Race, Bet & Scheme
The event's big attendance gain in 2004 was matched by an
equally precipitous drop in 2005 as more events entered the Tuesday
evening 11PM slot. The Tuesday heat had four boards while the
Saturday heat mustered only two. A total of 28 different would
be owners jockeyed for position to play in the Big Board Final
on Saturday.
On the first board
Tuesday night, defending champ Dave Steiner hedged his bets early,
protected against the Roach in the 5th and rode the Mona Lisa
to the finish line to be one of two previous champions to emerge
victorious in the first heat. Mark Kennel's 2nd place finish
gained him a spot in the final on Saturday edging Bruce Monnin
by $2,000. Sean McCulloch, Devin Flawd, and Vassili Kyrkos
rounded out the field at this table in which every player showed
a profit for the day's wagers.
On the second board, previous champion Dennis Nicholson got
a lead early but Mike Zorrer gained money in the 3rd and 4th
race to make the final two races a nail biter to see who would
emerge victorious. Those behind saw their hopes fade in the
5th when a slow track killed any dreams of a Cockroach comeback.
Dennis then protected his lead with a bet on the Mona Lisa to
Win and Place. Mike Zorrer's Mona Lisa across the board bet
allowed him to overtake Dennis in the final race. Jim Fishkin,
Ken Gutermuth, and Steve Raszewski rounded out the field with
Steve being the first to take home less money than he started
with, losing $2,500 along the way.
On a track that proved tricky for all but one of our racers,
former champion Rob Drozd blew away the field. Rob nearly doubled
the money of runner-up Bruce Reiff. Rob started slow but a fifth
race win with Slow Molasses and an across the board bet on Hannibal
propelled Rob into the Finals. John Schoose, Brad Raszewski,
and John Welege rounded out the field with Brad and John joining
the losing money field.
The final board on Tuesday evening promised to be the strongest
as former champion Stuart Tucker was joined by four competitors
who had competed in the Final in years past. Jason Levine cashed
in on an early Daily Double payout and Stuart's Indian Giver
sweep gave them an early lead over the field. Bert Schoose's
sweep with Stampede in the 3rd gave him a lead he wouldn't relinquish.
Jeff Finkeldey finished second to advance. Jason Levine had
his first of two third place finishes to keep him away from
the big board. Stuart, Jim Bell, and Gerald Lientz joined the
loser's club with Stuart the highest of the three with $16,000
remaining.
Saturday's second heat had only two boards. On the first
board, a 4-6 Daily Double saw Jason Levine and Chester Lanham
build a slight lead over previous champion Ken Gutermuth. Jason's
sweep of the 3rd with Dunce Cap increased his lead but Chester
and Ken remained in sight, Marshall Collins and Vassili Kyrkos
were seeing their hopes fade as we entered the 4th race. A fast
race in the 4th led to a sweep by Ken as he gained on Chester
and Jason who guessed wrong in the 4th. Ken and Chester hedged
their bets in the 5th as Jason looked to Cockroach to propel
him into the lead. The roach was no where to be seen as Traffic
Cop rushed to victory, leaving a close finish to come. Jason
and Ken were denied the chance to ride Mona Lisa in the final
race. Ken rode Jungle Monarch's first place purse money and a
place and show bet on Mona Lisa to edge Chester for the win,
leaving Jason third again for the second straight heat. Vassili
made money but Marshall joined the losing money crowd.
The last preliminary board saw William Burch start strong
with a Rotunda win and Jonathan Lockwood keep pace with place
and show bets on his Gunsmoke. Jonathan continued strong with
an across he board bet on Indian Giver which Nate Hoam also
had. Gerald Leintz's IndianGiver/Nothing Special combination
kept him in sight of the leaders. Gerald rode Dunce cap to the
win in the 3rd to move to the lead. The 4th proved to be a disaster
as no one liked the winner Crime Wave. A rare Lobster Tail/Cockroach1-2
finish saw Gerald and William begin to pull away some from the
rest of the field. Jungle Monarch's win in the last race with
Gerald betting Mona Lisa across the board without her finishing
in the top four made the final tally close as William and Robert
Hahn had bets on Jungle Monarch. Gerald edged Bill by $2,000
and Robert by $6,000 to move on to the Final. Nate finihsed 4th
while Jonathan joined the losing money club.
