Santa Anita Handicapping Contest Helps Close Memorable Final Weekend

With an “Arazi-esque” move on the backstretch, the duo of Bob Ike and Phil Bongiovanni were able to hold off a strong group of handicappers to capture the Santa Anita Closing Weekend Handicapping Contest. The local based tandem not only took down the $30,000 first place prize, but also won a seat to both the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and the 2016 National Handicapping Contest in Las Vegas. Ike and Bongiovanni outlasted a field of 63 “sharpies” in an event that coincided with a massive closing weekend at the Arcadia, California venue.

As often is the case in marathon-style handicapping tournaments, the eventual winner did not “break from the gate” well. Despite the subpar start they were able to get things going a bit heading into the second day.  Ike, a former long time syndicated newspaper handicapper for the Los Angeles News Group who now only handicaps for his website BobIkePicks.com on weekends, pointed to the Triple Bend Handicap on Saturday, the seventh race on the star-studded ten-race Gold Cup card, as the “play” that got things rolling. 

The Southern California based “tag-team” was down to roughly $1400 out of their starting $3500 after putting their wagers in for the Grade I sprint event, but were extremely confident that favorite Masochistic was going to cross the wire first. They decided that the value in the race was “underneath” in the exotics and used three “price” horses in Appealing Tale, Blue Tone, and Wild Dude both in the exacta and trifecta.  To their liking, the Ron Ellis trainee ran one of the most impressive races of the meeting to win “under wraps.” Appealing Tale sat off the early lead and was able to run a solid second at odds of 12 -1. Wild Dude, the longer priced of the two Jerry Hollendorfer entrants, ran on to finish third.  The graded stakes event vaulted Ike and Bongiovanni’s contest voucher up to about $6000 and got them into the top ten of the tournament standings. 

Ike, a Partner and Vice President for Horsebills.com, a new software developed as a cost-effective, time-saving, environment-friendly paperless revolution of how equine industries bill and receive payments and Bongiovanni, co-owner of Gold Cup at Santa Anita Park runner Motown Men and successful businessman, were not able to add to their balance in the final three races on Saturday’s card, but still felt decent going into Sunday. They sat in the top twenty with a balance around $4200, well within contention of a tight leaderboard after Day 1.

It was early in Sunday’s closing day card where Ike and Bongiovanni felt they could make a significant value play.  Both were very much against the 2-1 betting favorite in Race 2, Elementar. They decided this was their race to make a move at the leaders. They used four horses in both exacta and trifecta boxes settling on a $10 exacta box and $7 trifecta box with Tale of Papa Nick, Doodetta, Missy Mouse, and Daddy’s Duo. All four horses closed at odds between 5-1 and 14-1. As they turned for home, the Neil Drysdale conditioned Doodetta came out in the stretch and took the lead. At 11-1 she won by two and a half lengths in the end. Missy Mouse was no match for the winner, but finished a clear second at 6-1. The exacta bet was hit, but the real payday came, as Daddy’s Duo despite being fanned five-wide into the lane was able to win the show photo with 4-1 second choice Provenance. The margin was just a head, but it gave Ike and Bongiovanni the trifecta that paid $1413.80 seven times. That coupled with the $86.20 exacta ten times vaulted them into the lead at around $14,500. The duo that decided less than a week before to compete in the closing weekend contest now had a big shot with just eight races to go. 

After the contest, Ike stated that, “Playing on the lead presented a much more difficult challenge than playing from behind. It was nerve wracking.” As relative newcomers to live bankroll contests, they debated whether they should remain aggressive or sit back a bit more than they had planned to before arresting first place in the overall standings.  Ike said, “In the end, I could have lived with losing the lead while trying to add to our balance, but it would have been much more difficult to accept if we were not being aggressive.” He used the analogy of Ted Williams when he was on the brink of hitting .400 in 1941. Instead of sitting out the final three games of the season to protect his batting average, he decided to play. The future Hall of Famer had no desire to protect his mark by bunting or sitting. Like Williams did over 70 years ago, the duo remained active and aggressive.

The fourth race was their next significant play and one that Ike later called “a rookie mistake.”  They thought that Going Somewhere for Neil Drysdale was a very solid favorite in the Grade III San Juan Capistrano and liked Decisive Edge for second. The duo played a cold exacta as well as a significantly smaller play with Decisive Edge on top.  The only other horse they thought could be around was 23-1 long shot Crucero. They liked him to potentially run well based on his pedigree and the way the mile and three-quarter race shaped up. When Ike went to the window, he played a cold exacta Going Somewhere over Crucero, but failed to back it up with even a small combination the other way.  When Crucero won and paid $48.40 and the exacta with the their top choice came back $60.90 on a $1 wager, Ike was not only upset, but also feared throughout the next several hours this error in judgment would cost he and Bongiovanni the tournament. Fortunately for them, it did not.

After this race, Ike and Bongiovanni made a few small plays for the $300 race minimum, but it was not until Race 8 where they made their last big move.  There was not much movement in the standings throughout Day 2, but as Daily Racing Form contest editor and podcast host Peter Thomas Fornatale declared, “One of the most exciting parts of the Santa Anita Closing Weekend Handicapping contest was the back and forth, 1-on-1 battle between the eventual winners and second place finisher Mark Streiff.” In fact going into Race 8, experienced contest participant Streiff had actually retaken a narrow advantage over Ike and Bongiovanni.

Ike credits his partner for the profits made in Race 8 where they both sided with the second choice in the starter handicap turf event, Salah Champ, as their top selection. They had decided much earlier to play a large win wager on the Northern California invader, as well as some exactas, but it was Bongiovanni’s decision to include a sizeable place wager that made the race profitable and vaulted them back into the lead with just two races to play.  Without this additional wager they likely would have trailed heading into the final two races.  Instead, the $500 place wager, in addition to their exacta with Big John B, put them into first once again.

Ike held true to himself and instead of passing on both of the final two races, they still made small plays in an attempt to add to their lead.  As the final race of the tournament and of the Santa Anita Park meeting approached, they had about an $1100 lead. They made trifecta plays with several combinations and doubled up on ones they thought were more likely, however they failed to connect.  Despite the strong work in Race 2 on the card, Ike and Bongiovanni thought they were likely passed in the finale.

As the final audit took place, the two had resigned themselves to the fact that first place was likely ceased from them in Race 10.  Ike thought to himself, “I can live with someone rallying well past us in the final race. I just did not want my mistake with Crucero in the San Juan Capistrano to cost us.” In the end, the Southern California residents avoided “tiring late” and won their first handicapping tournament.

The final weekend contest at Santa Anita Park was quite successful and the victors were quick to credit Vice President of Marketing at Santa Anita Park, Nate Newby, as well as VIP Player Concierge Tom Quigley for running what they called a top-notch event. These two and Santa Anita continue to be at the forefront of the Live Bankroll contest world and continuously receive accolades for treating horseplayers the “right way.” DRF’s Fornatale and top handicapping tournament player Jonathon Kinchen echoed similar sentiments to me earlier in the week.

After the event, the veteran tournament attendee Fornatale was quick to once again compliment Santa Anita Park, as well as the winners and those who qualified for the 2015 BCBC and the 2016 NHC. He did say he was surprised the scores ended up as low as they did. He thought the big numbers in Race 2 and in Race 4 would have lead to the eventual winners being more around $17,000.

Here is the final leaderboard for the handicapping contest...

1. Phil Bongiovanni & Bob Ike       $12, 961.40

2. Mark Streiff                                 $11,205.60

3. Kenneth McMahan                     $10,603.70

4. Ray Arsenault                             $10,194.00

5. Bryan Carney                               $9,764.00