win, place & show [Updated October 2005]  

2005 WBC Report     

 2006 Status: pending December Membership Century Vote

Dave Steiner, DE

2004-05 Champion


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Event History
1992    Bruce Reiff      14
1993    Stephen Kershaw     10
1994    Stuart Tucker      20
1995    Dennis Nicholson      29
1996    Bruce Reiff      17
1997    John Coussis      15
1998    Bruce Reiff      14
1999    Bruce Reiff     31
2000    Ken Gutermuth     26
2001    Ken Gutermuth     42
2002    Stuart Tucker     40
2003     Robert Drozd     41
2004    Dave Steiner     57
2005     Dave Steiner     28

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Ken Gutermuth      TX    04     67
  2.  Bruce Reiff        OH    05     53
  3.  Dave Steiner       DE    05     50
  4.  Stuart Tucker      MD    02     38
  5.  Robert Drozd       IL    03     30
  6.  Jim Bell           MD    04     24
  7.  Jeff August        VA    04     24
  8.  Jim Garvey         NY    03     18
  9.  Mark Kennel        DE    05     14
 10.  Jason Levine       NY    02     12
 11.  Lance Fogel        PA    01     12
 12.  Gerald Lientz      VA    00     12
 13.  Bruce Monnin       OH    02      9
 14.  Jeff Finkeldey     OH    05      8
 15.  Josh Githens       SC    04      8
 16.  Mike Zorrer        DE    05      6
 17.  John Welage        OH    03      6
 18.  Anna Palermo       NY    02      6
 19.  Joshua Garton      VA    01      6
 20.  Charles Ellsworth  NY    00      6
 21.  Frank Sinigaglio   NJ    99      6
 22.  Ted Drozd          IL    04      4
 23.  Michael Cook       VA    01      4
 24.  John Tighe         NJ    99      4
 25.  Bert Schoose       IL    05      2
 26.  John Emery         SC    99      2
 27.  Peter Martin       NJ    99      1

           

2005 Laurelists

Mark Kennel, DE
2nd

Jeff Finkeldey, OH
3rd

Mike Zorrer, DE
4th

Bruce Reiff, OH
5th

Bert Schoose, IL
6th


Past Winners

Bruce Reiff, OH
'92, '96, '98-'99

Stephen Kershaw, NJ
1993

Stuart Tucker, MD
1994, 2002

Dennis Nicholson, NY
1995

John Coussis, IL
1997

Ken Gutermuth, TX
2000-2001

Robert Drozd, IL
2003

Dave Steiner, DE
2004


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.

 GM      Ken Gutermuth  [5th Year]   NA 
    kg33327@aol.com   NA

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