The purse for the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship, to be held Jan. 26-27 at Bally's Las Vegas, is an estimated $850,000 with $400,000 going to the winner, the NTRA announced Tuesday.

Both will be records for the eight-year-old national championships. Last year, the total purse was $500,000, with the top prize of $225,000 going to the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger's public handicapper Ron Rippey, who also earned an automatic berth to return to defend his title. The rest of the 255 contestants had to earn their way into the finals through 93 qualifying tournaments at participating NTRA-member racetracks, OTB's, casinos, and websites.

Five berths remain, with a "last chance" tournament to be held Wednesday, Jan. 24, at Bally's. The entry fee is $300, with $250 per entry going toward the championship purse, which is expected to boost it over the $850,000 mark.

In the national championship, contestants make 15 mythical $2 win-and-place wagers on each of the two days, with eight of those being races that everyone has to play, plus seven optional races from six designated tracks. The top 20 finishers earn prize money, plus there is $10,000 in daily prizes for the top scores each day and a team competition - based on where qualifiers earned their berths - with the top team splitting $15,000.

In addition to the $400,000 first-place prize, the champion also earns a special Eclipse Award as Handicapper of the Year.

Kenny Sanders of Louisville won the $10,000 top prize in the Churchill Downs Trackside handicapping contest on March 18, qualifying for the Daily Racing Form/NTRA national finals. Each participant started with an imaginary $40 bankroll and placed 10 wagers, each for $2 to win and $2 to place, and five of those races were mandatory plays.

On July 12, Earl Hartley, a 72-year-old Louisville retiree, earned $5,000 by winning the finals of the meet-long contest at Churchill Downs but later signed a contract saying he would forgo the chance to play in the national finals in Las Vegas because of health issues. The Churchill meet-long finals were played under the same rules as the regular weekly contest, making $2 win and $2 place bets in races 3 through 8 on the Churchill program. Hartley was the winner over Kevin Wright of Charlestown, Ind., who earned $2,500 and also qualified for the national finals.

On Aug. 19, in another Churchill Trackside contest, Phil Crone, 21, ran up his $40 starting bankroll to $146.40 to finish well ahead of his closest pursuers. Each contestant placed 10 wagers, each for $2 to win and $2 to place, from a list of 25 possible races from selected tracks. Crone, of New Albany, Ind., not only earned the first prize of $10,000 but, as the winner of a Twin Spires contest, also become one of just seven handicappers eligible to win a $1 million bonus if he wins the national finals. Also earning spots in the national finals were Michael McIntyre of Bagdad, Ky., and Jim Meredith of Massillon, Ohio., who tied for second.

A total of 12 persons, including Tom Quigley, the publisher of Horseplayer Magazine, qualified at Fairplex Park last summer for the Daily Racing Form /National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship next month in Las Vegas.

The Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Fairplex runs less than three weeks, but Fairplex has an aggressive tournament schedule that has proven wildly popular because of the sheer numbers of people who can qualify for the Championship during its meet. Fairplex sends more people to the Championship than any other track in California.

Quigley qualified on Sept. 22, when Fairplex held the third and final of its one-day, Friday mini-tournaments. Those tournaments were each limited to 30 players who put up a $325 entry fee. The top two finishers each Friday received berths in the Championship. Every one of those Friday tournaments sold out.

Players in the Friday tournaments had to make mythical across-the-board wagers on one horse per race in the last 11 races at Fairplex that day.

Quigley vaulted from third place to first in the final race of the tournament by correctly selecting Baby I'm Lonely, a 9-1 shot who won the first start of his career for trainer Craig Lewis.

"It's an extremely well-run tournament," Quigley said. "They post the results after every race. I knew where I stood, and what odds range I needed to be looking at."

Quigley said he likes the tournaments at Fairplex "because of their simplicity."

"It's not labor intensive," he said. "It's not like a tournament where you're looking at 20 different tracks. It's just the races at Fairplex. I like the fair. I like the laid-back atmosphere. When you're playing this tournament, you can go to the paddock and check out the horses."

This marks the third time Quigley has qualified for the Championship.

In addition to Quigley, who lives in Beverly Hills, Calif., the other Friday qualifiers were Kelsey Onaga of Diamond Bar, Calif.; Edward Magenheimer, Glen Cove, N.Y.; Steve Hartshorn, Newport Beach, Calif.; and brothers Kevin "Duke" Matties and Paul Matties, Laguna Beach, Calif.

Fairplex also had three weekend tournaments on Sept. 9-10, 16-17, and 23-24 that sent another six persons to the Championship.

In those weekend tournaments, players had to make mythical across-the-board wagers on one horse per race in the last eight races at Fairplex both Saturday and Sunday. The top two finishers each weekend qualified for the Championship.

Howard Hong, the television analyst at Turf Paradise, might be the best known of the six qualifiers from the weekend tournaments. Hong finished second the final weekend to Tom Noone of Redondo Beach, Calif., who topped a field of 145 players.

Others qualifying from the weekend tournaments were Ed Hill of Temple City, Calif.; Ray Ramirez, Norwalk, Calif.; Mark Bertolucci, Milbrae, Calif; and Sally Wang, Las Vegas.

Jerry Brown, who runs Thoro-Graph out of New York City, turned a $6,000 bankroll into $39,341 in two days of betting at Del Mar to win the Del Mar Handicapping Challenge and become one of six persons who qualified last summer at Del Mar for the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship next month in Las Vegas.

Five persons qualified the weekend of July 29-30, when 50 of the game's most successful bettors and tournament players gathered at Del Mar. The sixth Del Mar qualifier was James Norris of Indiana, who won the meet-long Del Mar Internet contest.

The tournament Brown won was a live money tournament. In addition to the money he won at the windows, Brown received a check for $20,000 for winning the tournament. Runner-up Dennis Tiernan of Woodlands, Tex., whose bankroll ended up at $23,759, earned $5,000 for finishing second.

Also qualifying were David "The Maven" Gutfreund of Chicago, Ross Gallo of Jupiter, Fla., and Mark Streiff of San Pedro, Calif. Dennis Decauwer of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and Toby Turrell of Westminster, Calif. -- who were third and fourth, respectively, at Del Mar -- already had qualified for the championship tournament, thus allowing the sixth- (Gallo) and seventh- (Streiff) place finishers at Del Mar to advance to the finals.

