Good Decisions Pay Off In $100K Win

Being a contest player myself, it's hard to put into words what August $100,000 Travers Day winner Richard Seidl (Rs12345) pulled off.

Anyone will tell you that you need to get hot in order to win a contest with more than 100 competitors.

Seidl cashed in 13 of the 16 races in the Aug. 27 Travers Day game to post a score of $189.90.

Despite Seidl's consistency he still needed a big score down the stretch to ultimately lead to victory.

"It was absolutely one of the tougher games," said Seidl, who earned $40,000 in prizes.

Haveyougoneaway ($30.30) and Travers winner Arrogate ($38.00) helped Seidl climb up the leaderboard midway through the contest, but Race 13 at Saratoga was the difference maker in his opinion.

According to Seidl, he took a systematic approach to Race 13.

"This race was awful to pick. To make matters worse I was reading the form over and over and really liked the (10) Rooftop View," said Seidl, who narrowed it down to three potential selections.

"If I missed the 10 could likely still cash in top five and possibly win but if I missed the 12 knew I could be wiped out of top 10 potentially. So the pick was 12 and played 9 on other entry knowing if that horse came in would then be looking at potentially two top 10 entries."

Moments later, Irish Prayer rolled home to a victory that returned Seidl ($43.40) and boost his ride to the top of the $100K.

"I was not confident on the (12 Irish Prayer) as my pick but did think through it fairly logically to arrive at that horse as my selection. That race definitely was the decider of the top 5 in the game."

Seidl added a win and a second-place finish at Del Mar in the final three races to clinch the victory.

The last race was especially mentally exhausting for Seidl as he found himself on the lead in a race where there was a standout selection in the tournament finale.

"I was pretty certain that the (3) would win, but every other horse in the race could have beaten me odds wise," Seidl explained. "I hate being out on the lead and would rather play from off the lead."

Longshot OK Doll proved to be just as effective the favorite winning as she returned $11.20 to place. It was Seidl's fourth career top ten finish in the 100K game with the victory.

"I really enjoyed playing despite it being a bit nerve wracking at times. I really enjoy the big games here," Seidl said.

-- Dustin Haluska

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