The aptly named Sweetest Angel proved to be exactly that for one lucky Santa Anita Park Pick 6 ticket holder, winning the ninth race and bringing that lone player a $423,202.71 payoff.
That came courtesy of the track’s 20-cent Rainbow Pick 6 Jackpot, which pays out the jackpot pool to a single horseplayer going 6-for-6 in the designated half-dozen races. The unidentified ticket holder spent only $64.80 on the ticket, buying it at Los Alamitos Racecourse.
Based on the ticket’s choices, it’s safe to say that whoever nailed this Pick 6 is both lucky and good. They hit three double-digit odds bombs, including 14/1 Sweetest Angel. With Kent Desormeaux riding the George Paparodromou-trained filly, Sweetest Angel was the only live Pick 6 horse in the final race. After the 1 ½-length victory in the 6 ½-furlong allowance optional claiming race, she paid $30 to win on a $2 bet.
The other bombs came in the sixth race with 19/1 Uncle Addouma, who paid $41.40, and 10/1 Mucho Del Oro in the seventh ($23).
One favorite found the Pick 6
The only favorite coming in was 2/1 Alcools in the fifth race. The ticket holder opened their account in the fourth with 5/2 Rakassah ($7.20).
Then, there was the eighth race, the Grade 3 Kona Gold Stakes. That race brought back a familiar name our horseplayer had on his ticket – Cezanne. Going off as the second favorite at 9/5 in the four-horse field, the Bob Baffert-trained 4-year-old rolled to a 9 ¾-length romp.
That came at the expense of 3/5 favorite Brickyard Ride, who Cezanne and Flavien Prat dispatched at the five-sixteenths pole. Prat didn’t have to move, letting the $3.6 million Curlin colt do the work. He blew past Brickyard Ride along the rail and never broke stride.
Cezanne, Prat return with a vengeance
The 6 ½-furlong win paid $5.80 and gave Prat his fourth victory on Sunday. It also gave Cezanne his first race since he finished fourth and last in the Shared Belief Stakes last August at Del Mar. The one-time Kentucky Derby hopeful illustrated his racing future comes as a sprinter. The blazing fractions provided further proof: a 21.18-second quarter-mile, 43.6 half-mile, and 1:08.27 for the 6 ½ furlongs.
Cezanne’s 116 Equibase Speed Figure bettered his previous best by 13 points. It brought the colt his third victory in four career races.