. A bettor or bettors with the most winners will hit or share the jackpot.
For Opening Day only, the 10-cent Claiming Crown Pick 7 will take the place of the popular and innovative 10-cent Rainbow Pick 6 that has generated wagering excitement at Gulfstream Park and throughout North America for the past two racing seasons. For the remaining 89 programs, the Rainbow Pick 6 will be offered on the last six races each day. Bettors must pick all six winners to have a chance to hit the jackpot. A bettor must hold the only ticket with all six winners to be eligible for the jackpot. If there are multiple ticketholders with six winners, they will split 60 percent of that day’s wagering pool, while 40 percent will be added to the jackpot carryover. Like the Claiming Crown Pick 7, the Rainbow Pick 6 will have a 20-percent pari-mutuel takeout.
One lucky player with a unique winning ticket hit a $791,364 jackpot with a $2.40 investment on April 1, 2012. In 2011, the jackpot swelled to over $5 million.
In addition to the Rainbow Pick 6, as well as win, place and show wagering, a full menu of multi-race wagers will once again be available to Gulfstream players. In addition to rolling Daily Doubles and Pick 3s throughout the program, Exactas, Trifectas and Superfectas will be offered on every race. Two Pick 4 wagers will also be offered each day. The Daily Double and Exacta will have a $1 base wager. The Trifecta and Pick 4 bets will have a base wager of 50 cents, while the Superfecta will be a 10-cent base bet.
Along with the 10-cent Rainbow Pick 6, the 50-cent Pick 5 and the $1 Super Hi 5 will once anchor the daily programs this year. The 50-cent Pick 5 will require bettors to pick the winners of the last five races, while the Super Hi 5 requires bettors to pick the first five finishers of the last race in exact order. Bettors have found the 15-percent takeout to be an incentive for betting both the Pick 5 and Super Hi 5.
