Joe Hinson is the patriarch of the first family of horse handicapping tournaments. The Hinsons have won more than a dozen major titles and close to a million dollars in prize money since 1988. It has been a sweet 16-year run. But this last victory was bittersweet. Joe Hinson won the Bally's Moolah tournament last Friday and Saturday. He outlasted a field of 19 players who put up a $5,000 entry fee for a shot at a Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship berth and a prize fund of $95,000.

Hinson took more than half the pool with first-place winnings of $38,000, plus $7,125 for having the highest score on Friday and $3,562.50 for having the third-highest score on Saturday for a grand total of $48,687.50.

The bittersweet part was that it was his first victory that he couldn't celebrate with his wife, Valerie, who passed away Jan. 28 after a long bout with cancer. While the vast majority of tournament players are men who leave their wives at home (or send them shopping or to play the slot machines), Valerie was not only a supportive wife but a willing participant as they were a 1 and 1A entry on the circuit, commuting from their home in Germantown, Tenn., to tournaments from coast to coast.

Valerie was a three-time winner of the World Championship of Horse Racing Handicapping events that ran from 1983 to 2000 at the Club Cal Neva Casino in Reno and was almost always there to cheer on her husband.

When the National Handicapping Championship began in 1999, the Hinsons traveled around the country to countless qualifiers. But even though their successes continued in many other tournaments, they came up blank in NHC qualifiers. Joe was 0 for 4 years - until he finished third in the Summer

Stakes at Bally's last August to finally earn a berth. But fate dealt a cruel blow when Valerie's health turned for the worse in the weeks leading up to the NHC on Jan. 23-24. Joe called tournament officials the week of the finals to say he wouldn't be coming, nor would their daughter Kelly Phillips, who had qualified by winning the Turf-Vivor tourney at Gulfstream last year.

The disappointment of missing the NHC was furthest from the family's mind the following week when Valerie died at the age of 49.

When asked about playing without his wife, the soft-spoken Hinson said, "I miss her." And that's all that had to be said. His sad eyes told the rest.

So, it seemed right that Hinson was able to secure his NHC berth early this year. And he did it in relatively easy fashion, leading wire to wire. Bally's Moolah contestants make 15 mythical $2 win and place bets each day, counting bets on six races that are mandatory. Prices are capped at 25-1 to win and 12-1 to place, with a five-point bonus for each first-place finisher selected.

In the first mandatory race last Friday - the first at Keeneland with 3-year-old maiden claimers going 1 1/16 miles - Hinson's own computer program came up with longshot Rio Ruckus.

"When I put in the play with five minutes to post, he was 30-1," Hinson said. "He drifted up to 50-1. In a tournament like this with a cap, I wouldn't have played him if I knew he was going to be 50-1, but my play luckily was already in."

Hinson wasn't too thrilled with his play when Rio Ruckus stumbled out of the gate, but he rallied to victory, paying $104 to win and $41.40 to place. Even with the cap, Hinson was off and running. He said he played mostly favorites the rest of the day in the tournament (not even using Senorita Jazzy in Bay Meadows's fifth race, which he fortunately bet at the windows to the tune of a $140.20 win mutuel) and was the first-day leader with a total of $133.80.

Hinson again employed a conservative style on Saturday and proved he can consistently pick winners as well as finding bombs. He had seven winners in his 15 plays on Saturday to finish with a final score of $241.60, well ahead of second-place finisher Ron Geary.

Geary won $11,875 for finishing second, plus an additional $4,750 for having the second-highest score on Saturday, plus another $1,187.50 for having the fourth-highest score on Friday. Al Roehl collected $7,125 for third with a score of $193.70 and another $4,750 for having the second-highest score on Friday. Mario Mabanta only had $32.50 after the first day but got the high score on Saturday to earn $7,125 for the daily prize, plus tournament fourth-place money of $4,750.