Arsenault gains another qualifier for Pegasus contest

Ray Arsenault is headed back to the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship. And that’s a good thing because there wouldn’t even be a Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship without Arsenault and his friends.

The story started many years ago when Lorne Weiss, a friend of Arsenault’s, first got to know Frank Stronach. They lived on farms in the same part of Ontario and became friendly, with Weiss getting a seat on Stronach’s Golden Pegasus board back in 2012 as a result of his passion for racing and business acumen.

Fast forward five years to the 2017 Santa Anita Handicap, which Weiss attended. Stronach owned the winner, Shaman Ghost, and he and Weiss connected after the race. Stronach offered Weiss a ride back to Toronto on his plane the next day along with Stronach executive Tim Ritvo.

On board the plane, the three men spoke passionately about racing, sharing ideas about how to grow the sport. Contests came up a lot. Weiss specifically mentioned Arsenault, who at the time was just coming off his signature contest win – an $800,000 score in the 2017 National Handicapping Championship. Stronach and Ritvo were intrigued by the idea of using contests to promote racing.

Weiss gathered Arsenault, Alan Schaffer, and their friend Ross Gallo, and the idea of the Pegasus contest began to take shape. They had a meeting in Florida at which Arsenault recalled the guys telling Stronach, “You’re going to have the biggest horse race anywhere, why not have the biggest contest?”

As for the revolutionary idea of having the house put up the purse rather than the players, Arsenault credited veteran tournament insider Gallo with that contribution (among Gallo’s contributions was that he was involved in the brainstorming session that laid the groundwork for the NHC itself).

“Years ago, Ross told me he wanted to have a contest worth a million dollars where the money would be put up by sponsors or whoever but not the players,” Arsenault recalled.

The initial Pegasus contest was a big success, attracting 137 entries who put up $12,000 each, which all went to players’ bankrolls, to play for a pot of $371,000. (The prize money comes from sponsorship contribution and a percentage of the contest handle.) This year, Arsenault is hoping to double those numbers.

“Where else can you get the chance to put up your money and compete without putting in your own money for the prize pool?” he said. “It’s a great opportunity.”

Arsenault paid $960 to play in last Saturday’s Pegasus qualifier. He now has his $12,000 entry for the Pegasus, courtesy of Smiling Tigress, a 26-1 shot.

“She got me to the front, and I was able to hang on the last two races,” he said.

The pick was vintage Arsenault, reminiscent of some of the price horses he came up with at the 2017 NHC. He looked at the horse’s recent form and conjured excuses for the last few runs, two on turf and one in blinkers that were now being removed.

“When I looked back, I saw she had an 80 Beyer, which looked competitive,” he said. “Luckily for me, the pace fell apart in the end, and luckily for me, the horse I thought should have won came flying up the rail and got stopped.”

Players looking to join Arsenault at the Pegasus will have an opportunity to play this weekend in feeders for upcoming qualifiers at DRF Tournaments. The next Pegasus qualifier is Saturday, Nov. 3. That game will cost $960 to play, and 1 in 15 entries will win prizes worth $12,500 – the Pegasus entry plus $500 in travel money.

This Saturday’s featured games are a $410 qualifier for the Keeneland Challenge that will send 1 in 10 entries to Lexington for the $3,000-buyin event on Oct. 14, as well as a qualifier for the Orleans Fall Classic, a three-day, mythicalmoney contest in Las Vegas from Oct. 11-13. The Fall Classic qualifier costs $120 to play, and 1 in 10 entries will win their $500 buy-ins plus $500 in travel. Keeneland also will feature prominently on the site Friday and Sunday, where games that cost $350 and are limited to 10 entries will be held.

There’s also some new inventory on offer at DRFT. On Sunday, players can win into the Aqueduct Challenge, a $1,000-entry live-bankroll game at the Big A on Nov. 17. Those also cost $120 and will advance 1 in 10 entries. Early-bird feeders have also been added for the Horse Player World Series. The first HPWS qualifier will take place Oct. 13 and will utilize the all-in format, where all contest picks must be in before the scheduled post time of the first contest race.

For more information, go to tournaments.drf.com.