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John Kopacz, a 59-year-old weekend horseplayer from Sturbridge, Mass., topped a field of 226 entrants to win the $68,000 Bradley Teletheater Handicapping Challenge on July 13. The sixth annual contest is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the country, regularly drawing full fields of horseplayers from a dozen states and Canada to the Hartford, Conn. area for the two-day event.
For the victory, Kopacz earned first prize of $20,000 and also earned one of two qualifying spots in the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship V to be held on Jan. 23-24, 2004 at Bally's - Las Vegas.
Bradley Challenge contestants made 10 mythical $200 straight bets on simulcasts from Belmont, Monmouth, and Hollywood park on each day of the tournament. Kopacz was in sixth-place after the first day of action and then hit three $200 win bets on day two to compile a contest winning total of $15,440. Kopacz's Sunday winners included Famous Call ($41) in race four at Monmouth, Follow Me Home ($12.20) in race nine at Monmouth, and Salute Her ($40) in race 10 at Belmont Park.
Kopacz's total set a new tournament earnings record, and was enough to outpace runner-up Paul Stath by $870. Stath, a 52-year-old welder from Floral Park, N.Y., earned second-prize of $10,000 and a trip to NHC V for finishing with a bankroll of $14,570. Stath started day two in 88th-place but made up ground throughout the day by cashing tickets in six of the 10 horses he bet. It was more than $2,000 back to third-place finisher Wayne Kwan of Vancouver, Canada, who earned $6,500 in prize money but fell short of a trip to Las Vegas.
The contest paid out 100 percent of all entry fees in the form of prizes to the top 20 finishers. Notables in the money included New York Daily News racing writer Jerry Bossert (7th) and handicapping author Steve Davidowitz (19th).
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