Ellis Park and Churchill Downs are partnering on a two-day, all-stakes wager this weekend that showcases the major racing at both tracks in the Commonwealth.
The Bluegrass Pick 6 is a $1 wager with a low 15-percent takeout and mandatory payout. The bet starts with three stakes from Churchill Downs' special Arlington Million card on Saturday and concludes 130 miles away at Ellis Park with another stakes trio on Sunday's Ellis Park Derby program. Like other Pick 6 bets, handicappers attempt to have the winners of all six races in a single combination on their ticket.
The Churchill Downs stakes are the $200,000 Lady Tak, $500,000 Beverly D. (Grade 1) and $1 million Arlington Million (G1), while Ellis Park's are the $125,000 Groupie Doll, $100,000 RUNHAPPY Audubon Oaks and $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby. The Bluegrass Pick 6's first leg will be the Beverly D., carded as Churchill Downs' Race 5 with an approximate post time of 2:01 p.m. Central.
“This is just another part of our collaboration among tracks to make Kentucky the best racing circuit in the country,” said Vince Gabbert, Ellis Park's interim director of racing. “By working together, the Commonwealth is going to have the summer's most important turf stakes outside Saratoga on Saturday and then follow that Sunday at Ellis Park with the summer's biggest day of dirt stakes in the Midwest.”
The Arlington Million and its distaff counterpart the Beverly D. are being held at Churchill Downs this year following the closure of Arlington Park in suburban Chicago. Ellis Park relinquished Saturday's racing date to allow Churchill Downs to bring two of the country's most important grass stakes to Kentucky.
Ellis Park will conduct an eight-race card Friday then be open Saturday for the simulcasting of the Million program. Live racing resumes with Sunday's nine-race card featuring five stakes: the $125,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Juvenile, $125,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Debutante, the mile Groupie Doll, seven-furlong Audubon Oaks and mile Ellis Park Derby.
“As Ellis Park celebrates its 100th racing season, it's pretty cool that the Bluegrass Pick 6 interconnects two such historic tracks with a unique wager that we are confident racing fans across the country will embrace,” Gabbert said. “Featuring high-quality stakes racing, we think the Bluegrass Pick 6 will be the weekend's best bet.”
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