Keith Johnston and Peter Rogers were the big winners on DRF Tournaments this past Saturday. They finished one-two in a qualifying tournament for the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship, and each won his $12,000 bankroll for the two-day live-bankroll event on Jan. 25-26. The Pegasus contest is a great deal for horseplayers. The prize pool is put up entirely by The Stronach Group, creating a positive expectation for players. At the contest’s end players keep any amount remaining on their bankrolls and a minimum prize pool of $435,000 is guaranteed. There also is an option to play online as well as at satellite locations at Santa Anita, Laurel Park, and Golden Gate. Saturday’s qualifying contest cost $960 to play and attracted a field of 37 entries. :: Want to get the latest news with your past performances? Try DRF’s new digital PPs The two players took very different paths to qualification. Johnston started strong with $20-plus returns in the second contest event (from Gladiator King, Tampa’s sixth) as well as the fourth (via Syndergaard, Aqueduct’s seventh). From there, he cashed four more times with returns from Honor Up ($17.30) in Aqueduct’s eighth, T Loves a Fight ($15.60) in Aqueduct’s ninth, Peruvian Appeal ($4.60) in Tampa’s ninth, and Stormy Embrace ($4.20) in Gulfstream’s 10th. In the end, his total of $86.80 kept him well clear. Rogers didn’t have either of Johnston’s longer prices but did enough damage of his own by chipping away throughout the contest and pulling out a nice price late to end up with $73.90, just 80 cents ahead of unlucky third-place finisher Shad Walton. Walton built his total through nine races but whiffed in the last three. For his trouble, he gets $2,330 in site credit, so it wasn’t a total loss. As for Rogers, he started with $12.20 from Haikal in Aqueduct’s sixth. He then had two small collections before moving up the board again in the contest’s sixth leg, Gulfstream’s eighth, thanks to Tequilita ($11.20). That was followed by two more small collections. Heading to the last two, he was in trouble, but he went runner-runner to close out in the stakes at Gulfstream and showed his versatility as a contest player in the process. First came $8.60 from the short-priced Dream Pauline, then he made the vault to winning position with $26 back from 7.50-1 Glorious Empire. The other big winner this past weekend on DRFT was Brian Smith. Smith won his $1,500 Horse Player World Series entry in a 32-entry contest Saturday. The Horse Player World Series is a three-day mythical money contest that takes place at Orleans Las Vegas on March 28-30. After missing in the first two events, Smith reeled off five collections in a row, with horses including Syndergaard, Tequilita, and Honor Up. From there, he added two smaller tallies, including critical points from Dream Pauline. Those got him his final total of $78.20, more than $4 clear of the second-place finisher. The contest utilized the all-in format, meaning all picks had to be in before the scheduled post time of the contest’s first race. Looking ahead to this weekend, players will have another chance to punch their tickets for the Horse Player World Series, as well as an opportunity to win their $5,000 buy-ins for DRF’s World Championship of Handicapping, an online contest with no takeout that will take place on a yet-to-be-determined date in 2019. New inventory has been added to DRFT as well. As of this week, players can start feeding into Keeneland’s Grade 1 Gamble every operating day. The first Keeneland direct qualifier will take place Saturday. It costs $410 and 1 in 10 entries will receive their $3,000 Keeneland entries plus $500 in travel. The Keeneland contest is one of the biggest events of the year for many players, who travel from all around the country and Canada to compete, enjoy first-rate hospitality, and take in all that Lexington has to offer. This year’s contest takes place Sunday, April 14. Note that Keeneland also has a smaller live-bank contest the day before, a further enticement for contest players to make the trip. There also are more chances to win into the Pegasus. Every day DRFT offers contests that cost $220 and will send 1 in 5 entries ahead to the next Pegasus qualifier on Sunday, Dec. 30. For more information, including a list of all the games happening at DRFT, go to DRF Tournaments.