In Saturday’s World Championship of Handicapping qualifier, Gregg Kingma won his maiden at first asking, netting a $5,000 seat to the $1 million, no-takeout finals in the process. That’s a slight exaggeration, as Kingma had participated previously in all-in format contests on DRF Tournaments, but Saturday was the first time he played in a live event where picks could be changed for each race once the tournament began. He became a huge fan of the format – and not just because he ended up winning. “In an all-in tournament, it’s like you have handcuffs on,” explained the 56-year old mortgage banker and lifelong Seattle resident. “In any competition it’s more exciting to be able to adjust to circumstances and change what you’re doing. Whether you’re ahead or behind you might want to change your picks.” That was especially true in Saturday’s event where Ed Peters went out to a big lead. “At that point, I knew I was in a hole and that short-priced horses weren’t going to help me enough. Funny enough, two of the favorites I changed ended up winning but I was lucky enough to hit three of my five longshots to get the win.” Kingma might not have much experience in contests, but he already understands the tremendous role that luck can play in any one event. “It’s part skill, part luck,” he continued, “Had the place horse in the last race not been a big longshot, my winner wouldn’t have paid enough to place to get me there.” Indeed, Return of the Rock paid $13.60 and $9.20. How often do you see a 5-1 shot pay 7-2 to place? But the key thing to remember in contests is, winning players put themselves in a position to be lucky. As Kingma said, “You have to give yourself a chance.” Kingma started playing horses decades ago at Longacres, going approximately once a year when he was in college. Then he started a family (he has five grown children), and building his career, handicapping maybe twice a year. In the last several years, he’s made annual trips to Del Mar, and at one of those, an old friend named Fred Desimone invited him to the Kentucky Derby, an event he’d always wanted to attend. “It was the American Pharoah Derby and it was just amazing energy,” Kingma said, “I’ve now been to the last three Derbies and I’ll be going again next year.” Kingma has also started owning horses as a minority partner with Desimone. “He is the greatest partner a person could hope for,” said Kingma. “He really knows his stuff and when you’re around him you can’t do anything but laugh and have a good time.” This summer Kingma got to see their filly Ultimateenticement win at Saratoga on his first trip to the historic oval. This past weekend, he was at Belmont to watch her run in the Bertram Bongard, a New York-bred stakes. She didn’t win on Friday, but Kingma went back to the track on Saturday and notched a win of his own. “I’d heard about contests on the DRF Players’ Podcast and then I started reading about them and decided to give them a try,” he said. “I love them because when you’re at the track and betting cash, that’s great, but playing in a contest and experiencing the competition and seeing your name on the leaderboard takes it to another level.” Kingma’s approach to handicapping is interesting – he focuses on finding fresh horses. “I gave a high preference to horses that have not run for 30 days,” he said, pointing out that his theory came into play with Return of the Rock, who hadn’t been out since November of 2016, against a field that all appeared in the last 30 days. “In my mind, a lot of horses below the top levels race too much,” he continued. “Fresh horses have fresh legs. Some experienced handicappers might shoot a hole in that theory but all I can say is that it’s served me well. That was indubitably true on Saturday.