Despite some earnest efforts, especially those by Keith Fenton (2nd place, 315.10 points) and Garett Skiba (3rd, 314.00 points) no one from the chasing back managed to reel in second leader and now NHC 2018 champion Chris Littlemore.
Littlemore, a retired General Motors auto worker currently based in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, blazed a trail at NHC 2018 and wound up with 348.30 points for his 53 mythical $2 win, $2 place plays. He collected $800,000 US for the victory and will also receive an Eclipse Award.
Littlemore credited his selection of Holiday’s Angel ($39.00 to win, $12.00 to place) in Saturday’s Oaklawn Park sixth race as the winner that made his tournament.
Fenton, a qualifier via online play at HorseTourneys.com and resident of Fort Worth, Texas, made a steady Sunday bid and fended off the late bid by Skiba, who selected the winner of NHC 2018’s last race, the ninth from Santa Anita. The nervous moment for Fenton ended when War Heroine paid $11.20 and $5.20 which left Skiba 1.10 points short of second and its $250,000 prize. Skiba won $125,000.
Notably, St. Petersburg, Florida’s Gloria Kahlden, who qualified via HorseTourneys.com, made NHC 2018’s Final Table, ended up seventh and walked off with the handsome sum of $58,500.
Significantly, HorseTourneys.com qualifiers enjoyed tremendous success at NHC 2018 as 21 of them made the group of 71 Sunday semifinalists.
Other noteworthy performances by HorseTourneys.com include: Ernest Powers (11th place, 255.90 points, $25,000), Mike Yurczyk (18th, 242.70 points, $19,500), Stephanie Davis (21st, 240.70, $18,000), Chris Podratz (29th, 231.40 points, $13,500) and George Chute (30th, 230.00 points, $13,000).
Sincere thanks,
Bob Nastanovich
@BNastanovich, on behalf of HorseTourneys.com