Why The Sunday High Stakes Game is a Player Favorite

The first selection for Ed Peters (Fantini) in the July 10 Sunday $10K High Stakes game was Keepthedreamalive at Belmont Park.

Despite taking a very bad step at the top of the stretch, the Christophe Clement-trained turf runner, managed a dead heat finish with co-longshot Final Chapter.

The bad step didn't help overall as the payouts got slashed due to the tie, but it wasn't indicative of how the rest of the tournament was to go for Peters.

A strong start which included three winners and a second-place finish in the first four races propelled Peters to first place and a $5,000 top prize in Sunday's featured tournament on DerbyWars.

Peters held a clear lead throughout the contest thanks to strong start and felt as if he benefitted from a tight-knit group that vied for the other prizes.

"Cashing in the first four races. If you can get off to a nice start and just pick winners, you at least put yourself moving forward where you can play horses that you want to play," said Peters.

"Makes life easier, everyone played short-priced horses and played for the other placings."

The Sunday $10K High Stakes game has always been Peters' favorite game on DerbyWars.

Though, he often plays in Saturday's $20/$25K game, he believes that "you are up against it economically in the long run because of the amount of players and the drop off is so significant with the payouts."

Peters is most intrigued that a second or third in the Sunday game pays more in cash than the second and third in the Saturday game as well as the fact you only play against 29 other players.

"I like playing in the Sunday games. The Sunday games seem to fit my thought process too," Peters said.

One thing that Peters said is most challenging is qualifying for the Sunday High Stakes game.

Due to the fact that qualifiers only run on Saturday and during the early races on Sunday for the 10K, the competition amongst top players is tough.

"You have to face all of the heavy hitters just to get in," Peters said.

He added that having to qualify on Sunday early and then turning around with hopes of success in the actual 10K game by late afternoon is a tough feat.

"You have to play for an entire day. You have to be good for 20 races...it's a long day," Peters said.

Peters' recipe for success came by qualifying for the 10K on Saturday and then adding a second entryon Sunday.

A few hours later, Peters was all but home free when Vinyardnina scored at 9-1 at Gulfstream and gave him a daylight lead over his rivals.

"I love playing in these tournaments, I am competitive and I love leaderboards," Peters said.

--- By Dustin Haluska

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