I had opined in a recent weekend recap that Eric Moomey would probably be sorry to see March come to an end.
Maybe not.
The winner of The Stronach Group Ultimate Betting Challenge is picking up this month right where he left off last month, registering a victory on both Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday, Moomey won his second entry to the Keeneland Spring Challenge, so you know he will be bringing a strong hand into the April 22 event. And Frank Foss and Christopher Dewey will be there to challenge Moomey thanks to their good Saturday showing.
On Sunday, Moomey continued to have Lexington on his mind.
Since Moomey was already going to be at Keeneland for the Spring Challenge on the 22nd, it would only make sense for him to go ahead and win a $3,000 entry into the following day’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble. So that’s what he did. Our other Keeneland Grade One Gamble winner was another familiar name—former Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge winner Tommy Massis, who is as dangerous as they come in a live-bankroll competition like Keeneland’s.
The weekend’s biggest prize came Saturday in our $25,000 Guaranteed game.
Congratulations to Terry Wraight for earning the $12,500 top prize in what was a 12-race, all-stakes competition. Key to his success were the longshots Irap (Toyota Blue Grass) and Green Gratto (Carter), along with mid-priced Santa Anita Derby winner Gormley.
And special commendation goes to Treasure Island Wager to Win qualifying victor Robert Gilbert.
A lot of big prices came in on Saturday. (I thought stakes were supposed to be formful?!). But regardless of the circumstances, putting up a $200+ score is exceedingly impressive. And no one else really came close to doing that on Saturday (or Sunday). Well done, Robert. We hope you have similar success at Treasure Island on Preakness weekend.
Back to Sunday action, Ed Peters followed up his 6th-place finish at the Horse Player World Series (good for $33,000+) with…
…a first-place finish in our guaranteed qualifier for The BIG One.
Michael Gotkin had a happy Sunday.
He won a lucrative $12,000 seat for the Kentucky Derby Betting Championship.
Our highest score on Sunday—and by a fairly wide margin—belonged to Chip Sarna.
His gaudy score of $143.60 came on the strength of seven wins—which made him a very deserving winner of $5,000 in our $10,000 Guaranteed game.
Adam Crickman made a wise move on Sunday. He cross-entered a set of Pick & Pray selections in both our Wynn Challenge qualifier…
…and in our Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.
Adam’s score of $85.40 was sufficient to finish second behind Anthony Trezza in the Monmouth competition, and enough to finish first in the Wynn game, just ahead of fellow qualifier Randy Bauer.
In Sunday’s $1,500 Guaranteed Exacta Box game, you could say that Bob Ruge pulled a Pete Puhich.
Emulating the Horse Player World Series winner who also finished second, Ruge filled the top two slots, thereby winning both the $600 top prize and the $400 second prize. Going forward, he can also brag that he once made up the exacta in an exacta contest.
The just-completed weekend was also a big one for NHC and BCBC qualifying events.
Here at HorseTourneys, Tony Fox and Jobby Blevins were the big winners of an NHC berth on Sunday.
Cherokee Dynasty (total $2 win/place contest payout of $61.20) in Santa Anita’s 8th races was instrumental in their wins (as was the case for most who won on Sunday).
Over at HorsePlayers, Bill Shurman recorded four winners at 6-1 or higher on Saturday…
…to win an NHC berth along with Bernard Reilly.
Sunday’s two-seat-guaranteed Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier was won by Ryan Mueller, with David Watts close behind in second.
Mueller and Watts will be locked and loaded with full $10,000 BCBC entries come Cup time.
Sunday was also the first of five free, five-seat NHC qualifiers. The field of 1,932 was led by Bill Wussow ($125.80). Wussow wins an NHC berth along with Jeff Sandler, Michael Vitale, Christopher Skotz and Tim Averill.
The next free 5-seat NHC qualifier takes place on May 13. So if you’re not already an NHC Tour member, go over to ntra.com and get signed up so that you can play in the remaining four free qualifiers at HorsePlayers.
Another date to mark down on your calendars is Friday, April 21. That’s when HorsePlayers will offer a first-of-its-kind NHC/BCBC “Combo Qualifier”. Finish in the money in this one and you win full entries into both the NHC and BCBC.
Thanks for playing last weekend and/or for following along via this blog. Have a great week ahead.