One lucky 20-cent Rainbow 6 bettor in Palm Beach really hit the jackpot at Gulfstream Park May 25, cashing for a record $6,678,939.12.
Longtime Thoroughbred owner Daniel Borislow took down the lucrative payoff with a multi-combination ticket that cost $7,603.20. The ticket included all runners in the third, fourth and fifth races, only the No. 1 and the No. 4 horses in the sixth race, and all runners in the seventh and eighth races.
"I've been one of the larger bettors for a period of years," said Borislow. "I guess, probably, I've gotten good at it. I really liked that race (the sixth race) and I keyed that race and it worked out well."
A telecommunications entrepreneur, Borislow owned and bred Toccet, a multiple graded stakes winner that captured both the Champagne Stakes (gr. I) and Hollywood Futurity (gr. I) in 2002.
The winner held the only ticket with all of the winners in the popular multi-race wager's six-race sequence that spanned races 3-8. Heading into the final race, there were 19 tickets alive, but only six unique tickets with the chance to take down the entire jackpot, covering the Nos. 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, and 12.
Callana, the No. 5 horse ridden by Ramsey Zimmerman, won the race and the record payoff for the Palm Beach bettor by a nose in a three-horse photo that included two runners, No. 11 Russian Night and No. 7 Starship Sassy, who were on multiple live tickets and would not have produced a whole-pool payoff with a win.
The $6.6 million payoff came on the day before a mandatory payout of the entire pool was scheduled for Monday's Memorial Day card. It was projected that the Rainbow 6 pool could have reached $16 million.
"First of all I want to congratulate today's winner. We designed the Rainbow 6 to be a life-changing wager," Gulfstream Park President Tim Ritvo said. "We're disappointed like everyone else that we didn't have the chance to see how high the pool could have gone with a mandatory payout on Monday, but this also proves that you never know when someone will get lucky and hit it."
Rainbow 6 wagering will resume Monday with a mandatory payoff of the entire pool as scheduled.
Sunday's winning combination of 1-8-6-1-6-5 included no winning favorites. Bagration ($35.80) started off the record payoff in the third, followed by Cajun Breeze ($22.60), Little Bart ($12.80), Signofaffection ($10.40), Cajun Sunrise ($9.60), and Callana ($12.80).
The record single payout to a Rainbow 6 winner was $3,591,245.44, which occurred on Feb. 22, 2013, when a bettor in New Jersey took down the jackpot.
