Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem Oct. 21, 2024

With two big Pick 6 carryovers later this week, Jason writes about the glory days of the old $2 Pick 6 and a big carryover. 

A good Monday morning to you all! I’m not sure how many different states I’ve written this column in, but let’s add California to the list as I’m here in Pleasanton announcing races for a few weeks before I had back to Tampa for the winter season. I’ll tell you more about my experiences here in California in Thursday’s column, but so far it’s been 80 degrees and sunny both days, so off to a good start!

Normally when we get within two weeks of the Kentucky Derby (G1), it feels like there’s a big shift in the air as we build towards that big day. With the Breeders' Cup, I feel like it’s more of a one-week build up for me. I wonder if part of that is because Del Mar doesn’t actually start until the day before the BC begins. So we’ll only have one day to get an idea of how the course might play.

From talking to owners and trainers from Southern California, there are certain horses that really prefer Del Mar to Santa Anita, so I suppose it will be important to look to horses who maybe have enjoyed that surface before. This summer it felt like it was very speed-favoring on dirt, but a couple years ago, I remember a ton of horses looping and swooping the field, so who knows what we’ll get. That Halloween opener hopefully will give us a few clues. 

I was feeling a bit nostalgic tonight reading the headlines that there are Pick 6 carryovers at both Aqueduct and Santa Anita when they both resume racing later this week. For you younger players, sit around and let old Uncle Jason tell you about the glory days of the Pick 6. 

Let’s go back to a time I like to call the 2000s. We had internet, most of us had cell phones, and instead of Twitter, we had chat boards to talk about racing on. Aww such a simpler time. But back then the Pick 6 was king. Usually in Southern California, a one-day carryover would be around $80,000 to $110,000 depending on the day. If you got the rarer two-day carryover that went up to over a half-million or more, it became a racing holiday. 

The best was when these carryovers were at Santa Anita because Trevor Denman would start prognosticating but would always add the caveat that he was not guaranteeing anything. He’d say almost verbatim, “No guarantees but based on past experiences that pool could go well over $3 million!” Everyone would start putting together tickets. Most of us had no shot, and players like me would usually try to find two singles and go two deep in four of the legs for $32. Maybe just one single for $64 if I was really feeling frisky. 

If you were in the OTB or at a track, then everyone was tuned into the start of the sequence. We were all still alive! I remember one time in 2007 watching from Indiana Downs as Hollywood Park got ready to kick off a big carryover Pick 6 sequence. Some big longshot got loose early, and the favorite came rolling super late and just got up in time. Vic Stauffer said something to the effect of “everyone can take a sigh of relief.” Spot on Vic. All of us chalk eaters almost got bounced. We got bounced the next race instead. 

I think I hit two Pick 6s back in those days, one at Del Mar for $3,200 and one at Santa Anita for $2,000. I missed one at Aqueduct that was paying $37,000, and I couldn’t eat for the rest of the day because I felt so sick after my horse got passed in the final few jumps. The Pick 5 is the big wager nowadays, and carryovers are rarer than they used to be because it’s obviously easier for someone to hit five legs with a 50-cent base wager than it was to hit six with a $2 base. But this week I hope people get pumped for these sequences and we can live a little like it’s 2003. If only we could punch tickets into our Nokia cell phones. 

Good luck out there this week everyone!