|
|
A short game on Saturday night slotted
before Slapshot should do well, but Royal Turf
has been unable to duplicate its initial draw nor has any of
its finalists been back for more laurels. |
GM Frank Cunliffe observes his
finalists going for the wood. |
Last call for Royal Turf?
Changing Royal Turf to a Coached event brought seven rookies
to the track, and their results were on par with that of the
veterans, two novices even reaching the Final table. At the other
end of the spectrum, neophyte Steve Scott began his preliminary
game with such a ridiculous blunder that he good naturedly begged
me to report it here. On Steve's first turn he moved a horse
14 spaces when all five of his opponents had bet on it and
he hadn't. In spite of that, he recovered to tie with the defending
champion for third place in their Heat.
Other amusements from the preliminaries included a race where
Earl Grey crossed the finish line on Turn 3 and had to wait until
Turn 6 for Nougat and Caramello to Place and Show, respectively.
Another game saw its third race (where payouts are doubled) feature
four double bets on Caramello who then failed to win.
Winning their preliminary game and advancing to the Final
were 2004 Champion Luke Koleszar, Debbie Gutermuth, Doug Gallulo
and Jim Rothenhoefer. Joining them were the closest also-rans,
James Allaire (£50 behind Debbie) and Gregory Kulp (£250
behind Jim). Curiously neither Jim nor Greg had ever
played the game before. Although the original Royal Turf was
used for all preliminary games, the revision Winner's Circle
was used for the Final.
In the first race of the Final three horses had all six players
put betting markers on them, and, not surprisingly, those horses
finished one-two-three. Regret triumphed in but three turns,
thanks to its 20-space move when a Helmet is rolled. The steadier
Twilight Tear and Colin respectively Placed and Showed. Alsab,
whose single bet was a fake, brought up the rear. Among the gamblers,
Doug took the lead with £700 to Luke's £600, closely
followed by Greg and Debbie's £550.
The second race saw five betting chips on both Devil Diver
who won and Assault who finished second. Curiously the third
place Top Flight had but a single chip, and that a fake bet!
As for their human supporters, Greg and Debbie caught up to Doug,
all three at £1050, with Luke in fourth with £900.
The last race featured three horses named after flesh-and-blood
Triple Crown winners: Whirlaway (1941), War Admiral (1937) and
Sir Barton (1919). The game's plastic horses were as fast as
their namesakes, taking the top three places in the aforesaid
order. Just as this race showed which horse was the best of these
Triple Crown winners, it also showed who the top bettor was,
with Doug collecting £100 more than the two players with
whom he was previously tied. He finished with a total of £2250
to £2150 for Greg and Debbie. The rest of the field was
Tim £1850, Luke £1600 and James £1200.
Thus Doug won the wood. But who was second? The game rules
have no provision for tiebreaking. A sensible tiebreak is the
player with the most money at the end of the second race, but
Greg and Debbie were tied then. A second tiebreak of the player
with the most money at the end of the first race still saw the
two equal. This year the GM arbitrarily declared Greg to be the
runner-up, as he had just learned the game at the event, but
next year a random system will be used.
|