Sophia Makes History in DerbyWars' $100K Game

History was made in DerbyWars' December $100,000 Game - Barbara Bowley of La Jolla, Calif. became the first female handicapper to take down the $50,000 First Prize!

Bowley, who is known as "Sophia" on the leaderboard, has won several $10,000 High Stakes games and consistently places in the top spots in $20K and $50K games.

 

"Winning the $100k game on the same day that I qualified for the NHC couldn’t have been a sweeter Christmas present!" said Bowley. "But what winning the $100K contest at DerbyWars means is that I’ll be able to leave my job earlier than I’d planned and move to Maui, where my husband and I have a house we bought a few years ago. It's been our dream for several years, and now with this win it’s going to come true this summer. As Tom Petty would say, right now I’m “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” DerbyWars, thank you for making dreams come true."

Bowley scored in all of the last six races in the game to rack up $147.80 and win the $50,000 First Prize check. She joins Brett Wiener and Tony Kite as DerbyWars $100,000 Game winners!

 

"I figured out a game plan just before the 100K contest: I did all my paper handicapping in advance, settled on a favorite or a few contenders, and let myself concentrate solely on how the horses looked during the contest," she said. "I put together a playlist of music that would keep my energy level and concentration high, and started the contest, headphones on.

"In prepping the night before the $100K, I was happy to see a good number of turf, maiden, and route races, where knowledge of physicality can really yield results, and of course, I was really glad to see that Santa Anita, my home track, was going close the contest.

I was able to hit the second race in the contest, GP 5, #7, on Shatak at 6-1, paying $20.60.  He looked great during the post parade, was so full of positive energy, and physically suited the race.  I hit race 2 at Santa Anita with on Whereismymind at almost 10-1 paying $31.40, plus Gulfstream 9’s Risk Factor paying $3.60 to place. 

"This amount moved me into ninth place, and was the base for my subsequent plays. It proved important for the victory because between the eighth and thirteenth races, William Holmes (Art Vandalay) posted scores on six straight races. He had a great game, and the pretend architect Vandalay almost built himself a win, except that I managed to go on a tear of my own, finishing the contest with six straight scores, five firsts and one second place.

  

Strategy For A Win 

"As far as paper handicapping strategy, I was looking for value and I was able to find it. By the 10th race in the game, three horses in my card went off at 6-1 odds or better. At this point I had also just qualified for the NHC at another online contest and was able to fully concentrate on the $100K alone.

 

"The Midnight Lute Stakes at Santa Anita was coming up, and even though Secret Circle had all the buzz coming into the race, he didn’t look anywhere near his peak, and in fact ran out of the money at 1/5. When I saw him on my screen he was an automatic toss at any price. I chose #7 Distinctiv Passion going off at close to 7-1. My back-to-back high scores in the tenth and eleventh races in the contest added up to $62.60 and effectively separated me and Art Vandalay from the rest of the field."

 

"In the last race my lead in the contest was vulnerable to a long shot pick, despite the fact I had hit five in a row at that point. My first choice on paper before the contest started was the #11 Prospect Park at 5-2, though I thought the winner would be Prospect Park or Cyrus Alexander at 9-5.  I couldn’t see any other horse being a major threat, on paper or physically. Of course you never know in horse racing, but those were the probabilities as I saw them. Of the two horses I liked, Prospect Park had a distinct physical advantage, being a Tapit colt and very scopey, and I was confident if he got out of the gate early that he would love the distance. I remember before I clicked on my selection saying to myself: “This will be a $50,000 decision.” I put on Tom Petty’s 'Runnin’ Down a Dream' to keep me psyched up, and I made my selection.

"When all the players’ choices popped up on the screen I saw Art Vandalay had picked Cyrus Alexander. He perhaps decided that the longer-odds horses were not as likely to come in as his 9-5 pick, and that he could hopefully consolidate his second spot since with his horse's odds he couldn’t pass me.

"My pick, #11, Prospect Park, went out from the 10 hole at the start of the race.  Over the next several strides he pressed the pace behind the leader and was perfectly positioned to take the lead in the stretch. He then extended his lead, with Cyrus Alexander putting on a big late run for second. Desormeaux gave Prospect Park a perfect ride and a thrilling win, putting the whip away in the stretch in a very confident hand ride. Watching this ride unfold by Hall of Famer Desormeaux was a tremendous pleasure."

In second place was the always-a-threat Bill Holmes (Art Vandelay) with a final score of $130.20 to cash out with $19,125 - not bad for runner-up! Craig Homm (Chestnut) rallied for third place with a final score of $118.60 to win a $9,125 check, and Tony Calabrese (Funkymonkey) finished fourth with $112.20 to bag $4,125 cash. The top four all earned an entry in the next $100K game!

Bowley was born in Saratoga Springs and grew up in a racing family based in the Mid-Atlantic. She worked with her father on the circuit as an assistant trainer during her high school years.

 

"But I never placed a bet, and in fact never learned to handicap a race on paper," she said. "Because I grew up around horses, I have really strong physicality handicapping skills that tell me when a horse is fit and suited for a race, along with an intuitive sense of how a horse is feeling on a given day. There is a picture of me that I have somewhere when I was five of me hugging a horse that depicts my feeling for and relationship with horses. It goes really far back and deep. For me, handicapping is not just an analytical exercise; it’s intuitive too — it’s both a right brain and a left brain endeavor."

 

It wasn't until two years ago and a fateful free contest that the handicapping bug bit - hard.

 

"HRTV was giving away a package of coffee to those who could cold deck the trifecta at the February 2013 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap, and I said to myself, Oh that’s easy – there are only five horses and Animal Kingdom will not win off  his last effort. So I entered the contest and they announced on air that I’d won. It was the best coffee I ever had — because I won it! That first victory is what got me hooked on contests."

 

A Google search revealed racing's biggest contest site, and she was off and running!

 

"I knew nothing about the tournament world until I literally put the words 'horse racing handicapping contest' in an Internet search and DerbyWars came up. I was amazed that there was a site where you could win money doing what was so fun. I thought I would give it a try and played for points at first and small money games and in the meantime I taught myself how to read the form. At first I didn't even know what a speed figure was," she admits, "but I kept at it, and what at first seemed like massive information overload became an intriguing set of clues and patterns to what might happen later in the day. I learned about pace and visual handicapping as well as all the common angles. I already knew about pedigree and trainer patterns from my racing days, so I was a quick study."