Players had to put up $6,000 of their own money and bet a minimum of $300 per race on every race at Del Mar July 29-30.

"I like this tournament because it's most like playing horses," Brown said. "Rather than emphasizing a separate set of skills -- trying to find longshots -- this not only involves how to handicap but how to bet, which are all the skills that are emphasized as a horseplayer."

In the Internet contest won by Norris, more than 7,000 persons participated in an on-line contest at www.DelMarRacing.com that lasted from July 19 through Sept. 6. That contest was free to enter. Contestents had to play one race per day, and do so with an imaginary $100 per race.

BEULAH PARK

Jason Pippenger of Cincinnati, Ohio was certainly in the zone during the Beulah Park National Handicapping Championship Qualifier Handicapping Contest on Dec. 9. Pippenger cashed on eight of the 15 plays required in the contest, many of them at big prices, to dominate a tournament field of 354 entries. In so doing, Pippenger earned first prize of $21,000 as well as one of the berths offered to the first six finishers in the Beulah contest to the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship on Jan. 26 and 27 at Bally's Las Vegas.

Pippenger finished with a total mythical bankroll of $222.80 in a contest with a format that required $2 win and place wagers on a single horse in 15 different races. Eight of the 15 races were mandatory live races from Beulah, while the other seven were optional choices by the contestants on races at Aqueduct, Calder Race Course, Fair Grounds, Hawthorne, Hollywood Park, Laurel Park, Tampa Bay Downs, and Turfway Park.

Pippenger finished first by almost $80, a whopping margin due directly to the fact that six of his eight win and place wagers returned $55.40, $44.20, $22, $24.80, $32.20, and $40.80.

The second through sixth place finishers, all of whom also earned spots in the NHC, with final bankrolls, were: Mark Ely of Grove City, Ohio, $143; Richard Armstrong of Arlington, Tx., $138.80; David Petrosek of Florence, Ky., $131.80; Dean Goulet of Nashua, N.H., $128.90; and Pat Gianforte of Cary, Il., $126.40.

DELAWARE PARK

Speaking of dominant handicapping contest victories, David Malatesta of Wilmington, De., posted just such a score over 361 other contest entries in the Delaware Park Handicapping Tournament on Dec. 9 to earn a first prize of $18,000 and a berth in the DRF /NTRA National Handicapping Championship on Jan. 26 and 27 at Bally's Las Vegas.

This tournament was a real money contest requiring contestants to put up an entry fee of $100, plus a $200 betting stake. Contestants had to make a minimum wager of $20 per race with no maximum wager cap on at least 10 races, although there was no limit to the number of races a contestant could play. Contestants had their choice of races from Aqueduct, Calder, Laurel, Philadelphia Park, Tampa Bay Downs, and Turfway.

Although Malatesta's contest total of $6,619.20 was nearly $2,800 higher than the runner up's, he did not move to the lead until he cashed a $700 win wager on Richland Creek ($17.60) in the 12th and final race from Turfway Park.

Helaine Barash of Staten Island, N.Y., finished second with a final total of $3,828.50 and earned the tournament's other berth to the NHC. Barash bet $435 on Richland Creek, who was a first time starter in a maiden special weight event.

Malatesta owns racehorses, and campaigned Smart Guy, winner of the 1999 Pennsylvania Derby. This will be his first trip to the NHC. Barash has been to the NHC at least once before.

TVG INTERNET ONLINE CONTEST

Charlie Chapple of Louisiana, Douglas Burden of Texas, and Allan Corns of New York all earned berths in the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship on Jan. 26 and 27 at Bally's Las Vegas by finishing first, second and third, respectively, in the TVG Internet Online Handicapping Contest on Dec. 10.

TVG's online contest format required contestants to make win and place bets on races 4, 6, and 7 at Aqueduct, races 6-8 at Fair Grounds, and races 5-8 at Hollywood Park. Chapple finished with a bankroll of $126.50, besting Burden's final total of $123.20, and Corns's tally of $120.10.

Mark Anderson, a 41-year-old Las Vegas resident, put up the top score on the opening day of the inaugural Prix de Paris handicapping tournament at the Paris Las Vegas on March 10 and held on for first prize.

Contestants put up $1,000 to enter and made 15 mythical $2 win-and-place wagers each day of the tourney. After the first day, Anderson had accumulated a score of 175 points, based on parimutuel payouts and capped at 25-1 to win and 12-1 to place. On Saturday, he added 86.80 for a two-day point total of 261.80 to easily outdistance second-place finisher Terry Turrell, 63 of Sunset Beach, Calif., who had 218.90. Turrell had been in sixth place after Friday’s action but motored past four contestants to grab the runner-up spot.

Anderson’s winnings were $22,875 for first, plus another $3,050 for having the opening day’s top score. Turrell earned $7,686. Both also earned automatic berths into the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship at Bally’s Las Vegas, plus airfare and hotel accommodations, though Anderson doesn’t need the airfare since he’s already at the site of the NHC. Paris is the sister property of Bally’s.

Chicago-based horse owner John Orecchio and trainer Michael Dini took a $25,000 claimer named Wild Tale and won a minor stakes with him at Mountaineer Park last August, finished second in the Grade 3 Phoenix BC at Keeneland last October, and finished third in the Grade 3 Sport Page Handicap last year on Breeders’ Cup Day at Belmont Park.

Now they have another wild tale to tell.

Orecchio, 40, was an investor in the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts organization and came to Vegas for the Aug. 26 fight card at Mandalay Bay. He brought along Dini, and they decided to put two entries into the Summer Stakes horse handicapping tournament at Bally’s at $1,000 apiece.

Players made 15 mythical $2 across-the-board wagers each day, with six races being mandatory and nine being a player's choice. Scores were based on each horse’s mutuels, with prices capped at 25-1 to win, 12-1 to place, and 6-1 to show.

Orecchio-Dini won the tournament with a final score of 262.50, and their other entry finished third with 219.20 points, earning them $38,250 for first and another $5,049 for third.

Since the winning entry is in Orecchio’s name, he earned one of the two available berths in the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship.

