Other than hoping your bank is open on Presidents Day (mine is) if you've had a rough holiday wagering weekend so far (I have), how should one approach today's $1.2 million pick-six carryover at Santa Anita? Dive into the pool or pass on a tough-looking card and root for a $3 million carryover into Wednesday?
I'm diving, not because I have any illusions about hitting for seven digits or outhandicapping better-bankrolled people far better versed in the subtleties of California racing than I am. My strategy with these mammoth carryovers is to hope it's a day where the sequence proves "easy" enough that I can be one of 50 to 500 winners and collect a severely inflated payoff.
Let's say they bet $3 to $4 million today, making the front end of the pool around $3 million. Forty percent of that 6-of-6 pool is free money from the last three days. So a 50-winner payoff would be around $60,000 instead of $36,000 and a 500-winner payoff would be $6,000 instead of $3,600.
---In regard to Friday's "Some Global Perspective" post, seth says "I think the top 12 is missing some countries," and goes on to mention Canada and South America, and Dave also asks, "Did you overlook your neighbours to the north?"
I used only the 12 countries for which The Jockey Club reported a 2006 handle of over $1 billion, and the United States was the only such nation in North or South America. Canada ranked 14th in global handle with $524 million in 2006 and no South American country topped Chile's $209 million.
Here's the complete list, with Western Hemisphere countries in boldface:
Source: The Jockey Club
