Long captures berth in World Championship of Handicapping

Travers Day was a big winning day for a lot of DRF Tournaments players and was highlighted by a seat awarded to the World Championship of Handicapping, along with two seats won for the Keeneland Fall Challenge.

The $5,000 WCH seat went to tournament veteran Wendy Long, who won it in style by nearly doubling up her nearest competition with a total of $116 in the 10-race, all-Saratoga contest card.

Long got things off on the right foot with Forty Under ($60.40 win-place combined) in Saratoga’s fourth race. She was the only player in the 19-entry contest to use the horse, and those points alone would have been close to enough. But Long connected four more times with Marley’s Freedom ($10.10), Whitmore ($25.30), and place points on Channel Maker ($8.20) and Mendelssohn ($12). Second-place finisher Sam Poggi ended up with $62.60 and Bruce Pratt (more on him later when we get to Sunday) was third with $61.40. Each will receive $1,800 in site credit.

The Keeneland seats came via two separate contests, one that included $500 in travel money and one that was just for the $3,000 Keeneland entry. The $3,500 package went to Tyler Whisman with a score of $60.40. This marks the second year in row when he has qualified for a major tournament on DRFT on his birthday weekend. Last year he won a Santa Anita Autumn Challenge seat, which he then parlayed into an NHC seat.

Whisman’s only hit in the contest came right off the bat with Forty Under. He blanked thereafter, but like the old multiple stakes winner Presious Passion, the early lead was just too much and his competitors could not run him down. He also benefited tremendously from the late money that showed up on Spring On Curlin in Saratoga’s 13th, the contest’s anchor leg. The horse was 11-1 as the gates were loading and the player in second place, Vance Normand, played the horse. When they crossed the wire and Whisman saw that Spring On Curlin had won with a big longshot second, meaning a juicy place price, Whisman was sure he’d been beaten. But Spring On Curlin ended up going off at 7.50-1 and Normand missed the win by $1.40. Happy birthday, Tyler.

Normand and third-place finisher Michael Martin each won $700 in site credit.

In the other Keeneland qualifier, Ernest Hey and Donald Gambill both hit Forty Under immediately to turn that 10-entry contest into a match race. Hey got stuck on $60.40, but Gambill chipped away with place collections on Elate and Channel Maker, good enough for a total of $71.40 and the victory.

On Sunday at DRF Tournaments, the aforementioned Bruce Pratt won a seat to the Orleans Fall Classic, a three-day mythical-money tournament at the Orleans Las Vegas on Oct. 11-13. Pratt had three cashes for a total of $54.40, the longest of which was American Ninja ($32.20) in Saratoga’s 10th.

Also this weekend, Monmouth held its Super Qualifier contest on the Jersey Shore. Eight players won seats to the National Horseplayers’ Championship and two won berths to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. Players started with $500 in their bankrolls and put up another $500 to fuel the prize pool. The overall winner was Emily Kyrillou, and Paul Shurman continued his furious bid to become the first-ever two-time NHC Tour winner. Here are the top 11 finishers with their final bankrolls and prizes won:

Emily Kyrillou – $4,182.10 – BCBC seat + $8,500

Charles Welch – $2,621 – BCBC seat + $3,400

Adam Aiken – $2,315.25 – NHC seat + $2,550

Joe Calvo – $2,010 – NHC seat + $1,700

Ken Seeman – $1,912.50 – NHC seat + $850

Carol Trageser – $1,773.90 – NHC seat

Paul Shurman - $1,615 - $2,500 (prize given to double NHC qualifier in lieu of seat)

Frank Fosbre – $1,370 – NHC seat

Joe Scanio – $1,105 – NHC seat

Sean Nolan – $1,025.70 – NHC seat

Robin Buser – $893 – NHC seat