Cheryl Kaufman, 54 of Hacienda Heights, Calif., was second with a score of 239.40 to earn $12,699, plus another $5,100 for having Saturday’s top score, as 194.60 of her total points came on the final day, earning the tournament’s other automatic bid to the NHC.

Dennis Perrillo, a handicapper from Elk Grove Village, Ill., won the Arlington Park DRF/NTRA Handicapping Contest Qualifier on Sept. 11, earning a $16,000 cash prize and one of three berths in the eighth annual national finals at Bally’s Las Vegas on Jan. 26–27. The Arlington competition, which drew 300 entries, required players to make $10 win or place wagers on 12 races, six mandatory and six chosen by participants. Perrillo finished with a $426.50 bankroll, beating Darren D’Eath of Windsor, Ontario, whose second-place total was $382. D’Eath also qualified for the national finals along with Joe Rich of Leetonia, Ohio, who wound up with a $361 bankroll, $10 more than the fourth-place finisher.

Frank D'Ambra, 52, of Cos Cob, Conn., earned one of two spots up for grabs in the national finals by finishing second in the August edition of the Monmouth Park Handicapping Challenge. He qualified in the $50 buy-in contest by cashing his last bet of the day on a race simulcast from Saratoga. D’Ambra was in the 2002 NHC after winning a qualifier at Belmont in 2001, and this is his first trip back since. John Zielinski of Etticott City, Md., won the August challenge at Monmouth but had already qualified for the national finals by finishing second in a contest at Emerald Downs.

Sean Nolan finished third in the August Handicapping Challenge, winning the other NHC berth offered in the August challenge. Sean, 42, was off to a quick start, holding a spot in the top three of the standings for much of the day, but a big win bet on the 10th race at Monmouth cemented his position. This is his 2nd trip to the national finals. In his prior appearance, he finished second to Judy Wagner in the 2001 contest, earning $30,000. His father, Robert Nolan, will also be in this year's national finals.

Seth Altshuler of Matawan, NJ, won Monmouth's meet-long Survival at the Shore contest, which was conducted on-line from May 27 until Sept. 4. Altshuler, 28, took the lead with a few weeks to go and wrapped it up on the last day, catching 6-1 winner Slew's Irish Em to clinch. A serious horseplayer for only five years, this is his first appearance in the national finals, which will be his first- attempt in a live tournament.

Les Harris of Keller, Texas, won Oaklawn Park's first qualifying tournament for the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association's National Handicapping Championship after his selection of $95 winner Kon Krete Kid in a race at Saratoga. He beat out 162 other players to win the two-day competition that was held Aug. 12-13.

Harris was actually one of four players who picked nose-winner Kon Krete Kid, which turned the competition into a heated race. In the end, Harris won with a bankroll of $374.50, which more than tripled the $120 that was played by each contestant. The runner-up was Ken Arthur of Bismark, Ark., with a bankroll of $328.40, and the third-place finisher was James Giddins of Bedford, Texas, who compiled a bankroll of $300.90. All three earned a trip to the NHC in Las Vegas in January.

Harris also earned a first-place check of $12,000 for his victory at Oaklawn, which was not his first score in a tournament. He won one at Retama Park near San Antonio in 2004. One of his favorite angles is determining horses who might be cycling into good races.

"I'm always searching for horses who appear to be in improving form," said Harris.

Diane McClyment of Bel Air, Maryland, traveled south to Texas to win a berth in the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association's National Handicapping Championship, topping 163 contestants at Sam Houston Race Park's qualifying tournament on September 23. The key to McClyment's victory was selecting Meadow Breeze ($70.50) to upset the Grade 1 Matron at Belmont Park under Kent Desormeaux.

"I tend to think that 2-year-old races can be totally unpredictable," she said. "There were no real standouts in the race, and the filly was ridden by a good jockey."

McClyment won the Sam Houston tournament with a bankroll of $175.80. The runner-up was Steve Lombardo of Houston, with a bankroll of $164.80, while Hulon Sistrunk of Mansfield, California, finished third with a bankroll of $140.60. McClyment won the first-place prize of $8,000, while all three players earned trips to the NHC.

McClyment's husband, Mack, has also qualified for the NHC, in a tournament at another facility on June 3. The NHC finale will be held in Las Vegas.

"One thing we have going for us is that we lived there for 17 years, and returning to Las Vegas will not be the distraction for us that it can be for some finalists," said McClyment.

Keith Davis of New Orleans was rewarded for tracking the offspring of Prime Timber, as one of the stallion’s sons, Batboy, pulled a 66-1 upset in a maiden race at Belmont Park to help Davis win the Louisiana Downs qualifier for the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship.

There were 149 entries in the October 14 competition, and Davis won with a bankroll of $195.40.

The key to his success was pegging Batboy in a maiden special weight race on turf. Davis said he selected the horse in part because he had been noticing the success Batboy’s sire, Grade 2 winner Prime Timber, was having with some of his turf starters. Batboy won by a neck in the mile and an eighth race, run over good turf at Belmont.

For the win in the Louisiana Downs tournament, Davis earned $10,000. The runner-up in the competition was Chris Meeks with a bankroll of $178.80, and the third-place finisher was David Hulkewicz, with a bankroll of $158.80. All three players earned a trip to Las Vegas to compete in the NHC.

Crediting the Tomlinson ratings that appear in Daily Racing Form past performances, Anthony Amabile of Jersey City, N.J., won the Meadowlands Racetrack's Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association Qualifier handicapping contest on Oct. 28 to earn a berth in the National Handicapping Championship on Jan. 26 and 27 at Bally's Las Vegas. Amabile also won a top prize of $10,880.

Contest runner-up Jack Kurz of Whippany, N.J., also earned a spot in the NHC.

Amabile finished with a bankroll of $1,810 in a tournament that required contestants to make 10 wagers on their choice of races from the Meadowlands, Santa Anita, Mountaineer, and Retama. Wagers were either win, place, or a win-place combination on one horse per race, with a minimum bet of $20 and a maximum bet of $100.

Amabile's big move was a $50 win-and-place wager on River's Prayer against the 1-5 Cambiocorsa in the California Cup Distaff. River's Prayer won at 18-1, netting Amabile $1,340 for the bet.

