The Fall Meeting at Churchill Downs will get underway on Sunday, October 27 at the Louisville, Kentucky venue.
The G1 $500,000 Clark Handicap, a race that shares a rich history with the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, is the premier event on a roster of nine stakes races with total purses of $1.625 million scheduled to be run during Churchill Downs’ October 27-November 30 fall meet.
The Clark, a race for three-year-olds and up that has attracted some of the most talented older horses in American racing in recent years, will be renewed in 2013 in its traditional day-after-Thanksgiving spot on November 29. All nine stakes races scheduled for the meet are graded events.
New ‘Single 6 Jackpot’ to Highlight Fall Meet Wagering Menu
Churchill Downs Racetrack will debut the new 50-cent “Single 6 Jackpot” – a multi-race wager with a low minimum and big-payout dynamic – when racing returns to the Louisville racetrack for its 25-day Fall Meet on Sunday (Oct. 27).
Much like its conventional $2 Pick 6 predecessor, the Single 6 Jackpot will challenge bettors to correctly pick the winners of six consecutive races. But there’s an exciting new twist with the potential of a big payday if there’s only one winning wager in the sequence.
Bettors that have the highest number of winners in the six-race sequence will equally share 80-percent of the net money wagered into the pool. The remaining 20-percent of the net pool, however, will carry to the Single 6 Jackpot if there are multiple winning wagers with six winners placed at the required minimum bet value, which is sold in affordable denominations of 50 cents.
The Single 6 Jackpot will be paid out only if there is a single winning wager with six winners placed at the required minimum bet value.
Again, there can be only one winning wager for the jackpot to be paid. If a bettor hits the Single 6 Jackpot twice on one ticket – meaning he or she “scratched into the favorite” and used both horses in the race; or used two horses in a race and they finished in a dead-heat; or played the same 50-cent ticket twice for a total of $1 – he or she is not eligible for the jackpot aspect. There can only be a single winning wager placed at the required minimum bet value for the jackpot to be paid.
The low probability of a single winning wager means there’s a high chance for the jackpot to grow daily and reach lottery-like levels, which creates tremendous excitement and the possibility of a financial windfall and score of a lifetime.
There is one exception: the jackpot must be paid out on the final day of the five-week meet (Saturday, Nov. 30), which means all money, including the jackpot, will be distributed that day to those with the highest number of winners in the six-race sequence.
The new wager is similar to other variations of the Pick 6 that offer jackpots with a unique carryover aspect. However, Churchill Downs’ Single 6 Jackpot features a more bettor-friendly 80/20 split of the net pool compared to the 60/40 distribution in some jurisdictions.
Because there is a unique carryover facet, there will be no minor consolation payoffs. For example, if there are multiple winning wagers with six winners, there will be no consolation payoff for five winners.
The Single 6 Jackpot wager will be offered daily on Races 3-8, which typically begins its run just after 1:30 p.m. (all times Eastern) and continues through 4:30 p.m. on most race days.
Click here for the Single 6 Jackpot rules
Bet the new Churchill Downs Single 6 Jackpot on Twinspires.com!
Churchill Downs 2013 Fall Meet Wagering Highlights
In addition to the Single 6 Jackpot, Churchill Downs’ Fall Meet wagering menu will feature $2 Win, Place and Show (all races); $2 Exactas and $1 boxes and wheels (all races); 50-cent Trifectas (all races with five or more betting interests); 10-cent Superfectas (all races with six or more betting interests); $1 Super Hi-5 (final race); rolling $1 Doubles and 50-cent Pick 3s; and 50-cent Pick 4s (Races 1-4; Races 4-7 and final four races daily) and a 50-cent Pick 5 (final five races daily). Additionally, parlay wagering is available for on-track patrons on up to six races on all Win, Place and/or Show pools.
Bet the 2013 Fall Churchill Downs horse racing online on TwinSpires.com and watch it live on TwinSpiresTV!
Handicapping Churchill Downs 2013 Fall Meet
The Keeneland fall meeting concludes Saturday with the $200,000 Fayette Stakes; but there is no rest for Kentucky racing enthusiasts, the action picks right up on Sunday in Louisville with the Stars of Tomorrow card (all two-year-old racing), which opens the annual Fall meet at Churchill Downs.
As always, Brisnet.com has handicappers covered in the Commonwealth with the Kentucky Handicapper’s Sheet, Bruno With The Works, and Daily Selections full-card analysis with best bets available for both tracks.
Churchill Downs 2013 Fall Meet Highlights
The fall meet highlights will include a pair of the popular “Stars of Tomorrow” programs devoted exclusively to races for two-year-olds. Those special programs, staged for the ninth straight year, are scheduled for opening day on Sunday, October 27, and closing day on November 30.
