Del Mar patrons will have 17 different ways to wager during the track’s 15-day Bing Crosby Season meet beginning this coming Friday and running through Sunday, December 1. The betting menu starts with the traditional win, place and show wagers and expands out to popular exotic bets that encompass as many as five- and six-horse combinations.
Among the track’s multiple horse/multiple race bets the Pick Four and the Pick Five – where Del Mar boasts the largest pools in all of racing during its fall stand – have proven to be highly favored by racing fans. Both are offered as a .50¢ wager and both are offered twice during all cards – the Pick Five on the day’s first five and its last five races, while the Pick Four starts on the day’s second event and on the last four races of the afternoon.
Last fall, the seaside track featured the nation’s top pools for both bets -- $693,689 for the Pick Four (with an average payout of $1,905) and $873,630 for the Pick Five (with and average payout of $17,964).
As an added incentive, the early Pick Five is presented with a reduced 14% takeout.
Del Mar plans to offer eight races on all its weekday cards and nine on the weekend ones. First post on all days – with the lone exception of an 11 a.m. start on November 28, Thanksgiving Day – will be 12:30 p.m.
The track will continue to offer its $2 Pick Six on all racing days along with the “Single Ticket Jackpot” addition that it first introduced during its 2016 fall season. Under the “Jackpot” rules, a separate pool accumulates alongside the regular one if nobody hits the bet as a lone ticket holder. This allows for the separate pool to continue to grow even in the case of a “hit” on the Pick Six by two or more players. The “Jackpot” pool often reaches six figures in fairly rapid order and is eligible to grow to a substantial number for its closing day “mandatory payout.”
Last fall, Del Mar’s Pick Six pools were the largest in the country at a daily average of $153,589. The average payout for the venerable bet, which often offers the track’s biggest wagering rewards, was a healthy $43,366.
Overall, Del Mar’s average all-sources handle for its 15-day, 2018 meet was $10,368,171, tops in the country for a fall race meeting.
The full array of Del Mar bets is as follows: $2 win, place and show (on all races); $1 Exacta (all); $2 Quinella (all); .50¢ Trifecta (all); $2 Rolling Doubles (all but last); .50¢ Rolling Pick 3 (all but last two); $1 Superfecta (.10¢ minimum – all); $1 Place Pick All (all); $1 Super High Five (last); $2 Jackpot Pick Six (last six); .50¢ Pick 5 (first five, last five); .50¢ Pick 4 (second race, last four); $2 Win-Place-Show Parlay (all but last).
Opening weekend of the track’s sixth late-season session will be Friday through Sunday. After that, racing will be conducted on a Thursday through Sunday basis for the next three weeks.