"I liked River's Prayer, but she hadn't run on the turf," Amabile said. "The favorite opened up at 1-5, but the Tomlinson ratings in the Daily Racing Form gave Cambiocorsa a 397 and a higher rating to River's Prayer, a 399, which is a very high rating. I thought the horse would take to the turf and the Tomlinson ratings convinced me to take a shot."

Amabile, who founded Meadowlands Associates Inc., an advertising and public relations firm that services political campaigns and government agencies, is a longtime racing fan and veteran of many other handicapping contests at the Meadowlands. The Qualifier was his first contest victory.

AQHA online contests

Darrell Randle of Vinton, La., won the American Quarter Horse Association's MBNA America Challenge Championships Online Pick Six Contest on Nov. 11 to earn a spot in the NHC.

Contestants attempted to pick all six winners of the MBNA America Challenge Championship races, which were held at Lone Star Park. Randle, a Quarter Horse owner and a patron of Delta Downs, picked four of the six winners, as did at least the next nine contest finishers. Final standings were determined by a tiebreaker, in which contestants guessed the final time of the MBNA America Challenge Championship. Randle's guess of 21.52 seconds came closest to race winner This Snow Is Cold's final time of 21.669. Randle will be making his first trip to the NHC.

Two other berths to the NHC were won in AQHA online handicapping contests held earlier in the year. In the AQHA All American Online Contest, which ran Sept. 3 and 4, Mark Richards of Pembroke Pines, Fla., took first place and won a spot in the NHC by best predicting the order of finish in the All American Derby and the All American Futurity run at Ruidoso Downs.

Delbert Saunders of San Antonio, Texas, earned the other berth in the NHC by winning the AQHA Dash to the Challenge Contest. This contest required contestants to accumulate points based on mythical $2 win, place, and show wagers on a series of stakes races run between May 21 and Aug. 11 at Delta Downs, Les Bois Park, Sam Houston Race Park, and Prairie Meadows. Saunders amassed 97.1 points, besting the runner-up by more than 13 points.

Zia Park

Dale Holman of Willow Park, Texas, won Zia Park's handicapping tournament on Nov. 19 to earn first prize of $3,420, plus one of three berths in the NHC.

The other two berths went to runner-up Ron Childress of Albuquerque, N.M., and third-place finisher Gloria Atok of Garland, Texas.

The tournament attracted a full field of 150 entries, although participants could buy up to two entries. The format called for $2 win and place wagers on Zia Park's 11 live races, with a 15-1 odds cap on win payoffs and a 7-1 cap on place mutuels.

Holman, an insurance adjuster who was making his first visit to Zia Park but has participated in other handicapping tournaments, finished with a bankroll of $88.80, $5 more than Childress. Childress finished $2.40 ahead of Atok, who qualified for the NHC three years ago.

Churchill Downs

By a mere 40 cents, Morris Krebs edged Tim Gardner to win the final round of the Churchill Downs Fall Meet Handicapping Contest. The track called it one of the closest finishes in the history of handicapping competition at Churchill Downs.

Although Krebs's first prize of $5,000 was double Gardner's runner-up award, both earned trips to the NHC. Krebs and Gardner are both Louisville-based handicappers.

Krebs finished with a mythical bankroll of $76.40. After Gardner, it was a sizable gap back to the third finisher, Craig Meuter, also of Louisville, who finished with a bankroll of $67.

Hollywood Park

Kevin Geraghty rallied from off the pace to win Hollywood Park's 2006 Turkey Shoot-Out Handicapping Contest, conducted on Nov. 25 and 26, and earn a berth in the NHC.

Runner-up Craig Kaufman and third-place finisher Robert Pecoraro also earned spots in the NHC.

The Turkey Shoot-Out was a real-money handicapping contest requiring each contestant to make a $2,000 cash buy-in. On the first day, contestants had to wager $200 per race on the Hollywood Park races either to win, place, or win and place. Win and place wagers could be split up at the discretion of the contestant, so long as the total wager equaled $200. Any contestants with money remaining after the first day advanced to round two on the second day. On day two, contestants had to wager their entire bankroll on the day's 10 races in 10-percent increments of their first day total bankroll. Contestants kept any dollar amount in their bankroll at the conclusion of the contest.

Geraghty, who was in seventh place after the first day, finished with a total of 5,270. Kaufman finished with 4,233, and Pecoraro finished with 3,927.

Ira Schwartz, who had a lead of almost 4,000 points going into the second day, faded to fourth place.

Frank Priola of Davenport, Fla., captured first place in Thistledown's handicapping tournament on Nov. 11, and in the process secured one of the contest's three berths in the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship at Bally's Las Vegas on Jan. 26 and 27. He also earned first prize of $3,187.

Gina Turner, who finished second in the tournament, and third-place finisher Jamie Michelson Jr. also earned spots in the NHC. Like Priola, this will be Turner's first time competing in the NHC, but that is certainly not the case for Michelson, who won the NHC in 2005, and who has competed in the NHC two other times.

Priola, the chief financial officer at the Orange County (Calif.) Jail, accumulated a mythical bankroll of $117.20 in a contest format that called for $2 win and place bets on seven races at Thistledown, and a contestant's choice of five other such wagers from races at Aqueduct, Calder Race Course, and Laurel Park. Priola's total easily topped Turner and Michelson's respective totals of $94.80 and $88.40.

Priola, whose big move in the contest came with a 30-1shot at Laurel, said he employed jockey and trainer statistics as a guideline for placing his contest wagers.

"At the end of January, I hope to be feeling as good as I was at the end of Thistledown's tournament," he said.

Meadowlands

At the urging of a friend, Tony Castellano of Wayne, N.J., competed in the 2006 Meadowlands Thoroughbred Online Survival Challenge. It was good advice. Castellano, a first-time participant in an online handicapping contest, won the Survival Challenge to earn the contest's only berth to the DRF/NTRA National Handicap-ping Championship.

"My friend convinced me to participate," Castellano said. "He went out on the first night, and I kept on winning. I never expected to survive."

The Survival Challenge ran the duration of the Meadowlands's Thoroughbred meeting, from Sept. 29 through Nov. 11, and required contestants to make mythical $2 across-the-board wagers on three designated Meadowlands races each night. Castellano accumulated a bankroll of $698.40, which gave him a $25.20 cushion over the runner-up.

