A horse named New Heat brought new riches to one lucky ticket holder who held the lone winning ticket for $450,706.96 in Friday’s Santa Anita Park 20 cent Rainbow 6 Jackpot.
New Heat went off at 14/1 in the maiden special weight eighth race. The 3-year-old, Cal-bred daughter of Unusual Heat took a 1 ½-length lead at the top of the stretch. She made it interesting for the single winning ticket holder when Rose’s Crystal turned on her brand of heat, closing the gap before New Heat held her off by a neck at the wire.
The ticket, mandating bettors pick the winners of Santa Anita’s third through eighth races, cost $307.20. The ticket holder bought the ticket on advance deposit wagering app Xpressbet.com, owned by Santa Anita’s parent company, The Stronach Group.
The winning ticket holder didn’t rely on favorites either. Not only did New Heat pay $30.40 on a $2 win bet, but the winner of the fourth race, Don’t Stop Lookin, paid $39.80 at 18/1. Bold Endeavor, who won the fifth race, paid $10.80 (4/1).
Not Exactly Odds-On Picks for This Rainbow 6
The other winners were third-race winner Me Likey ($7.80-5/2), She’s Our Charm in the fifth ($8-3/1), and Pyron ($7.60-5/2) in the seventh.
There was one other live ticket coming into that eighth race. Slew’s Screen Star at 64/1 represented the hopes of one ticket holder who was 5-for-5 going into that final race. But Slew’s Screen Star sucked that ticket into a black hole, finishing sixth in the seven-horse field of 3-year,-old Cal-bred fillies and mares.
Nobody hit Santa Anita’s Rainbow 6 through the Autumn Meet’s first 10 days. That brought a $364,453 carryover from Monday’s Columbus Day card. New horseplayers jumped into the pool with $113,020, bringing the total jackpot pool to $477,473 by post time of Friday’s third race.