Montoro parlays $400 into $135K in Del Mar Challenge

The live-bankroll contest world is getting younger. A few months after 23-year-old Justin Mustari made a deep run at the Santa Anita Preakness Challenge, Dennis Montoro, a 32-year-old from New York, won it all at the Del Mar Challenge. Montoro, who won his $8,000 buy-in online for $400, parlayed that into more than $135,000 in prizes.

To secure the win, Montoro went all-in in the last race with a $7,000 win bet on No. 2, Raven Creek at 5-1, to finish with a bankroll of $42,000. Gary West from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., and Florin Sima from Burbank, Calif., both cashed in the last race to finish second and third to round out the top three. West is the owner of 2017 3-year-old champ and leading older horse West Coast, among other top horses.

Montoro has played contests online for years but this was his first-ever live-bankroll tournament. His share of the prize pool included $75,000 in cash, a $10,000 entry to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, and a berth in the $2.5 million National Horseplayers Championship. Montoro is also eligible for a $1 million bonus should he go on to win the Breeders’ Cup contest.

Players started with a $6,000 bankroll in the two-day contest. The top eight finishers receive BCBC entries and the top 10 receive entries for the NHC or the Del Mar $4,500 Fall Challenge November, which takes place Nov. 10-11.

Here are the top 10 finishers along with their final bankrolls: 1. Dennis Montoro $42,000 2. Gary West 29,000 3. Florin Sima 28,290 4. Kyle Fitzgerald 26,563 5. Jonathon Kinchen 25,689 6. Frank Mustari 23,332 7. Jim Videtic 20,800 8. Jim Meeks 20,240 9. Blake Jessee 19,240 10. Gary Broad 19,182

Scott wins Keeneland qualifier

In online contest action, Paul Scott was best in the Keeneland Challenge qualifier on DRF Tournaments. He finished with a bankroll of $74.20 in the 10-race contest. Things started slowly for Scott: He had just $2.90 halfway through the contest. But he cashed in every single one of the races from there, with his biggest hit being loose-on-the-lead Farrell ($26.20 win-place combined) in the featured Shuvee at Saratoga.

Scott was also the biggest winner on Saturday on DRFT. He won his $5,000 seat to the 2019 World Championship of Handicapping by finishing best against 10 foes. He really hung on by a thread in this one. Through seven races, he had $41.90 and got the job done despite not adding to his bank in the final three races. Luckily for him, his closest pursuers also missed in the last two races. Waye Tam ended up just 10 cents behind with third-place finisher Jack Gruska stalling out at $40.20. And with that result, Scott will advance to DRF’s online championship event with big money on the line and no takeout in the finals.

Also on Sunday, Jon Hurd was victorious in a special qualifier that awarded a seat for Saratoga’s $2,000 Fourstardave Challenge on Aug. 11. Hurd finished with $59 on just two collections: Prioritize ($39) in Saratoga’s sixth and Spring to the Sky ($19.60) in Saratoga’s eighth. Hurd will add to the strong assortment of Louisiana-bred players expected to make the journey to the Spa for contest weekend.

Finally on Sunday, Robert Gilbert won his seat for the Monmouth $500 Super Qualifier on Aug. 25 in a low-scoring affair. You don’t often see this but he had just a single cash that he made count: $44.40 from Uno Mas Modelo in Saratoga’s seventh.

Contest action returns to DRFT on Wednesday with a wide variety of games including free opportunities to start your journey to the WCH. For more information, go to tournaments.drf.com.