Bombs boost WCH qualifiers

On Saturday, Belmont Day, four more players won entries to the $5,000 buy-in finals of the World Championship of Handicapping, which will feature a prize pool of $1 million and no takeout.

Dan Zaretsky ($115.60) was best despite collecting points in only three races. Place points on Sassy Little Lila ($8.40) got him going, but he vaulted into contention with Ascend ($57.60 win-place combined) in the Manhattan and sealed the deal with Manitoulin ($49.60) in Belmont’s 12th.

Third- and fourth-place finishers David Watts ($104.50) and Eric Moomey ($102.90) also had Ascend, the longest-priced winner in the sequence. Watts had four other collections and needed a nice hit with Do Score ($25.10) in Belmont’s nightcap to get the money. Moomey’s second-biggest price was Diamonds at Dawn ($26.60) in Churchill’s 11th, but he eked out critical place points with River Echo ($5.30) in the Belmont finale to edge out Paul Scott for the big prize.

Second-place finisher Rich Nilsen ($104.60) managed to qualify without Ascend’s help. Like Zaretsky, he had just three collections: a meager $3.80 on Pauline Revere in Churchill’s seventh, $51.20 from Running Back in Churchill’s eighth, and Manitoulin.

Also on Saturday, two players won their way into the Wynn Handicapping Challenge, a mythical-money contest focusing on Del Mar and Saratoga on Aug. 4-5 at Wynn Las Vegas. Contest veteran Cara Yarusso, featured in “The Winning Contest Player,” was tops in the field with $122.20. She had Running Back and Ascend, plus two small collections. Secondplace finisher David Brownfield also wins a Vegas trip thanks to Running Back, Manitoulin, and two small returns.

On Sunday on DRF Tournaments, William Rubenstein won his way into the Del Mar Handicapping Challenge on July 22-23, the next big event on many live-bankroll players’ calendars. Rubenstein started slowly, with a bagel in the first half of the contest. But he more than made up for lost time with Cool ($52.80) in Monmouth’s eighth and a double to close things out with Outrageous Bet ($22.10) in Belmont’s 10th and Wildly Good Looking ($39.80) in Monmouth’s 12th.

Tournament action returns to DRF Tournaments on Wednesday with a full slate of feeders, credit-builders, matchups, and winner-takes-all events. Every day this week will feature $95 games where players can win into the next big Grade 1 WCH qualifier on July 8, concurrent with Belmont’s Stars and Stripes program. From there, one in 10 entries will advance to the WCH.

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McCubbins scores at Belmont

It was a big weekend for horse owner Faron McCubbins at Belmont Park. On Friday, he got to watch his runner Bullards Alley in the Belmont Gold Cup and ended the day on top of the standings in the Belmont Betting Challenge. On Saturday, he turned back respected tournament players like last year’s winner, Garett Skiba, and Tony Zhou.

McCubbins ended up losing the lead on Saturday after tourney vet Nick Tammaro hit in the Jaipur, the Woody Stephens, and the Just a Game. McCubbins ended up crushing the field with $9,000 to win on Tapwrit in the Belmont Stakes and a $1,500 exacta of Tapwrit over Irish War Cry. He ended up with more than $90,000 in his bankroll, plus $60,000 in prize money. He is also now eligible for a $1 million bonus should he win the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, a contest with which he has some experience.

“I came up to Belmont because my horse was running,” said McCubbins, the owner of a concrete construction company who lives in Mount Washington, Ky., “but when I saw that there was a million-dollar bonus if I win both tournaments, I knew I had to stay and compete.”

Second-place finisher Zhou won his seat in the Belmont tournament for $90 in a feeder on DRF Tournaments. He parlayed that into a $50,400 bankroll and another $35,000 in prizes.

“The tournament was spectacular,” said Zhou. “I love playing against the best in the world, and that room was full of absolute killers. If you add up the totals, the room as a whole had a plus 18 percent ROI. Faron’s final bet to overshoot the win took immense handicapping confidence and betting heart, and you need both to win these big live-bankroll tournaments, and he sure had both.”

Zhou fell in love with racing on Belmont Day in 2010, and incredibly, as much as he won on Saturday, the experience ranks as his fifth-most-enjoyable Belmont Day.

Asked for his top four, he said, “Without that day in 2010, I would have never found my favorite game in the world. In 2012, I got to see my favorite horse ever, Union Rags, redeem himself and win the Belmont. In 2015, even though I lost a ton of money betting against him, I witnessed history as American Pharoah won the Triple Crown. In 2013, Palace Malice gave me what up to that time was my biggest score ever. That was the year I thought I was finally getting the hang of things and decided to take this game seriously.”

For Zhou, it’s a good thing he did. Final standings: 1. Faron McCubbins, $90,600 2. Tony Zhou, $50,400 3. Vic Stauffer, $43,350.75 4. Philip Lam, $45,275 5. Garett Skiba, $40,260