Zhou roars back, captures WCH berth

At the end of the pilot episode of “The World Horseplayer Tour,” Tony Zhou, aka The Terminator, promised he’d be back. On Saturday, on DRF Tournaments, he was indeed: Zhou bested a field of 19 entries to win his $5,000 seat in next year’s World Championship of Handicapping.

The WCH is a big money, no-takeout-in-the-finals contest that will take place online at an unspecified time in 2019.

Zhou’s total of $77.30 was more than $22 clear of second-place finisher Tim Darnell, who along with third-place finisher Russell Lopez received $1,800 in site credit for their trouble.

Zhou started well with Zap Zap Zap ($11.50 win-place combined) in Belmont’s fifth race, before enduring a four-race cold spell in which he didn’t collect a single point. Undaunted, as one would expect from a player nicknamed The Terminator, Zhou kept plugging away. He got back small collections in the sixth, seventh, and eighth contest events before breaking out with two $20-plus winners at Kentucky Downs: rail-running Proforma ($26) in the Kentucky Downs Sprint and Arklow in the Kentucky Turf Cup.

Also on Saturday, Rick Broth crushed a maximum field of 10 entries to win a $3,000 seat to the Keeneland Fall Challenge. Broth, who won Keeneland’s 2016 spring contest the Grade One Gamble, nearly doubled-up second-place finisher Pete Acocella (recently profiled in DRF). Broth finished with $67.20 to Acocella’s $36. Broth cashed four times overall, with the big hits coming from Proforma and Insta Erma, the winner of the Ladies Turf at Kentucky Downs who paid $23.40 win-place combined.

In another notable result from Saturday, John Holmes and Anthony Trezza won berths into the $960 Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship qualifier that will take place on DRF Tournaments on Saturday, Sept. 29. It was a low-scoring affair with the big horse for each player being Insta Erma. Holmes cashed four times for $46.80; Trezza collected three times. Qualifying will continue for the Pegasus contest in the coming weeks. It’s a great opportunity for players. There’s a $12,000 buy-in, but no entry fee – the entire prize pool is put up by the Stronach Group.

Sunday’s scheduled DRF Tournaments games were washed out along with the Kentucky Downs card. Those races are rescheduled for Wednesday and (weather permitting) will be part of the DRFT lineup again. There will be a free opportunity to start your journey to the WCH as well as $220 round-one feeder for the Pegasus contest plus lots of other action.

For more information, go to tournaments.drf.com