Markwardt takes qualifier win

It was a busy qualifier weekend for DRF Tournaments with the World Horseplayers’ Tour/ Santa Anita contest holding two last-chance events, one using a familiar price point and ratio, while the other was a highroller, great ratio event.

Donald Markwardt ($84) was best in Saturday’s contest, which required players to put up $458 and saw one in 12 entries win their $5,000 bankrolls for next weekend. He built his total with periodic hits in the contest’s first, fifth, eighth, and 11th and final events. His decision to use Emboldened ($41 win-place combined) in the final race proved decisive. That got him to the front over the longtime leader, Sean Nolan, in the live event.

Nolan’s total of $77.40 was still good for qualification. He had only three collections along the way but made them count – $37.80 from The J Y, a first-time gelding, in Belmont’s seventh; $14.80 from Alsatian in Santa Anita’s fourth; and $24.80 from Ya Gotta Wanna in Santa Anita’s sixth. Nolan was multi-tabling on Saturday – playing in more than one contest at once – and he used the same three horses to win a $3,500 prize package for the Saratoga Handicapping Challenge. This year, Saratoga will hold individual contests on Friday, Aug. 9, and Saturday, Aug. 10.

Sunday’s big-money game saw two more players win into next weekend’s Santa Anita Preakness contest – Brett Wiener and David Nichols. For that one, players put up $1,090, with one in five winning their $5,000 buyins.

Wiener, who finished with $109.40, has been a mainstay in contests the past few seasons. He put himself in contention in the early going by gaining points in four of the first five races, including $27.70 from Danebury in Belmont’s eighth. A four-race dry spell followed, but then he blew everybody out of the water with $57.60 back from Harrovian in Santa Anita’s eighth. This pick was all the more impressive because this contest utilized the all-in format – it wasn’t a “reach” pick based solely on price, this was the horse he actually liked.

There is a theory among contest players that it’s nearly always a good idea to play a price in the last leg of all-in contests. As Ken Massa said in “The Winning Contest Player,” “The idea is that if you’re in the lead, you want to protect yourself,” he said. “And if you’re not, then you need to come from behind anyhow, so no matter what, you want a bomb in the last leg.”

David Nichols was the second Sunday qualifier with a total of $77.70. He collected in five races, with his best score coming via Blessed Halo ($45) in Belmont’s ninth. He missed in the last three races and things got very tight between him and David Nelson, who fell just short with $76.90. Nelson and fourth-place finisher Hudson Davis received $1,100 in site credit back.

The weekend’s other major game offered two berths to Monmouth’s Pick Your Prize contest, which takes place Saturday, June 2. Sunday’s sold-out qualifier saw Daniel McCormick ($88) and Mark Odorisio ($84.20) win seats. Jonathon Kinchen was an unlucky third, just 60 cents out of the money, but he got nothing for his trouble.

McCormick caught fire midcontest, stringing together five cashes in a row. Three were small, but he also played both Danebury and Blessed Halo. He hung on despite getting no return in the final two races.

Odorisio used Blessed Halo as a springboard to get into contention, but 6-1 Multiplier ($21.80) is the horse that put him up in the qualification zone. That was a wild betting race, a nine-horse field in which the favorite was 4-1, seven horses were between 4-1 and 7-1, and the longest shot on the board was 10.80-1.

Action returns to DRFT on Wednesday with feeders for upcoming events including the Belmont Stakes Challenge and the Del Mar Challenge. Also be on the lookout for free opportunities to start your journey to the World Championship of Handicapping, DRF’s $1 million online contest with no takeout in the finals.

For the complete schedule of upcoming events, go to tournaments.drf.com.