Longshots lead to victory at Monmouth

By NOEL MICHAELS

 

Two longshots were the key to victory in the Monmouth Park Handicapping Challenge on Aug. 28 as Robert Hutt of Forked River, N.J. topped a field of 200 players to earn a first prize of $30,000. With the victory, Hutt qualified for the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship VI to be held on Jan. 21-22, 2005 at Bally's-Las Vegas.

Monmouth players paid $300 to enter and had to provide their own $200 bankroll for 10 real money $20 win bets on the races from Monmouth, Delaware, and Saratoga. Hutt, who is the principal owner of the Fantasy Lane Stable, hit $20 win bets on Blanza ($62.40) in race seven at Delaware and Pomeroy ($11.40) in the King's Bishop Stakes at Saratoga en route to a contest winning bankroll of $906 in the one-day competition. That total was enough to give Hutt a comfortable win over Kevin Elgelhard of Franklin Park, N.J., who finished second with $814. Engelhard earned $12,000 in prize money and also qualified for NHC VI.

Because tournament bets were made with real money, contestants all kept their final contest bankrolls.

All entry fees were returned to the top ten finishers in the form of prize money, making the total purse for the Monmouth Handicapping Challenge $60,000 based on 200 players.