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| Four-Footed Fotos |
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Rudy Benes of Countryside, Ill. won first prize of $5,000 in the National Jockey Club at Hawthorne's Buy-In Handicapping Contest held from May 2-4.
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Rudy Benes of Countryside, Ill. cashed his first bet and then never looked back en route to a wire-to-wire victory in the National Jockey Club at Hawthorne's Buy-In Handicapping Contest held from May 2-4. Benes won first prize of $5,000 and also qualifed for the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship V next January at Bally's - Las Vegas.
Benes finished the three-day tournament with a final contest-winning bankroll of $142.80 based on 18 mandatory $2 to win and $2 to place bets on live races from Hawthorne. He never once surrendered the lead after hitting his very first bet of the contest on Mamie Jamie ($14.80 to win, $6.20 to place) in Hawthorne's second race on May 2.
The contest cost $100 to enter and drew a field of 144 entries from 10 states including Alabama, California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Total purse money was $10,000, and the top four finishers all earned trips to NHC V in Las Vegas.
A continual barrage of favorites and low-priced winners throughout the three-day event kept scores generally low. Joining Benes in Las Vegas will be second-, third-, and fourth-place finishers Dennis Peterson of Chicago ($128.80 bankroll), Don Wright of Eastpointe, Michigan ($123.60), and Kay Schricks of Western Springs, Illinois ($119.20). Peterson, Wright, and Schricks earned $2,500, $1,000, and $500, respectively.
Schricks parlayed a free entry into a trip to Vegas after earning a free spot in the Hawthorne tournament thanks to her victory in a weekly contest in April.
Third-place finisher Don Wright showed that he remains a force to be reckoned with on the tournament circuit after posting wins at both the Fair Grounds' $15,000 Handicapping Tournament, and the $20,000 Bettor Racing OTB Midwest Classic in 2002. Wright will return to the National Handicapping Championship for the second straight year after finishing 153rd in NHC IV.
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