DerbyWars' Sweet Sixteen Includes NHC Tour Winner Eric Moomey

The Sweet Sixteen of DerbyWars' January $25,000 Head-to-Head Championship are ready to face off once again on the quest for the $10,000 First Prize and Championship title!

The first weekend's games featured races from Santa Anita and Gulfstream that made for some exciting plays among the matchups!

NHC Tour winner Eric Moomey (Moomeyer) advanced to the Sweet Sixteen after dominating Joe Petit (Mortars) $30.80 to zero on Saturday, then rolling back Sunday to defeat Matt Milligan (Tracksidejive) with $49.00 to Milligan's $24.80.

Paul Scott (Ptscott), leading DerbyWars money winner, pulled off a hat trick for the first weekend's games. On Saturday, Scott took on Kevin Perau (Kevroc) to win $49.40 to $9.80. Then Sunday, Scott went head-to-head with the very first $10,000 Bracket Challenge winner, Jason Avila (Jguppy93). Avila had breezed through Saturday's matchup with Daniel McGreevy (Caldera) with a $44.20 score. 

Scott also had a second entry in the second half of the bracket, which he advanced by defeating Joel Elam (Joele) with a $40.80 final score to Elam's $7.60. Then he took on Garett Skiba (Skibasher) on Sunday. By Sunday night, Scott had secured both of his entries in the Sweet Sixteen, defeating Avila $42.80 to $16.20. Skiba presented a tougher challenge, scoring $22.40, but Scott's choice of Warren's Veneda in the Pasadena Stakes proved the game-changer, giving him a final score of $42.80.

 

 

Lowest Winning Score: $29.20 Damian Verno (Skezzer) 

 

Mark McGuire (Maguru), the $25,000 December Champion, also advanced through the first weekend to the Sweet Sixteen! McGuire had a tough matchup on Saturday with Sally Goodall (Chinatown) in the first round, who scored the first points with a $22.00 pick in Santa Anita's 4th race. McGuire went scoreless until the 5th at Santa Anita, but he only was able to get $21.00 on the board with his pick. This was when strategy paid off - McGuire selected big favorites Calculator and Hoppertunity in Santa Anita's stakes, adding $12 to his score. Goodall went scoreless until the final race, where her play, Royal FJ, paid $8.60 - but it was not enough to regain the lead. McGuire advanced to Sunday with a final score of $33 to Goodall's $30.60.

On Sunday, McGuire easily defeated Michael Foster (Mjfoster) $29.80 to $6.40.

For this weekend's Sweet Sixteen, Eric Moomey and Mark McGuire are in the same bracket - a win by both on Saturday will mean a tremendous matchup on Sunday between two players on a very hot streak lately!