Stephen Thompson is known in contest circles as “The Undertaker.” That’s primarily because he is the owner/operator of Thompson Funeral Home, Inc., in Lebanon, Penn. The moniker took on a double meaning this weekend at HorseTourneys, however, when he left a great many of his opponents for dead.
With a couple of exceptions, this weekend will focus on Pick & Pray tourneys, and while you’ll recognize most of your old favorites on the Friday-Saturday-Sunday menu, there are also a couple of new offerings to tempt your handicapping palate.
(Courtesy of Keeneland)
John Kimove of Wasaga Beach, Ontario, Canada, made a big move in the 9th and final race on Keeneland’s Sunday card, cashing $1,058 Win and $400 Win/Place wagers on Ironclad, and a $420 Exacta 4/8 and $5 trifecta 4/8/9 for total winnings of $17,963 on one race. His total of $19,963 nipped second place finisher Ross Szlasa of Mooresville, NC, who also hit big on the last race to post a total of $17,710.
One of the eternal—almost rock-bottom—disputes among online tournament players is whether Pick & Pray or Live-Format games offer the better, fairer form of competition. These flames were undoubtedly fanned a bit following last weekend’s featured events at HorseTourneys.
It was a live-format weekend at HorseTourneys and, as usual, that paved the way for plenty of post-parade study, last-minute checking of the odds and topsy-turvy finishes in which nothing was certain until the final race was over.
We know a lot of you will be in front of your computers this weekend. Though we also know that a lot of loyal HorseTourneys customers will be happily out at Keeneland for Sunday’s Grade I Gamble. To be precise, 48 players will be representing us in Lexington at the “Gamble,” having qualified for the event right here. They include the winners of the 2018 NHC, Chris Littlemore, and the 2018 Horseplayer World Series, Bob Montgomery. We wish all 48 the best of luck. For the rest of you—and for them as well—we have put together a very nice schedule that should ensure an exciting weekend wherever you may be spending it.
We’re all familiar with one of the most frustrating feelings in mythical-money, win-place contest play. You do your handicapping. You identify a 15-1 shot you think has a real chance of winning. You pull the trigger on the play, then start to get excited as, under no encouragement, he starts moving past shorter price horses down the backstretch.
For the second straight Saturday, we offered a big-money game centered around the day’s key Kentucky Derby preps. High-quality racing certainly afforded us that opportunity, and HorseTourneys players once again took advantage of it.
We normally like to spread out our big-money tourneys a bit, but with back-to-back weekend days like last Saturday at Gulfstream and this coming Saturday with the Wood Memorial, Blue Grass Stakes and Santa Anita Derby, we’re wheeling right back on short rest like a Rick Dutrow trainee (back when those existed) and offering an up-to-$75,000 all-stakes tourney with $50,000 Guaranteed.
Anthony Laurino, winner of last Saturday’s $101,000 tourney, is no stranger to horse racing or handicapping. His family would make an annual trip each summer from their Hyde Park, N.Y. home to Saratoga, where Anthony quickly picked up on the joys of trying to solve the many handicapping puzzles each day. Before that, his father was such a regular at the Poughkeepsie, N.Y. OTB, that he would comfortably leave young Anthony in his umbrella stroller outside the front door with other regulars while he ran in to get his bets down.
For the longest time, though, Laurino really was a stranger to tournament play.
