Regardless of how much money is wagered on Tuesday’s Ultimate 6 at Tampa Bay Downs, bettors can rest assured the entire jackpot will be paid to the winners – or, possibly, one winner – in time to stuff a lot of stockings for the following day’s Christmas celebration.
Whether players plan to stay up late the next two nights handicapping Tuesday’s fourth through ninth races, or their strategy involves using favorite names and/or numbers, everyone starts from the baseline, hopeful their first choice (or one of their choices) in the fourth gets them off to a flying start.
With a carryover of $46,794 after today’s action, the Ultimate 6 jackpot is expected to grow to somewhere around $150,000. Six-out-of-six correct on today’s card paid $9,630.96 to two winners.
Post time for Tuesday’s first race is 12:10 p.m., with the fourth race scheduled to go off around 1:40.
While the Ultimate 6 jackpot is difficult to win, even more so because it is normally awarded only when there is a single winner, its popularity rests in its 20-cent price. No one can expect to hit it by making only one selection in each race (it’s theoretically possible, of course), but a ticket with two selections in every race costs only $12.80, well within the means of the average racegoer.
The difficulty of hitting the Ultimate 6 with two choices in each race is also high, but bettors can do the math themselves to discover choosing three horses per race (3x3x3x3x3x3, x 20 cents) jumps the cost to $145.80, diminishing the incentive to leave those two dimes for your ticket seller. A more common approach might involve, say, “singling” one horse in a race with two in a couple of races with three in two others and six in the last; that example costs $43.20, and if your single wins early you might set yourself up for a lot of fun.
Of course, there is nothing to stop bettors from teaming up with friends on a more expensive ticket if they believe their time has arrived to be rewarded for all their good deeds in 2024.
So, yeah, it’s tough, but for the amount of money at stake, it should be.
Just remember to wear long pants if you’re thinking you have the right stuff to make a serious run at the bundle.
Around the oval. It might not be long before fans start calling Samuel Marin the Tom Cruise of the Oldsmar oval. He’s making nearly all the right moves as he pursues a jockey title only 15 days into the meet. The 23-year-old Venezuela product rode three winners today, giving him 14 over the last six racing days.
Marin has 23 winners for the meet, five more than current runner-up Samy Camacho, who has won the last four Tampa Bay Downs riding championships.
Marin won today’s first race on 3-year-old gelding Seven Anniversary, owned by Span Investments and trained by Reynaldo Yanez, wearing down Little Lukey and Camacho by ¾-length after a hard-fought stretch duel. Marin then won the second race to sweep the early daily double on Spunforfun, a 3-year-old filly owned by Julian De Mora, Jr., and trained by Juan Carlos Avila.
Marin added the fifth race on the turf with Das Ist Alles Ally, a 2-year-old Florida-bred filly owned by Terry Bruner and trained by Mike Dini. That victory was No. 100 in 2024 for Marin.
Tampa Bay Downs is closed Wednesday, Christmas Day. The track will jump into its traditional 4-days-a-week schedule beginning Friday, when it holds its annual Calendar Giveaway, with the first 5,000 patrons receiving a commemorative 2025 calendar free of charge (with paid admission).
With its spectacular photography and timely reminders of upcoming events, this is always one of the track’s most popular promotions, and fans are encouraged to get theirs before they run out.
Besides Christmas and Easter, April 20, the track is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.
