Saturday picks for $3,500 tournament and $46,408 Pick 6 carryover

Handicapper J. Keeler Johnson shares horses to play for Saturday, Aug. 29 in the $3,500 Super Summer Betting Challenge and the $46,408 Pick 6 carryover at Del Mar.

$3,500 Super Summer Betting Challenge

Lucrative cash prizes and entries into the 2026 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC), 2027 National Horseplayers Championship (NHC), and 2027 Kentucky Derby Betting Challenge (KDBC) are up for grabs in Saturday’s $3,500 Super Summer Betting Challenge on TwinSpires.

Bettors must wager their entire $2,500 bankroll across at least seven races at Saratoga and Kentucky Downs, with a minimum of $175 in a given race required for it to count toward the seven-race minimum. For more details on the rules and prizes, check out the tournament page.

If you want to climb the leaderboard early on, perhaps first-time starter #5 Exhibit (8-1) in Race 1 at Saratoga can spring an upset at enticing odds.

Race 1 is a maiden special weight for two-year-olds sprinting six furlongs on dirt. Exhibit is a son of Munnings (who sires a solid 14% winners from first-time starters), and he’s trained by Todd Pletcher, who has long excelled debuting juveniles at Saratoga.

Exhibit has put together a promising work tab, and his 8-1 morning-line odds seem a bit too high. He’s worthy of a win bet.

$46,408 Pick 6 carryover at Del Mar

Two graded stakes are part of the sequence for Saturday’s $2 Pick 6 at Del Mar, which features a $46,408 carryover.

The Pick 6 gets underway in Race 5 at approximately 7:02 p.m. ET.

The first of the graded stakes is Race 9, a competitive renewal of the seven-furlong Pat O’Brien (G2). #8 Big City Lights (7-2), a talented California-bred, is 2-for-2 this year and looms as the horse to beat. But don’t underestimate #10 Moonlight (10-1) as a live longshot. He recently made his California debut in the six-furlong Bing Crosby (G1) at Del Mar, in which he trailed early before blazing his final furlong in :11.76 to finish third by 1 1/2 lengths.

Moonlight has long been effective in one-turn miles, so stretching out over seven furlongs for the Pat O’Brien may allow him to rally and snag first prize.

Race 10 is the Del Mar H. (G2), a 1 3/8-mile turf test. #4 Gold Phoenix (5-2) has won the last four editions of this race and exits a win in the Eddie Read (G2) at Del Mar, so he’s a must-use horse in the Pick 6. Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) winner #2 Test Score (3-1) likewise warrants respect.

But don’t forget about #7 Atitlan (6-1). He finished third by a neck against Gold Phoenix in the 2024 Del Mar H., and he recently returned from a long layoff to run a respectable fourth in Del Mar’s one-mile Wickerr S.

Atitlan has won three graded stakes through the years and even beat Gold Phoenix in the 2025 San Luis Rey (G3), so don’t leave him off your tickets.

Good luck!