How to play the Jackpot Hi 5

With the curtain closing on the Woodbine season Sunday, the day’s 14th and final race serves as a mandatory-payoff contest for the track’s Jackpot Hi 5 wager. The 20-cent bet, which requires horseplayers to select the first five finishers, has a 15-percent takeout.

With 14 horses in the body of the race and a contender sitting on the also-eligible list, this is no easy wager to hit – likely requiring bettors to play a large number of combinations. Still, my preference is to take a stand and single for the top position, wanting to spread for the lesser spots and desiring to keep the ticket cost manageable.

The single on the top is Killag Katie (4). Like a couple others in this first-level allowance, she comes off a runner-up finish in her latest, though in the end she outranked them to my eyes due to already being a winner at the race’s seven-furlong trip.

That is not the case with the other recent runner-ups, Springdetti (13) and A Great Time (9), both of whom seem a bit more effective

in shorter sprints. Nevertheless, they go in the second through fifth positions in the Hi 5.

They are among four horses I like for second, with the others being Ravinia (12) and Beautiful Street (3), in-form runners that were both third most recently.

For the third position, I advise using all these same horses, plus Street Masquerade (11). Then for the fourth slot, Sahara Breeze (14) is added, and finally longshot I’ll Take the Cake (10) joins the tickets for fifth.

That leaves a numerical-order ticket that looks like this: a 20-cent Hi 5 play of 4 with 3,9,12,13 with 3,9,11,12,13 with 3,9,11,12,13,14 with 3,9,10,11,12,13,14.

Ticket cost is $51.20. Horseplayers may wish to spread a bit more if the bet – which is typically a jackpot wager –grows its carryover leading up to Sunday. It stood at $4,229.21 entering Friday’s card. Also, bettors would seem well served by adding Sweet Rhapsody (15) to their tickets if that runner draws into the lineup from the also-eligible