Laurel Park

Larry Mungiole of Philadelphia won the fall edition of the Maryland Jockey Club Champions Tournament handicapping contest Nov. 11 at Laurel Park to earn a spot in the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship.

In a tournament in which contestants began with a $200 account bankroll and were required to make minimum wagers of $20 on a pool of races from Laurel, Aqueduct, Calder Race Course, Churchill Downs, and Delaware Park, Mungiole finished comfortably in front with a final accumulated bankroll of $2,236.10. In addition to earning his berth in the NHC, Mungiole also earned first prize of $7,350.

Mungiole, a horseplayer for 30 years, credited his victory to having competed in handicapping tournaments for five years. Runner-up Frances Filoso and third-place finisher Frank Sorensen, a captain in the New York City Police Department, are also experienced handicapping tournament contestants, and they earned the other two berths in the NHC that were up for grabs.

This will be the second straight year Sorensen will represent the Maryland Jockey Club in the NHC. Filoso finished with an accumulated bankroll of $1,968.80, while Sorensen's final bankroll was $1,820.

Aqueduct

With a powerful second day in which he nearly tripled his first day score, Russell Weber of Amityville, N.Y., won the Aqueduct Handicapping Challenge, which ran Nov. 11 and 12, to earn a berth in the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship and a first place prize of $35,000.

Weber was 18th in the field of 203 players after the first day with a score of 346, but in his big day on Sunday he finished with a total of 1,310 points, just 12 points ahead of Tony Linares. Chuck Martin finished third with 1,238 points. By virtue of their second- and third-place finishes, Linares and Martin also earned spots in the NHC.

The format in the Aqueduct Handicapping Challenge required contestants to make nine mythical $20 win, place, or show wagers, plus one $40 wager each day of the tournament.

"I came into the second day with a strategy to keep hitting 8-1 or 10-1 shots," Weber said. "But the thing that got me over the top was back-to-back winners at Aqueduct. High Again was only 7-2, but I was behind and trying to edge closer to make my key bet on Keep Your Day Job in the seventh."

Indeed, after High Again returned $9.80 to win after the sixth race, Weber used his $40 wager on Keep Your Day Job, who paid $24.40 in the seventh race.

John Ray closed with a rush to defeat 479 other entrants in Delaware Park's NTRA qualifier on October 14. Ray, 62, from Honey Brook, Pennsylvania, placed a $200 win wager on Xupal in the final race from Calder, and was rewarded when the juvenile filly won her maiden to the tune of a $37.60 mutuel. Not only did Ray win the $24,000 first prize, but he will be automatically entered in the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship at Bally's Las Vegas next January.

Stanley Bavlish, 54, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, also played Xupal, and his second-place finish earned him $8,100 in prize money as well as a coveted berth in the NHC Final.

Delaware Park's handicapping contests are some of the most successful in the industry, and $48,000 in prizes were up for grabs. After ponying up a $100 entry fee, contestants were required to use a $200 live money bankroll with $20 minimum wagers (Win, Place, and Show only) on at least 10 races. Ray's winning total was $4,822.10.

Top five finishers with cumulative totals and prize money won:

1. John Ray - $4,822.10 - earned $24,000
2. Stanley Bavlish - $4,039.20 - earned $8,100
3. William Burns - $2,080 - earned $5,300
4. John Klamo - $2,067.50 - earned $2,800
5. Jeremy Smith - $1,982 - earned $1,400

Steve Wolfson, Sr. rallied powerfully from off the pace to defeat 185 other entrants in the July 8 DRF/NTRA National Handicapping qualifier at Colonial Downs. Along with a spot in the NHC at Bally's Las Vegas next January, Wolfson also won $7,600 in prize money.

The Colonial Downs qualifier consisted of six mandatory races from the live card as well as six optional events to be chosen from Colonial, Arlington Park, Belmont Park, and Churchill Downs. Mythical $2 win-place bets were wagered on one horse in each race. The entry fee for the contest was $150, and the top 20 finishers shared the $14,780 prize pool.

Wolfson struggled early, but soon hit his stride after collecting on Bestowed ($6.20, $3.80) in the fifth mandatory race. In Churchill's ninth race, Wolfson correctly selected Bark Alley ($30.60, $16.60), and he put the icing on the cake with Silver Timber ($37.40, $11.20) in Belmont's tenth race. Wolfson finished with a bankroll of $110.20. George Duncan finished second with a bankroll of $99.20 while Joseph Scanio placed third with $87.80. Defending Colonial qualifier champion Michael Teal finished twenty cents behind Scanio. Duncan and Scanio will join Wolfson in Las Vegas for a shot at the National Handicapping Championship.

Aided by a successful $10 exacta wager in the Claiming Crown Express, Michelle Davis claimed the top prize of $50,000 in the Claiming Crown Ultimate Handicappers Open at Canterbury Park on July 15. Davis also won a seat at the 2007 DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship at Bally's Las Vegas.

Davis suffered through some anxious moments as Express winner Castello d'Oro ($71.80) clipped heels after being bumped at the start. The gelded son of Stolen Gold soon found himself five paths wide on the turn before uncorking a solid rally to get up in the late stretch. Philadelphia Park invader Texmckay completed the exacta at 7-1 odds for trainer Bernell Rhone. The exotic wager paid $325.90 for a $1 investment, and propelled Davis to the highest contest bankroll with $5,200.

Steve Flaherty finished second with a bankroll of $4,141. He earned $11,800 in prize money. Third place finisher Bill Shurman picked up a check for $5,900. Since Shurman had previously qualified for the NHC, fourth finisher Randy Gallo Jr. received an entry to the NHC along with $3,540 in prize money. Richard Freeman rounded out the top five finishers, and earned a check for $2,360.

The Claiming Crown Ultimate Handicappers Open involved a $1,000 entry fee as well as a $1,000 live bankroll. Contestants were required to bet at least half of their bankroll on six of the seven Claiming Crown Races plus the Lady Canterbury Breeders' Cup Stakes.

Thanks in part to Preacher Brown's victory in the seventh race at Churchill Downs on July 1, Bill O'Neal of Centerville, Ohio emerged as the winner of the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Qualifier at Hoosier Park.

