Stanton preps well for summer

Saturday was quite the day for Mark Stanton on DRF Tournaments. While he didn’t walk away with any outright wins on DRFT, he did something more impressive and important – he won seats to both the Del Mar Challenge and both days of the Saratoga Betting Challenge by running second across two events. Even more interesting, he had only one entry in each contest and used only three common horses who paid $11.20, $8.50, and $6.60 winplace combined.

In the Saratoga qualifier, he started with five collections in six events, the longest of which was Taken to Church ($27.80) in Gulfstream’s ninth. In that game, he missed in three consecutive Belmont stakes races, but remained in contention. In the Del Mar contest, he cashed in two of the first three races with Exulting ($16) in Belmont’s fifth and Prospective Moment ($11.20) in Gulfstream’s eighth. He got at least place points back in the next four races – those same Belmont stakes – and had a decision to make heading to the last.

In the Del Mar contest, he was up by $9. In the Saratoga one, he was third, down $5.70. In the end, he decided to play the same horse – heavy chalk Dream Passage.

“I figured those extra points would help me in the Del Mar contest in case a bomb ran second, and I gambled that of the two players in front of me wouldn’t play her,” he explained.

In the end, Stanton’s game theory worked out perfectly. Dream Passage prevailed in Belmont’s nightcap and returned $6.60. Stanton won entries and travel bonuses worth $12,000 on the day.

In the Saratoga contest, the winner was tournament veteran Trey Stiles. His biggest return came via a place cap horse – The Lieutenant ($22) – for running second in the Suburban. Overall he hit in seven of the 10 races.

Barbara Bowley won the day in the Del Mar qualifier. She had just $3 through the first six races but caught fire thereafter with three straight winners in those stakes at Belmont: Athena ($35.20) in the Belmont Oaks, Diversify ($22) in the Suburban, and Catholic Boy ($17.30) in the Belmont Derby. The Del Mar Challenge will be a home game for Bowley, who resides in the San Diego area.

Sunday’s biggest winner on DRFT was Mark Winland, who won his $2,000 seat for Saratoga’s Fourstardave Challenge, to be held Saturday, Aug. 11, in a special contest limited to 10 entries. It was a low-scoring affair, and Winland got the job done with just $44.50 over nine races. That total was built on five collections overall, the longest of which was $13.60 from New York Song in Belmont’s sixth.

Contest action is back on Wednesday with a free chance for players to start their journeys to DRF’s big-money, no-takeout contest, the World Championship of Handicapping. Next weekend’s featured game will offer a chance to win into Keeneland’s Fall Challenge.

Go to tournaments.drf.com to check out all the games available, as well as to view an archive of the contests from last weekend, including a complete record of who played what.