The stage was set
for the Final with five former champions who own eight of the
tournament's 12 wins. The finalists included defending champion
Dave Steiner, former winners Bruce Reiff, Dennis Nicholson, Robert
Drozd, and Ken Gutermuth, along with William Burch, Gerald Lientz,
Mike Zorrer, Mark Kennel, Bert Schoose, and Jeff Finkeldey.
In the first race, a surprising Rotunda edged out perennial favorite
Gunsmoke to dash most of the daily double hopefuls with Lucky
Old Sun finishing 3rd. This left only six contenders on the
positive side of the ledger after the first race thanks to Gunsmoke
place and show bets. These leaders were Dave, Dennis, Jeff,
Mike, Mark, and Bert.
The second race brought on another surprising winner when
Corn Plaster beat out odds leader Nothing Special with Indian
Giver holding on to third. Jeff, Mike, and Mark both hit big
with their bets on Corn Plaster leaving them significantly ahead
of the field with Mark topping the $100K level already. Defending
Champion Dave held his own and remained within sight of the
leaders. Bert was the big winner in the daily double as he refused
to waste money on the wager while everyone else tossed in their
bets with a Rotunda-Corn Plaster finish.
The difficult third race saw odds favorite Bone Bruise emerge
at the finish line ahead of Stampeded, and Dunce Cap. Only four
of our bettors managed to collect with Bert leading the way.
William and Jeff made a little money and Mike got some of his
wager back. The rest saw their cash dwindle.
The fourth race continued to take its toll as French Twist
managed to win from the outside in this short race. Hot Spook
and Adam's Apple followed the Twist over the line. Only defending
champ Dave doubled his wager while Jeff and Mark made a little
money and Bert lost just a little. The rest of the field donated
their wagers again. After four races, Jeff and Mark were in the
lead with Dave and Bert about $30k behind. Previous champs Ken,
Bruce, and Dennis were hurting with Bruce on the verge of elimination,
having only $2,500 left of his initial $50,000.
The fifth race saw a mild auction with Dave getting Cockroach
at a reasonable price. Unfortunately for the Roach, Ken bought
his first horse of the day, Hung Jury, who blocked the inside
track on the second turn and forced Cockroach wide, ending the
roach's bid in the race. Bruce spent his last money buying Traffic
Cop for $1,500 and betting it to win. This gamble paid off as
Traffic cop pulled out the win followed by Slow Molasses and
Dying Ember. Dennis, believing in Bruce, had bet his last $14K
on the Cop and the battle between the two former champs for bragging
rights was under way. William was the only other bettor besides
Bruce and Dennis to collect in the fifth race, leaving the standings
unchanged.
The bettors were anxious in the last race as only 11 of a
possible 33 individuals received any payback in the previous
three races. In a surprise move that would end up deciding the
game, Dave Steiner managed to get Mona Lisa relatively cheap
while Jeff and Mark spent more on the long shots Hannibal and
Captain Ahab. The track was nice and slow for Mona Lisa and
she easily finished ahead of Leyte Gulf and Captain Ahab. Jeff's
conservative wager in the last race cost him as Dave and Mark
bet the Lisa across the board and were in a close finish to determine
our winner. In the end, the extra money paid for the long shot
over the Lisa would cost Mark the title as Dave slipped ahead
of Mark by $1,000 based on the purse money for the Lisa.
Once again, our defending champion emerged victorious. The
final scores were: Dave Steiner $112K, Mark Kennel $111K, Jeff
Finkeldey $78K, Mike Zorrer $77K, Bruce Reiff (coming back from
the dead) $37.5K, Bert Schoose $34.5K, Dennis Nicholson $30K,
William Burch $21.5K, Ken Gutermuth $2.5K, Gerald Lientz $.5K,
and Rob Drozd $.5K.
Congratulations to Dave Steiner on joining Ken and Bruce in
being able to defend a WPS championship and Stuart Tucker as
a multiple winner.
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