"The horse at Churchill is really the one that put me in the lead," said O'Neal, a Vice President Stockbroker for Merrill Lynch. "I was able to hit six of the last seven races which helped me finish the contest strong."

O'Neal has achieved previous glory in handicapping tournaments. He qualfied for the DRF/NTRA National Championships in 2002 at his home track of River Downs.

In addition to his first prize of $10,000, O'Neal receives an all-expense paid trip to the Las Vegas for the National Handicapping Championship.

By winning a qualifier at a track run by Churchill Downs Inc., O'Neal becomes eligible to grab a bonus offered by Twin Spires Club. If O'Neal wins the National Championship at Bally's Las Vegas next January, he will receive an additional $1 million.

Joining O'Neal as Hoosier's representatives to the NHC are Wayne Kwan and Tom Kappel. Kwan traveled from Vancouver, British Columbia for the contest, and earned $5,000 after connecting with nine of 20 races. An experienced tournament player, Kwan will compete at the National Handicapping Championship for the first time.

"I've been trying to qualify for the past three years. I probably have the record for the most top 10 finishes and never made it to Vegas."

Kappel received $2,250 for his third place finish. A senior project engineer for medical ultrasound products, Kappel often plays the races at Fairmount Park.

"I played in this tournament last year," said Kappel. "I've been trying to get to Vegas for the past three years. This is the first time I've qualified. Preacher Brown in the seventh at Churchill really helped, but I was pretty consistent all day, finishing in the top two 13 of 20 races."

A total of 190 players participated in the contest.

Any horseplayer looking to qualify for the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship at Hollywood Park has to go through Tim Downs. One of the most accomplished tournament players on the circuit, Downs earned $5,000 in prize money as well as another trip to the national championship with his victory in the July 1-2 contest at Hollywood Park.

The Hollywood Park contest was held under real money format rules with a $2,000 buy-in. Entrants were required to play 10% of their bankroll ($200) on Win and Place wagers for each race during the tournament.

Downs catapaulted to the lead in the second race on day one when Mamselle Aries ($72.20, $23.40) won a maiden race for three-year-olds and upward. He never looked back. Along with his $5,000 in prize money, Downs kept the $8,976 in real money that he earned in the tournament. As an added treat, Downs will receive $500 in poker chips, and a free room upgrade for his assault on the National Handicapping Championship at Bally's Las Vegas next January.

Downs may very well be one of the top contenders for the National Championship. Along with his father, he won the $381,500 Championship at the Orleans in 2001 over 683 other entries. Downs also earned $46,080 with his fourth place finish in the Coast Casinos Horseplayer World Series.

Runner-up Damian Roncevich of Hawaii, and third-place finisher Steve Pollack of La Mesa, CA will receive $100 in poker chips as well as their automatic berths in the NHC.

Hollywood Park will offer three more automatic NHC entries with their contest to be held on November 25-27.

- Bill Downes, the track announcer at Beulah Park, emerged victorious in the June 24 NHC Online Qualifier. Downes ended up with a total of $79.80 from his 10 mythical $2 Win and Place bets. His big score came with Matty G Whiz ($26.60, $14.00) in the first race at Hollywood Park. Terry Nolan of Hermosa Beach, CA finished second with $76.80 in contest earnings. Nolan closed with a strong late flurry when Spooked ($28.20, $9.80) won the next-to-last race in the contest. Joan Houston of Fallston, MD also rallied powerfully. Houston earned $59.60 of her $74 final total in the last two contest races. William Shurman ($71.80), Ron Geary ($69.80), and Gilson Fontz ($69.80) will join the top three finishers at Bally's Las Vegas for the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship next January.

In a thrilling finish, Roger Siple turned his $200 bankroll into $4,440.50 to earn a grand prize of $25,000 in Delaware Park's Handicapping Contest on January 17. A handicapping veteran from York, PA, Siple had previously won $21,500 in a Delaware contest held in 2004.

Paul Kopaj of Oceanport, NJ finished second with $4,399 in contest earnings. Kopaj made $8,500 in prize money for his efforts.

Greg Knepper of Westlawn, PA finished with a final total of $3,618, and earned third prize of $5,000. Doug Schenk of West Hempstead, NY earned $3,000 after his total of $3,050 was good enough for fourth place.

Siple and Kopaj defeated 501 other handicappers to earn berths in the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas next January. Both scored with My Typhoon ($6.80) in the last race of the contest. Roger bet $600 to win on the Bill Mott-trained My Typhoon while Kopaj bet $400 to win on the filly. The margin of victory was the shortest in Delaware Park tournament history.

Mayer Kanter of Sioux City, IA outlasted 65 other horseplayers in the Prairie Meadows handicapping tournament on June 17. The tournament specified a registration fee of $100 and a buy-in of $400. Kanter earned a whopping $3,350 following his victory. Sue Ashby finished in the runner-up spot with $1,340 while Tom Reed of Northbrook, IL finished third with $1,005. All three have now qualified for the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship at Bally's Las Vegas on January 26-27, 2007.

Each entrant in the Prairie Meadows contest was required to place at least one wager during the tournament. "I wasn't in the lead until the last couple of races," said Kanter, an attorney and former racehorse owner. "I did win one race at Prairie Meadows, got lucky, and went to the lead."

Ashby, a homemaker from Des Moines, IA, is a newcomer to the tournament scene. This was her first handicapping contest since having come into the sport in the early spring of this year. Ashby's technique involves studying the Prairie Meadows live program together with other simulcast programs from other tracks.

Reed, an attorney and religion teacher, was one of the pacesetters in the tournament. "I was in the lead for a long time," said Reed. "I was real nervouw. I didn't want to make bets and start losing, but I knew people would start coming up and catching me. And, they did. My strategy was to sit and stop making bets - just sit at the table, and try to relax, which I didn't."

Dennis Tiernan of The Woodlands, TX earned a grand prize of $5,000 and a trip to Las Vegas with his victory in the Lone Star Park handicapping tournament last weekend. The two-day tournament was held on Saturday, June 17 and Sunday, June 18. Rounding out the top three spots were Wesley Kucera of Forney, TX and Bill Gossage of Ozark, Arkansas. Kucera earned $2,500 for his runner-up finish while Gossage collected a check for $1,000. Both will join Tiernan at Bally's Las Vegas next January for the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship.

