Gulfstream 10-Cent Rainbow 6 Returns $414,166

A Michigan man and two friends cashed a 10-Cent Rainbow 6 wager worth a record $414,166 at Gulfstream Park Jan. 7.

It wasn't until a week ago that Mark Haidar of Dearborn started playing Gulfstream’s Rainbow 6 wager while on a visit to South Florida. Seven days later, Haidar and his buddies were reveling in being the ones to take down the innovative and unique wager with a $1,323 part-wheel ticket.

Haidar and his friends played the Rainbow 6 at Northville Downs, approximately 30 minutes from Detroit. The winning payoff was the biggest in the history of the dime wager, which was introduced for the 2011 meet and requires bettors to have the only unique ticket with the winners of the last six races on the program.

“It’s a great bet that Gulfstream started,” said Haidar, an attorney. “I will play the $2 Pick 6’s sometimes, but if you’re not a big bettor you really don’t feel like you have a chance. I mean, my 10-cent ticket would have cost $27,000. With the 10-cent bet people can compete without being a big bettor. You can really spread your ticket out.”

The only race Haidar and his friends singled was the seventh race, which was won by track-record holder and second time starter Discreet Dancer.

“After I realized how the bet worked last weekend I got back (to Dearborn) and played it on my own the first day for less than $200,” Haidar said. “I called my friend the next day and we put $400 into it and had four (winners) that day. Then I called him back and said we needed to spread a little more money. He called another buddy and we had three the next day, but we had all three of the other ones get beat at the wire.

“So Saturday we got together again and I figured our ticket would cost somewhere between $1,000 and $1,800. I told the guys we had to have one single and I thought (Discreet Dancer) was the horse most likely to single. He had as good as connections as you can find, jockey John Velazquez and trainer Todd Pletcher. The only thing was he was stretching out for the first time from 5 ½ furlongs to a mile. But it was only one turn and you had to take a chance.”

After having the first five winners on his ticket, Haidar said he waited for track handicappers Ron Nicoletti and Jessica Pacheco to announce what horses were alive in the final race.

“We had six in the final race,” Haidar recalled. “Once they said there were six horses alive, I started calling out our numbers before they did. I felt pretty good about then.”