Throughout this live racing season CanterburyLive has followed local handicappers as they try to qualify for the $2 million National Handicapping Championship. It all culminated last weekend with Canterbury’s biggest tournaments.
Dave Handeland and Bruce Meyer both won their way into the Sept. 9 Ultimate NHC Qualifier by winning a $10 super satellite contest and then winning a $50 satellite that earned them entry to the $500 Ultimate.
Meyer also won two entries to the Sept. 10-11 Dog Days of Summer Tournament and Mike Ferrozzo, another local whose efforts we have chronicled, played two entries. Handeland sat out Dog Days.
The Ultimate did not go well for the locals.
The Dog Days result is a different story.
The contest required a $650 entry fee and players could have a maximum of two entries. A total of 79 players from across the country converged in Shakopee for the 20th anniversary of the nation’s original and longest-running live bankroll tournament. They accounted for 110 total entries.
Each player began Saturday with a bankroll of $400 and were allowed to wager on any track and pool offered at Canterbury from Saturday’s start through 5:30 p.m. Sunday. They could re-wager any winnings during that time frame but needed to bet at least $200 each day. The player with the largest bankroll received a $10,000 entry to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and a NHC entry plus $1,650 in cash. Second prize was the coveted NHC entry plus $3,850 in cash. Third through fifth also received cash prizes.
When the first standings were posted at 3 p.m. Saturday, Meyer was on the lead with $4,010. He hit a 37-1 winner at Laurel with his second $100 wager. He now had a target on his back. That would be the only ticket Meyer cashed all weekend.
Meyer maintained his lead all day and late into Sunday. There was movement underneath and with just a couple races to go, Mark Streiff from California struck gold at Los Al and moved into second with about $2,600. After the initial success, Meyer lost all of his subsequent wagers and was sitting at $3,110.
The final race, the 11th at Gulfstream, determined the outcome.
Watch Meyer’s recap of the event below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgrhYhEHSeM&w=560&h=315]
Ferrozzo waited for a price horse in the final contest race and had it won, provided no one else had the same result, he would have won the contest. His horse ran second a huge odds.
Dog Days Top Five
Mark Streiff $4,461.15 bankroll
Bruce Meyer $3,110
Skipper Pearson $3,001.60
Mark McGuire $2,206.50
Mary Ann Hartmann $1,957
Bruce Meyer turned a $10 super satellite win into $6,900 in cash plus a trip to Vegas for a chance at a share of $2 million.