Prize Breakdown

1st Place: Dennis Tiernan
2. Wesley Kucera
3. Bill Gossage
4. James Gidden ($750)
5. Michael Frank Forzano ($500).
6. Rocky Alvarado ($250).

Barbara Saveski and Gerry Daube are heading to Las Vegas after finishing 1-2 in the Tampa Bay Downs handicapping contest on April 1. Saveski, 72, a former public school principal, transformed her starting mythical bankroll from $1,000 into $4,696 to win the contest handily. Daube, 37, ended up with $3,165 in contest winnings to secure the runner-up spot. Saveski and Daube are both from the Tampa area, and defeated approximately 100 other competitors who registered for the track's qualifying rounds of the tournament.

Saveski drew away from the field after her $280 win bet on maiden Deb's Gone Shopping paid dividends. Deb's Gone Shopping returned $15.80 to win.

Daube's big score came with a $100 Win-Place wager on maiden Larry's Forty Two.

A once-a-week player at Tampa Bay Downs, Saveski said she relies on instinct based on watching the horses, trainers and jockeys prior to wagers.

Saveski's husband, Henry, finished third in the contest with only $79 fewer than Daube.

* Suk Tae Yoon earned a $25,000 check with his victory in the Battle of the Handicapping Stars contest at Santa Anita Park. Yoon won a $5,000 real money contest on Santa Anita races held on March 11 and 12. Players needed to wager at least $250 per race on eight races on March 11, and at least $500 per race on six races on March 12. Yoon's final bankroll was $21,450. Toby Turrell cashed a $5,000 check after his final total of $16,301 was good enough for second place. Sol Feingold finished third with $14,205. Thomas Owen placed fourth with $12,331. Mike Mayo ended up fifth with $11,171, and Louis Constan finished sixth with $9,760. All six players qualifed for the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas next January.

* Ruby Castillo, 64, collected a payoff of $11,040 with a victory in the Royal River Racing "Midwest Classic" qualifying event for the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship on June 3. Castillo, of Timpson, TX finished the contest with winnings of $126.40. Dennis Bicsak, 59, of West Palm Beach, FL finished second with $83.80 in winnings to collect the $5,520 second prize. Mack McClyment, 62, of Las Vegas, NV finished third with $78.60 in winnings. McClyment earned $3,450 in prize money, and will join Castillo and Bicsak in the 2007 NHC tournament.

* Canterbury Park's ninth annual $50,000 Road to Kentucky Handicapping Tournament sponsored by Jim Beam went to Dave Rasmussen of Minneapolis, MN. Rasmussen earned $2,000 in prize money for coming out on top in the 13-week tournament, which concluded on May 6. The free tournament required entrants to select horses at selected tracks each week. Points were awarded based on mythical $20 across-the-board wagers with Derby prep races awarding double points and the Derby itself earning triple points. Rasmussen previously qualified for the National Handicapping Championship in 2003, and won the Road to Kentucky contest by 146 points over Walter Bush III of Chanhassen, MN.

Canterbury Park will host a National Handicapping Championship qualifying event on Claiming Crown Day, Saturday, July 15. The Claiming Crown Ultimate Handicappers Open sponsored by NTRA will qualify three players, and will offer a guaranteed first prize of $50,000. Canterbury will also host a two player qualifier on August 12-13, and a three person qualifier on October 14.

* Robert Bauder nipped Ivan Chan and Dennis Waller to win the Stampede Park NHC qualifier held on June 3 and 4. Bauder finished the contest with $187.20 to earn $4,445 in prize money. Chan's total of $180.80 was a dime more than Wellar's final score. Both received $741. All three will head to Las Vegas for the National Handicapping Tournament at Bally's Las Vegas.

James Templin of West Chester, Pa. was the last one standing for Turf-Vivor V at Gulfstream Park, and took home the grand prize of $100,000.

"How do I feel? Very relieved," said Templin. "This is the third year I've been doing these things (handicapping contests), but it's my first year here at Gulfstream. I made up my mind I was going to come down here over the holidays.

"Once I knew I was coming, I began charting all the races here since the day the meeting opened, paying particular attention to track bias and the way it affected each class of horses," Templin said. "Believe me, doing that made a world of difference."

Handicapping contest veteran Joe Esposito, 61, earned $10,000 with his second-place finish. Esposito, from Baltimore, Md., had won the final handicapping championship tournament hosted by Penn National Racecourse in 2000.

Lisa Kaufman, 23, a recent college graduate from Los Angeles, and the Turf-Vivor runner-up in 2005, finished third.

The top three finishers are all automatically qualified for the DRF/NTRA Handicapping Championship Tournament at Bally?s Las Vegas next January 26-27.

* New Jersey natives completed the exacta in the finals of the Simulcast Series Challenge on April 29 at Monmouth Park. Robert Nolan, of Brielle, and Mike Murphy, of Little Silver both earned automatic spots in the 2007 DRF/NTRA Handicapping Championship Tournament next January. Nolan turned his $200 betting card into $1,518 to win the top prize of $2,500.

The Simulcast Series Challenge Invitational consisted of a group of 35 handicappers, who had to finish in the top five in one of the SSC events held earlier in the year in order to qualify for the final. Nolan won the online leg of the Challenge on April 1, while Murphy finished second in the April 8 challenge at Monmouth Park.

With his victory over 359 other handicappers in Monmouth Park's $50 handicapping contest on May 27, James Abbott took home the top prize of $3,560, and earned a berth in the 2007 DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas. Abbott, 63, finished the day with $823.30 in contest winnings. Jared Hutt placed second with $799.00 while Ken Jordan grabbed the show with $329.50.

Abbott, a New Jersey native, has been a lifelong racing fan. He drove a car carrier for the Ford Motor Company plant for 27 years. Abbott is not only a Monmouth Park regular, but he enjoys traveling to racetracks across America. Abbott has visited 40 different racetracks, and has now competed in six handicapping contests.

