Santa Anita Park unveiled the wagering menu for its 16-day Autumn Meet opening on Friday, with one of the biggest features being the lowest takeout on win-place-show bets among any major American racetrack.
The suburban Los Angeles track’s takeout on the most common wager in North American racing is 15.4%. Along with that, Santa Anita returns its 50-cent Early Pick 5 and Late Pick 5, both featuring a 14% takeout. That’s one of the lowest takeout rates for that horizontal wager among North American tracks.
Santa Anita returns the multi-track $1 Golden Hour Pick 4 and the $5 Golden Hour Double. Both require you to pick winners from select races at Santa Anita and its sister track, Golden Gate Fields. The Golden Hour Pick 4 comes with a 15% takeout.
Those bets are available only for opening weekend, and for the final two weekends of Santa Anita’s Autumn Meet. That’s because Golden Gate Fields goes dark in mid-October when the Fresno Fair runs its limited racing schedule.
Santa Anita wagering menu goes continental
The other multi-track bet is the $1 Stronach Five. Much like the New York Racing Association’s Cross Country Pick 5, the Stronach 5 demands you pick five winners from tracks around the country. Here, horseplayers must decipher select races at Santa Anita, Golden Gate, Gulfstream Park, and Laurel Park — all Stronach Group-owned tracks.
The Stronach 5 comes with a rock-bottom 12% takeout, one of the lowest takeout rates of any wager at any track. It’s offered every Friday.
Also returning among multi-race bets is the Rainbow Pick Six Jackpot wager, which mandates bettors hit the final six races on each day’s slate. Solving that and winning the often-monster jackpots requires you to pick six winners and be the only bettor doing so that day.
We could see a mid-six-figure Jackpot Pick Six
Otherwise, 70% of the daily 20-cent Rainbow Pick Six Jackpot pool goes to horseplayers holding the most winning tickets. The other 30% carries over into the next day’s jackpot pool. This has the potential to create a massive jackpot should nobody solve the wager going into the Oct. 31 closing day.
Santa Anita returns its $1 exactas, $2 rolling Daily Doubles, 50-cent rolling Pick 3s, the early 50-cent Pick 4, and 10-cent Superfectas for all races with at least six runners.
The track is offering a strong slate of opening-day races to put those bets into action. Friday’s opening day features four stakes races, including the Grade 1 American Pharoah for 2-year-old Kentucky Derby prospects, and the Grade 2 Eddie D, which returns turf sprinters to the unique 6 ½-furlong hillside turf course.