An All-3-Year-Old Pick 3 and an All-Dirt, All-Stakes Pick 5 join a crowded wagering menu of bets Churchill Downs is offering for Kentucky Derby/Oaks Weekend on May 6-7.
The All-3-Year-Old Pick 3 comes with an uncommon $3 minimum wager. The bet, which also comes with a 22% takeout, requires you to pick the winners of three sophomore races. Those are the Grade 2 American Turf, the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile, and the Kentucky Derby.
The All-Dirt, All-Stakes Pick 5 has a friendlier 15% takeout. This 50-cent minimum bet covers five dirt races: the Knicks Go, the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff, the Grade 1 Churchill Downs, the Pat Day Mile, and the Kentucky Derby.
Returning for horseplayers is the 20-cent Derby City 6, a jackpot Pick 6 that requires a bettor to hold the lone winning ticket to bag the entire jackpot pool. Three years ago, the last time the Louisville track enjoyed a full, six-figure Derby crowd, that wager took in $1.06 million in handle.
That wager begins Saturday on Churchill Downs’ opening night. Every time multiple tickets contain six winners, 90% of the pool is paid out. The remaining 10% is carried over into the next day’s Derby City 6 pool. That wager will mandatorily pay out on Derby Day.
Can you pick six Grade 1 winners over two days?
One of the track’s most popular wagers is also returning: the Oaks/Derby Pick 6. That $2 minimum bet tests horseplayers’ abilities to pick six Grade 1 winners across two days. It opens Friday with the La Troienne and Kentucky Oaks, then segues into Saturday with the Derby City Distaff, Churchill Downs, Turf Classic, and the Derby.
There is also an Oaks-Derby daily double that requires picking the winners of both of those flagship races.
Churchill Downs enjoyed more than $9 million in Pick 4/Pick 5 handle
You’ll find four traditional Pick 4 and Pick 5 wagers on the wagering menu as well. The third Pick 4 and the third Pick 5 are all-stakes races that include the Derby. In 2019, Churchill Downs took in $4,091,771 in Pick 4 handle on Derby Day. The Pick 5 handle that year was $3,980,809.
Like last year, the Superfecta minimum on Oaks and Derby days is $1. It drops to 10 cents on all other days.
See the full Churchill Downs wagering menu here.