Cheryl McIntyre, the 2016 NHC Tour Champion, is clearly having a pretty fair 2017 as well. On a day bereft of longshot winners, she strung a number of modestly priced winners together, and then strategically used her lone $4.00 “double bet” of the day on the winning 8-5 favorite in the nightcap at Del Mar, to squeak into first place after Day 1 of the Wynn Handicapping Challenge in Las Vegas.

The $17.20 that McIntyre collected on her $4.00 win and place bet on Norwegian Spy ($5.20, $3.40) gave her a final Day 1 total of $119.30, $1.30 ahead of runner up Sam Poggi.

McIntyre collects $28,000 for the Day 1 win. Poggi will pocket $14,000. HorseTourneys qualifier Kevin Willet ($116.60) finished third and earned $9,000 in day money.

McIntyre’s favorite play of the day was on Hardened, who won Saratoga’s 3rd race and returned $18.80 to win and $7.90 to place.

“I liked this horse a lot and actually played him an hour earlier in a HorseTourneys Pick & Pray,” said the Masillon, Ohio native. “This was just a perfect day for me because there were no big bombs. It was just straight handicapping on a day when a lot of the logical kind of horses that I like to play won.”

The Wynn Handicapping Challenge, with a record 241 entries this year and a total purse of $460,000, including $126,000 to the winner resumes tomorrow with racing from Saratoga and Del Mar.

“Tomorrow will be a completely different day,” said McIntyre. “They’re probably going to be off the turf at Saratoga, which will shake things up. I’m sure there will be some good prices out there.”