A savvy horseplayer including 10/1 Sky of Gold on his ticket cracked Pimlico Race Course’s Rainbow 6 for $479,801.24 Thursday, ending an eight-day stretch of rollovers for the 20-cent wager.

Pimlico Rainbow 6 hit for 479k
PImlico Race Course paid out more than $479,000 to one Rainbow 6 ticket holder Thursday. (Image: Maryland Jockey Club)

The last time someone solved the Rainbow 6 was solved came May 8: closing day for Laurel Park’s spring meet. That came with a mandatory payout of $569.70, which came when no single ticket contained all six winners.

Outside of mandatory payout days, the wager pays its entire jackpot only when there is a single unique ticket with all six winners. Otherwise, 60% of that day’s pool goes back to bettors holding tickets with the most winners. The remaining 40% carries over into the jackpot pool.

Thursday’s pool began with a $432,827.32 carryover from Preakness Day last Saturday. Bettors put nearly $59,000 into Thursday’s pool.

Two long shots were only live horses going into finale

And all the horseplayers with Rainbow 6 tickets went on a wild ride that ended with Thursday’s eighth and final race. That was a six-furlong claimer for maidens aged 3, 4 and 5. Frightland, who went off as the 1/5 favorite, wound up third, behind Sky of Gold and 25/1 Luv Ya Bye Bye. Those two double-digit shots were the only horses on live tickets going into the final race.

Frightland, however, wound up second after Luv Ya Bye Bye was disqualified for interference.

Paying $23.40 to win, Sky of Gold wasn’t even the longest shot to win a race in the sequence. That went to My Super Sally (11.50/1) who paid $25 after she won the second race in the sequence, Pimlico’s fourth.

Rainbow 6 sees another mandatory payout Monday

The other winners in the wager were Vinegar Veggies ($9.80) in the third race, Swayin to and Fro ($10.20) in the fifth, Golden Can ($4.40) in the sixth and Hagler ($9.20) in the seventh. The Preakness meet’s leading rider, Jevian Toledo, went back-to-back on Golden Can and Hagler.

Pimlico’s Rainbow 6 resets Friday with an eight-race card. This edition of the Rainbow 6 doesn’t have much time to build, since Monday’s Memorial Day card comes with a mandatory payout. That marks the closing of Pimlico’s 12-day Preakness Meet.