The autumn 2025 betting menu at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita Park includes a new wager, the $1 Sunset Pick 6. The Sunset Pick 6 will feature a low 15% takeout and will be comprised of the final three races from both Santa Anita and Gulfstream on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays this season.

Let’s take a closer look at handicapping all six of the races involved in Sunset Pick 6 this Saturday, Sept. 27, with picks for each race individually and tips for which horses to include in the various legs of the Pick 6. The first leg of the bet goes off at 5:05 Eastern or 2:05 Pacific Time on Saturday. Enjoy racing and wagering at Gulfstream and Santa Anita. Best of luck!

Sunset Pick 6 Strategy for Saturday, Sept. 27

Gulfstream Park, Race 9, $75,000 Leinster Hollywood Beach Stakes, post time 5:05 p.m. ET

Learn more about the Sunset Pick 6

The Saturday Sunset Pick 6 starts off with this very difficult five-furlong turf sprint stakes that has drawn a field of nine 2-year-olds. Trainer Patrick Biancone appears to have two of the top three contenders in the race with the filly #8 Lennilu leading the way based on her course and distance win earlier this year in the $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Filles Stakes. That race was an automatic Royal Ascot qualifier, and she certainly was not embarrassed in her Royal Ascot race when she ran third in a 23-horse field in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes. Since then, she’s come back to win a Gulfstream stakes race at six furlongs on the dirt, and she now seems ready, willing, and able to win again back on her preferred surface on the grass. Biancone’s other entrant, #7 Squire, also can’t be overlooked on bigger-budget tickets based on his runner-up finish earlier this year in the five-furlong $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes here at Gulfstream. The other horse to use on your pick 6 tickets is #9 Monster, a horse that blew away the field by nine lengths in his first turf sprint outing two races ago and then went to Saratoga last time and finished second behind the highly respected Bobrovsky in the $139,000 Skidmore Stakes. Bobrovsky is expected to be one of the favorites in next month’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar.

Sunset Pick 6 Play: The pick is #8 Lennilu (2-1) to win. Start your Pick 6 with both Lennilu and #9 Monster (9-5). Players with bigger budgets can also consider adding #7 Squire (9-2) to your tickets in Leg 1.

Gulfstream Park, Race 10, $23,500 claiming, post time 5:36 p.m. ET

An eight-horse claiming field going a mile on the main track will take center stage in Leg 2 of the Sunset Pick 6. With a lot of wide-open races in this pick 6 sequence, this race appears to be one of the more straightforward races of the day. #7 Luni Sima has been in good form in two recent races and looks like the horse to beat based on his somewhat easy win two races ago when last trying this one-mile distance and at this $6,250 claiming level. Following a third-place finish at a higher level going 6 ½ furlongs last time, Luni Sima drops in class back to the winning level, returns to one mile, upgrades jockeys from a seven-pound apprentice to the red-hot Miguel Angel Vasquez (24% wins at this meet), and puts blinkers on for this race.

Sunset Pick 6 Play: The pick in the race and the single in the Sunset Pick 6 is #7 Luni Sima (8-5).

Gulfstream Park, Race 11, $70,000 Maiden Special Weight, post time 6:08 p.m. ET

The nightcap at Gulfstream and the third leg of the Sunset Pick 6 will be this maiden race for 2-year-olds featuring a 10-horse field set to run a mile on the turf. Ideally, you’d be able to see the action on the tote board before betting a race like this, but unfortunately that will be impossible as this is the third leg of the sequence. Therefore, we may have to go deep enough on our tickets to at least cover the live first starters. Trainer Todd Pletcher shows up with #3 Affirming for Repole Stable, ridden by Edgard Zayas, and he will be impossible to ignore. There are also two Mark Casse-trained first starters in the field with decent worktabs, #2 Tiadoro and #10 Tossing, and both of those should be included as well. Gulfstream’s leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. also has a first starter, #9 Welcome Surprise, and it also would seem foolish to leave him out. The suspicion is that at least one of these first starters from big-time barns should show up ready to run and be as good or better than the horses in this field that have already raced.

Sunset Pick 6 Play: The pick in this race is Todd Pletcher’s #3 Affirming (5-2). For the pick 6, it’s advisable to use as many horses as possible in this race including at least #2 Tiadoro (10-1), #9 Welcome Surprise (8-1), and #10 Tossing (7-2).

