Judy Wagner
Home: New Orleans, La.
Age: 54
Occupation: Part time insurance sales and sports travel
Road to the Finals: Finished first and won a total of $29,000 in prize money at the River Downs Handicapping Contest on July 17-18.
Bio: Judy Wagner was the winner of the second Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship, defeating a field of 203 players and taking home a $100,000 grand prize in January 2001. Her final national championship-winning bankroll was $237.70, which was good for a $7.30 margin of victory. After being in contention throughout the two-day contest, Wagner's big break came late in the event when she picked a winning $33 longshot and then survived a heart-stopping inquiry to move into a lead that she never relinquished. She qualified this year for her fourth national finals appearance with a win and a $29,000 payday in the River Downs Handicapping Contest, and also finished second in a tournament at Fairplex, which also would have been good enough to qualify for NHC VI. Other NHC appearances include a 30th-place finish at NHC V as a member of Sam Houston's Valley Race Park team, and a 136th-place finish as defending champion at NHC III. Wagner was a former executive director of a sports travel company in Atlanta. She was introduced to racing by her husband, Bryan, who took her to the Fair Grounds when they started dating in the mid-1990's. The couple frequently takes trips to racetracks and handicapping contests around the country. Judy also has been active as a horse owner along with her husband Bryan in racing partnerships including the Karmak Galactic Stable and GWM Farms. Stakes winners have included horses such as Fly Cry, and Prankster, a horse who trainer Tom Amoss once called "the ATM Machine" during his career that included 12 wins, five seconds, a third for $396,000 in earnings from 1998 to 2001. Prankster was also named the Claimer of the Year by the Kentucky HBPA in 1999. Judy is also involved with fellow NHC VI qualifier Richard Goodall in GWM Farms' Anna Em, a multiple stakes winner of races such as the Ohio Debutante. When not at the races, Judy also enjoys tennis, sewing, cooking, travel, and spending time with her two grandsons. She has also attended the last 16 Masters, and the last three Republican National Conventions.
Photo: Horsephotos