* With a final bankroll of $382, Charles Stephens of Champaign, Ill. took down the top prize of $11,000 in the Trackside OTB DRF/NTRA Handicapping Contest Qualifier on April 8. Stephens outlasted 199 other contestants including runner-up Mark Stanford of Wayne, New Jersey. Stanford amassed $327 in contest winnings, and earned $5,000. Gerry Stoiber of Mokena, Ill., won a tight photo finish for third place. His final total of $301.50 was only a half-dollar better than fourth-place finisher Alex Silvensky of Townsend, Wisconsin. Stoiber earned $3,000 while Silvensky took home $1,000.

The top three finishers gained automatic entry into the 2007 DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas. Arlington Park will host a second DRF/NTRA qualifier on Sunday, September 10. Registration for that tournament will begin on August 16.

* Heather Warfield, an auto parts store manager from Fallston, Md., won the Maryland Jockey Club Champions Tournament at Laurel Park on March 4. Warfield, 23, not only is a successful tournament competitor, but she also owns a retired racehorse and a Thoroughbred yearling filly. Russell Priola, a 44-year-old painter and avid horseplayer from Buffalo, NY, finished second while Joan Mudge from Baltimore finished in third place. These three will move on to the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas next January.

Culminating a year of qualifying tournaments, the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship was held just two weeks ago, but there's no rest for the weary.

Qualifying tournaments for next year's finals start this weekend with two such events. At Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday, the winner will earn a berth into next year's NHC, set for Jan. 26-27 at Bally's, as well as round-trip airfare to Las Vegas and hotel accommodations. At Sports Haven in New Haven, Conn., this Saturday and Sunday, the top three finishers will earn berths to the NHC while the fourth- and fifth-place finishers will qualify for the Horseplayers' World Series at The Orleans in Las Vegas, also to be held next January.

Last year, Ron Rippey of Wayne, N.J., finished second in the Sports Haven tournament to earn one of the year's first NHC berths. He parlayed that into the $250,000 first-place prize two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, here in Las Vegas there are no qualifiers this month, but upcoming tournaments are right around the corner, and top tournaments players are making their reservations.

On March 10-11, Paris Las Vegas - the sister property of contest host Bally's - is home to the inaugural Prix de l'Paris tournament with an entry fee of $1,000 and a format that requires each player to make 15 mythical $2 win-and-place wagers each day, including six on races that everyone must play. The top two finishers will receive NHC berths.

Other NHC qualifiers hosted by the Bally's/Paris family will include the Summer Stakes on Aug. 25-26 (same format as the Prix de l'Paris), with two spots on the line, and a pair of last-chance events, also awarding two berths apiece, to be held next January in the week before to the finals.

Bally's will also host the Bang Tail Harness Tournament on Aug. 5, a one-day live money contest in which entrants pay a $300 entry fee and also make $360 worth of parimutuel wagers. That isn't an NHC qualifier, since it doesn't involve Thorough-breds, but the top two finishers will earn spots in the National Harness Handicapping Championship to be held at The Meadowlands in the spring of 2007, plus a $500 travel allowance.

The Championship at the Orleans is slated for March 30 through April 1 with its standard $500 entry fee and 12 mythical $100 win wagers per day. The top 50 finishers earn spots in the Horseplayer World Series. The same format is planned for the Oct. 5-7 Fall Classic at the Orleans, and the Coast Casinos also host the Gold Coast Summer Classic on July 20-22 with a win-and-place format.

The Las Vegas Hilton will conduct three Pick the Ponies contests for the second straight year. The traditional ones are held the three days prior to the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup - May 3-5 and Nov. 1-3 this year - with the second annual summer edition to be held on Aug. 17-19 to capitalize on the popular meets at Saratoga and Del Mar. Contestants in those events pony up $500 and make 10 mythical $100 across-the-board wagers each day.

If the accompanying chart looks smaller than in previous years, that's because it doesn't have any tournaments held up in Reno.

Harrah's Reno has held an annual spring tournament since 1999 and the Reno Hilton has held two to three events a year the past four years, but both casinos have canceled their tournaments in the early part of the year. Reno Hilton spokesman Charles Williams said his company, which is in the process of being sold, is supposed to have meetings in the next week or two that could result in contests being added later in 2006.

South Coast hosts first racing event

On Monday, the newly opened South Coast on south Las Vegas Boulevard hosts its first racing event with a meet-and-greet with jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. and trainer Carla Gaines at 9:30 a.m. The event will be hosted by Ralph Siraco.

For good measure (and added good will), there also will be a free $1,000 handicapping contest on the first five races at Gulfstream.

Derby futures update

With Monday's announcement that Stevie Wonderboy would be taken off the Kentucky Derby trail after suffering an injury in a workout, it certainly shook up the world of Derby futures.

All previous wagers on the Breeders' Cup Juvenile champ, whether in the fixed odds here in Vegas or in the parimutuel Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby Future Wager, all are action and now worthless barring a medical miracle. In Pool 1 of this year's Derby Future Wager conducted two weekends ago, Stevie Wonderboy closed at 8-1 as the close second choice to First Samurai among individual betting interests (the field was the 3-1 favorite).

Here in Vegas, more specifically at the Wynn Las Vegas race book, Stevie Wonderboy was the 7-1 favorite when he was taken off the board. As of Wednesday night at the Wynn, Brother Derek, who defeated Stevie Wonderboy in the Grade 2 San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 14, had become the favorite at 10-1, with First Samurai at 12-1, and the quartet of Bluegrass Cat, Henny Hughes, Private Vow, and Your Tent or Mine at 20-1.

On the come: Las Vegas horse handicapping contests

Dates	Contest	Host Hotel	Entry Fee
March 10-11	Prix de l'Paris	Paris Las Vegas	$1,000
March 30-April 1	Championship at The Orleans	The Orleans	500
May 3-5	Pick the Ponies XXVIII	Las Vegas Hilton	500
July 20-22	Gold Coast Summer Classic	Gold Coast	400
Aug. 17-19	Pick the Ponies XIX	Las Vegas Hilton	500
Aug. 5	Bang Tail Harness Tournament	Bally's Las Vegas	660*
Aug. 25-26	Summer Stakes	Bally's Las Vegas	1,000
Oct. 5-7	Fall Classic at The Orleans	The Orleans	500
Nov. 1-3	Pick the Ponies XX	Las Vegas Hilton	500

* Live-money tournament, includes $300 entry fee plus $360 in live pari-mutuel wagers