Santa Anita Park, Race 8, $200,000 Eddie D Stakes, post time 7:38 p.m. ET

The Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes features a field of eight set to race 6 ½ furlongs on Santa Anita’s downhill turf course and is the fourth leg of the Saturday Sunset 6. #8 First Peace flopped last time in a five-furlong Del Mar graded stakes race when needing a race off an 11-month layoff but now has a prime opportunity to rebound in his second race off the layoff and back on his favorite turf course at Santa Anita where he has never finished off the board in a turf sprint. First Peace is the defending Eddie D champ from last year and he will be finishing strong in the stretch behind a live pace with regular rider Mike Smith aboard. If he’s the same horse as he was last year, he's the horse to beat. If for any reason First Peace is not ready to roll in his second start off the layoff, #1 Reef Runner looks like a good alternative in the Sunset Pick 6. He has won turf sprints at Gulfstream and Del Mar in both of his recent races (although he was disqualified and placed second last time in the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap), and while he has never raced this 6 ½-furlong distance, he seems like a horse that should be tailor-made for this downhill assignment. The third horse that deserves your consideration based on your budget is #5 Yellow Card, who finished second last year in the Grade 1 Ainsworth Franklin Simpson Stakes at Kentucky Downs in his only career outing so far at this distance.

Sunset Pick 6 Play: The pick in the race is #8 First Peace (9-2). Other horses to include on your Sunset Pick 6 tickets are #1 Reef Runner (3-1) and #5 Yellow Card (7-2).

Santa Anita Park, Race 9, $300,000 Goodwood Stakes, post time 8:08 p.m. ET

The Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes has drawn a field of seven horses in search of a “Win and You’re In” Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series berth into the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. The big name in the field is #7 Full Serrano, the winner of the 2024 Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile who just won his 2025 debut at a mile by 7 ¼ lengths at Del Mar on Sept. 1. He shouldn’t have a problem stretching out to this 1 1/8-mile distance but could really be put to the test if the pace of this race is fast. The field contains three horses trained by Bob Baffert, and while it’s possible that none of the trio of #1 Gaming, #3 Privman, or #5 Nevada Beach may end up winning the race, they definitely will play a role in heating up the pace of this 1 1/8-mile race. The most likely beneficiary of a scenario like that is #4 First Mission who invades for trainer Brad Cox after a disappointing second-place last time behind longshot Surface to Air in Monmouth Park’s Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes. When judged based on his better efforts this year, however, First Mission has the look of a horse that will sit a perfect close-up stalking trip and should beat his opponents if able to duplicate his efforts earlier this year when he won the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap at this distance and ran a competitive third behind the likes of Mindframe and Sierra Leone in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 1 Stephen Foster Stakes.

Sunset Pick 6 Play: The pick in the race is #4 First Mission (8-5). Include both First Mission and #7 Full Serrano (2-1) in your Sunset Pick 6 bets.

Santa Anita Park, Race 10, $100,000 John C. Harris Stakes, post time 8:38 p.m. ET

The final leg of the Sunset Pick 6 will be the Grade 3 John C. Harris Stakes (formerly the Unzip Me Stakes) with a full 13-horse field of 3-year-old fillies set to run 6 ½ furlongs on the downhill turf course. You didn’t think they were going to make this easy, did you? With this big field containing so many contenders, you could easily triple or quadruple the cost of your pick 6 tickets in this race if you’re not careful. Therefore, let’s narrow this down to a single and hope to make it this far with one live clean-up horse on our tickets. That horse is #6 Casalu for trainer Bob Baffert, who is only listed at 5-1 in the morning line odds but seems like the standout horse in the field based on a win in her only lifetime start to date on this course in the $102,000 Sweet Life Stakes back in March where she successfully fended off a mid-race challenge and won anyway as much the best. She ran big at a mile two races ago when able to secure second behind Thought Process in the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap and you can toss out her loss last time when stretched beyond her distance capabilities in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks Presented by Keeneland Sales. Cutting back to this downhill turf sprint distance, she’ll be the horse to beat.

Sunset Pick 6 Play: The pick in the race and the single in the Sunset Pick 6 is #6 Casalu (5-1).

Sunset Pick 6 ticket ($72 budget):

7,8,9 with 7 with 2,3,9,10 with 1,5,8 with 4,7 with 6 (3 x 1 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1) x $1 = $72

Note: A more economical $48 version of this ticket can be played by excluding #7 from the first race in the sequence.