Handicapping contest part of Gold Cup weekend at Santa Anita Park
A monster weekend is approaching to close out the racing meet at beautiful Santa Anita Park. In addition to the stacked card on Saturday including the Grade I Gold Cup, as well as Sunday’s final day card featuring the Grade III San Juan Capistrano, it is also the two-day closing weekend handicapping contest. The event is attracting top horseplayers from all over the country and will reward the top few finishers with a lucrative payday, as well as seats in the National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas next January and the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge this fall.
The two-day competition has a live bankroll format and allows players to not only win a chunk of the prize pool, but also take home whatever remains of their $3500 starting balance. The remaining $1500 of the $5000 entry fee goes to the top finishers at the conclusion of Sunday’s card, as well as the person sitting atop the standings after Day 1. Participants will make Win/Place/Show wagers as well as Exacta and Trifecta bets on Santa Anita races only. Most contestants will be buying into the contest, but a few have qualified for just $100 dollars on drfqualify.com over the past several weeks.
Regular contest participants know it is a big tournament if Peter Thomas Fornatale, Contest editor and podcast host for the Daily Racing Form, is making the cross-country voyage to Southern California for the event. As one of the foremost promoters of the flourishing handicapping contest scene, Fornatale has helped garner attention for an incredibly entertaining and potentially lucrative way of getting involved at the racetrack and at home. He is excited for the contest to coincide with several major stakes races this weekend. In his experiences over the past several years he has found that the majority of stakes races offer solid value options for those participating, as well as create that much more excitement in the already emotion filled environment.
Fornatale always enjoys contests at Santa Anita Park and recognizes the Arcadia, California, venue as “the market's leader in live bankroll contests.” He points to the top-notch hospitality, as well as the V.I.P. access given to participants as being two of the main reasons. Particularly he credits access to the Eddie Logan suite, an exclusive player’s club and lounge named for the legendary shoeshine attendant at Santa Anita Park, as being one of the more unique and memorable characteristics offered at the events. While many of those competing this weekend regularly wager several thousand dollars per day and receive regular invitations to the luxurious invite only area, some gamble at a much lower level and qualified for the challenge for significantly less. Fornatale reveres the fact that Santa Anita Park offers these fortunate individuals the “V.I.P. Experience” that they likely would never get without participation in these contests.
During the three high-stakes tournaments offered at Santa Anita this year, the Daily Racing Form sent roughly 40 horseplayers to Southern California for the aforementioned $100. While Fornatale had a hard time finding issues with the contests held at Santa Anita, he did hope that some day DRF would develop “feeders” that allow folks to qualify for as low as $17, much like the NTRA does throughout the year for the NHC.
Like the Kentucky Derby or a 24-horse field at Wolverhampton, it is difficult even for Fornatale to identify a true favorite for an event like this, however amongst the “morning line choices” will be 31-year-old Jonathon Kinchen of Austin, Texas. Kinchen, who had two entries in the Top 10 at the 2015 NHC, has had quite a bit of success since the event, but still is in search of his first live bankroll victory. Having traveled around the country to most venues throughout the first part of 2015, Kinchen has been able to compare and contrast the treatment and amenities that each racetrack has offered tournament players. He credits Santa Anita Park for “appreciating the horseplayer more than anywhere else” and credits VIP Player Concierge, Tom Quigley and Vice President of Marketing, Nate Newby as those most responsible for the elite treatment.
Kinchen, who is looking for his first victory at a tournament of this style, points to the two-day format and the ability to “pick and choose” races instead of having to play them all, as things he particularly likes about the event. Like Fornatale, he quickly mentioned the Eddie Logan Suite as one of his favorite parts of attending tournaments at Santa Anita Park.
While the field will be assembled up until the group is finalized with four races left on Saturday’s card, Kinchen will have his work cut out for him this weekend. It remains to be seen whether NHC Tour point leader Ryan Flanders or May’s tournament winner Gary Johnson will attend the on site event, however Fornatale expects a strong group as usual in Arcadia. Christian Hellmers, as well as Kevin McFarland, Damian Roncevich, Duke Matties and Dennis Decauwer will be amongst the favorites if they decide to make the voyage to the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains for closing weekend. Nick Tammaro is also a major contender as he returns to the scene of his $100,000 score in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge last year.
The event is likely to attract anywhere from 80 to 110 participants and provide quite a bit of excitement up until the final race of the meeting. More information on entering the contest is available here.