Sumja wins second WCH seat

Brent Sumja was at it again on DRF Tournaments over the weekend, netting his second seat in as many weeks to the World Championship of Handicapping.

Sumja, a former trainer known for his grinding style in tournaments, was one of three players to win his $5,000 seat to the no-takeout finals of the WCH on Feb. 3-4, Super Bowl weekend. Also winning seats in the field of 30 were Gregg Kingma (also his second) and tournament vet Robert Gilbert.

Sumja had four small collections in the first half of the tournament and was firmly on the outside looking in as the last two contest races approached. Then he connected with For My Mom ($22 win-place combined) in Tampa Bay’s 11th and Pirate Beach ($32.40) in Gulfstream’s 12th to catapult to the top of the standings, where he ended up with $82.60.

Kingma started well, collecting in the contest opener and backing that up with Trouble in Phoenix ($14.80) in Gulfstream’s eighth. From there, he endured a five-race cold streak before getting back on board late with Snickerboxer ($15) in Oaklawn’s sixth and Negev ($17.60) in Tampa Bay’s 11th. In the end, his $58 total was enough to get him his second WCH berth.

Coming in just behind Kingma was Robert Gilbert, whose path to qualification took a very different route. He got to his total of $57.40 on just two collections: Includere ($42.40) in Oaklawn’s fourth and Snickerboxer. Those plays suggest a playing style that’s the opposite of Sumja’s, who looks to stack logical horses and accrue points that way. Gilbert’s approach is to reach for the longer end of the odds spectrum and definitely get paid when he’s right. Either method can be a path to success, even on the same set of races, and which you choose comes down to what might be called your contest personality.

Qualifying action returns to DRFT on Wednesday with two main paths to win into the World Championship of Handicapping. On Sunday, there will be a Grade 1 qualifier where players put up $580 and one in 10 wins a $5,000 buy-in. Players can feed into the Grade 1 through Round 1 contests that cost $95 and send one in seven. There are feeders for the Round 1’s as well. Check back on DRFT for additional Grade 1 qualifiers as well, possibly as soon as Saturday.

DRFT has also announced a special last-chance WCH qualifier for Friday, Feb. 2, when players can win in directly for $225. This will use the all-in format and tie into a special live video streaming edition of the DRF Players’ Podcast that afternoon. Starting again on Wednesday, players can feed in to the last chance for $26 (top 10 percent go forward) or $52 (top 20 percent advance).

On Sunday, Jan. 28, DRFT is hosting a one-day qualifier for the Horse Player World Series. It costs $94 to play and one in 19 wins a HPWS entry. The HPWS is a three-day mythical money event on March 8-10 at the Orleans in Las Vegas.

Go to tournaments.drf.com for more information about handicapping tournaments.