Kkahlden romps in Keeneland qualifier

Tournament veteran Lawrence Kahlden was the weekend’s biggest winner on DRF Tournaments, netting a $3,000 seat to the Keeneland Fall Challenge in a 10-runner event on Saturday. Kahlden and second-place finisher Brian Ivery turned the contest into their own private match race sprinting well clear of the rest of the field. In the end, Kahlden’s total of $98.70 proved best by $4.70. The third place finisher was left in the dust with $55.50.

Kahlden got things started with a bang: $58.20 win-place combined from Elizabeth Nicole in the all-in format tournament, where all picks had to be in before the start of the contest. He backed that up immediately with two more cashes, $20 from Code of Honor and $13.10 from Cartwheel. Through three races, he looked awfully tough to beat. Ivery kept plugging away and definitely made a race of it in the middle portion, with three horses that paid $20 or more including Eskimo Kisses ($28.30) in the Alabama. Neither player hit in the contest’s last three races and in the end, Ivery fell just short.

Also on Saturday, Eugene Demarzo finished best against a massive field of 1,255 in the special free tournament presented by Laurel Park. For his trouble, Demarzo received $300 in site credit. Second-place finisher Edmund Erskine got $150 and third-place money for David Krikorian was $50.

Demarzo came flying out of the gate with winners that paid $29 (Sonny Inspired) and $55.20 (Taxable Goods). In most contests, he’d have felt pretty secure from there but not so against a field this large. He kept collecting and ended up with $116.40, a full $15 clear of second. It was an impressive tally, all the more so because it was just an eight-race, all-Laurel contest slate.

Sunday’s biggest winners on DRFT were Peter Acocella and Sean Nolan, both of whom will be headed to Monmouth Park next weekend to compete in the Super Qualifier contest at the Jersey Shore oval. Each won his $500 entry plus $500 in travel by finishing atop the standings in a 22-entry contest.

Acocella was best of all with a tally of $91.70 across the 10-race sequence. After a quiet first two races he cashed in four races in a row for double-digit returns, the longest of which was Petrov ($29.10) in Saratoga’s eighth. He only had one further cash, $13.40 in place points from Pricedtoperfection in Del Mar’s third, but that was enough to get him to the top spot.

Nolan slotted in right behind Acocella with $89.50. He had four collections include a critical late hit for $44.20 in the penultimate contest race, Saratoga’s 10th. Those came courtesy of Blended Vision, the 14-1 wire-to-wire winner of the nightcap. That brought him from mid-pack to a qualifying spot, a position he held through the contest’s anchor leg.

Tournament action returns to DRFT on Wednesday. For a full list of everything happening go to tournaments.drf.com.