The Clark Handicap will be run as a Grade 1 event for the fourth consecutive year and for the fifth time in seven years. Notable recent winners include Shackelford, the Preakness and Metropolitan Mile winner who ended his racing career in last year’s running; 2012 Horse of the Year Wise Dan, who capped his championship season with a win on grass in the Breeders’ Cup Mile after closing 2011 with a victory on dirt in the Clark; Blame, whose victory in the 2009 Clark preceded a 2010 campaign that concluded at Churchill Downs with his riveting win over previously unbeaten 2009 Horse of the Year Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Eclipse Award honors as champion older male; Einstein, the 2008 winner and an Eclipse Award finalist for both top older male and best turf horse; Premium Tap, who rolled to a dominating victory in the 2006 Clark following a third-place performance behind Invasor and Bernardini in the Breeders’ Cup Classic; Saint Liam, who won the Clark in 2004 and went to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic and earn Horse of the Year honors in 2005; Surfside, a three-year-old filly who defeated males in the 2000 Clark on her way to Eclipse Award honors as the best in her division; and 1997 Kentucky Derby winner Silver Charm, who returned the following year to win the Clark and become the first Derby winner to earn the Derby-Clark double since Whirlaway, who won the roses for Calumet Farm in 1941.
The featured events on the Opening Day “Stars of Tomorrow I” program include a pair of new overnight stakes events with purses of $65,000: the Street Sense and Rags to Riches, both to be run at one mile on the main track. The Street Sense is an open race for juveniles named in honor of the winner of the 2007 Kentucky Derby and 2006 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs. The Rags to Riches, a race restricted to two-year-old fillies, honors the 2007 Kentucky Oaks winner who later defeated Preakness winner and two-time Horse of the Year Curlin in the Belmont Stakes and was named the Eclipse Award champion three-year-old filly. Both Street Sense and Rags to Riches made their racing debuts as two-year-olds at Churchill Downs.
The headline events of “Stars of Tomorrow II” are more familiar as the Kentucky Jockey Club and the $175,000 Golden Rod for fillies, both Grade 2 events worth $175,000, will share the spotlight on November 30. The races are stops on the respective Road to the Kentucky Derby and Road to the Kentucky Oaks point systems that will determine the participants in the 2014 renewals of the Derby and the Oaks.
Other Grade 2 events on the stakes schedule include the $150,000 Chilukki, a race for fillies and mares ages three and up at one mile that will have the on-track spotlight on Breeders’ Cup Saturday, November 2; the $175,000 Mrs. Revere on November 16, a 1 1/16-mile turf test that offers three-year-old fillies one of the their final opportunities to compete in members of their age group; and the $150,000 Falls City Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares ages three and up on the main track that is the annual racing centerpiece of the Thanksgiving Day celebration at Churchill Downs on November 28.
Grade 3 events on the Fall Meet schedule include the $100,000 Cardinal Handicap on November 9, a race for fillies and mares ages three and up at 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course; the $100,000 Commonwealth Turf, a race for three-year-olds on the grass on November 16; and the $100,000 River City Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile race for three-year-olds and up on turf scheduled for November 23.
One Downs After Dark program will be run during the meet, with a pair of turf stakes for 3-year-olds, the Mrs. Revere and Commonwealth, anchoring that card on Saturday, Nov. 16.
The 2013 Churchill Downs Fall Meet stakes scheduled can be viewed here.
Churchill Downs Fall 2013
Dates: October 27 – November 30
Churchill Downs horse racing schedule: Racing programs, usually featuring 10 races, will be staged every Wednesday-Sunday during the Fall Meet.
Post Times: 12:40 p.m. (all times Eastern) daily. The only exceptions are programs on Nov. 1 (2 p.m.), Nov. 2 (2:15 p.m.), Nov. 16 (4:30 p.m.) and Nov. 28 (11:30 a.m.)
Churchill Downs Racetrack Facts
Main track (dirt): 1 mile oval with a 7 furlong chute
Length of stretch from last turn to finish line: 1,234.5 feet
Composition: Sandy loam, 75% sand, 23% silt, 2% clay
Width: 80 feet
Width of backstretch: 79 feet
Turf: 7/8 mile, inside main track
Composition: 90% fescue, 10% bluegrass
Width: 80 Feet
Bets available may include: Win, Place, Show, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Daily Double, Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Pick 6 and Super High-5
About Churchill Downs Racetrack
Churchill Downs, the world’s most legendary racetrack, has conducted Thoroughbred racing and presented America’s greatest race, the Kentucky Derby, continuously since 1875. Located in Louisville, the flagship racetrack of Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ: CHDN) also operates Trackside at Churchill Downs, which offers year-round simulcast wagering at the historic track. Churchill Downs will conduct the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands on May 3, 2014, and its Fall Meet is scheduled for Oct. 27-Nov. 30. The track has hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Championships a record eight times. Information about Churchill Downs can be found on the Internet at www.ChurchillDowns.com.
Churchill Downs Spring 2013