Del Mar will feature a “Pick Six Weekend” this Saturday and Sunday with a $1-million single ticket guarantee on Saturday’s 11-race program and a “mandatory” payout in place for Sunday’s planned 11-race card.

Both afternoons of racing will start at 2 p.m. and the Pick Six will be based on the last six races on the days’ cards.

Saturday’s “guarantee” means anyone correctly selecting the bet as a single-ticket winner would get the complete amount in the pot (say possibly $500,000), then earn an additional check from Del Mar to raise the total earnings to $1 million. If there is no single ticket winner, all "jackpot" (single ticket) carryover money will go forward to Sunday.

Then Sunday’s ‘mandatory’ day is just what it sounds like, which means those with the most winners that afternoon – be it six, five or whatever --  will be paid the amount in the pot divided by the total number of winners. There will be no carryovers. 

Nobody was able to hit the popular exotic bet as a single ticket through the first three days of racing at the seaside track’s summer meet, resulting in a $195,122 "jackpot" carryover into Thursday’s Day #4. There are eight races scheduled that afternoon and another eight races Friday prior to the “Pick Six Weekend.” If the wager is not “hit” with a single-ticket winner on those two upcoming afternoons, the bet could have a large “carry” with the possibility of much more to be added. Should the single ticket "jackpot" carry on to Sunday's mandatory payout, a potential final pool of between $2.5- to $3-million is a reasonable possibility.

The Pick Six may be wagered on for as little as 20¢. Normally, it pays out 70% of its total pool to those with the most winners with the remaining 30% being allocated to the single ticket "jackpot" pool and carried forward to the following day’s race program.

The largest win prize in the history of the bet at Del Mar took place on August 1, 2004 when one bettor collected a reward of $2,100,017.