The Countdown to the Cup Handicapping Contest begins Saturday and will offer more than $8,000 in prizes on a weekly and overall basis. Full details are HERE. There will be six weekly Saturday contests with one contest track selected for each Saturday. Contestants, and this is FREE to enter, will select one horse in each contest race and will earn points based on a mythical $20 across-the-board wager. For example, selecting a horse that runs second and pays $6.00 to place and $3.00 to show earns 90 points. Run fifth and the points are zero.
The highest score each week wins a $250 Breeders’ Cup bankroll that can be used on either Oct. 31 or Nov. 1, the two days of this year’s Breeders’ Cup. Second through sixth scores each week get $100. The player with the highest overall score, after dropping the lowest weekly score, gets $1,000 to bet that weekend.
This Saturday’s track is Churchill Downs. Arrive early, as they race at 11:45 AM, to submit your contest entry form.
Speaking of Churchill, a filly that won a couple of times at Canterbury, Platinum Lady, drew the rail in the $100,000 G3 Dogwood Stakes, the ninth race on a 10-race program. The 3-year-old is trained by Eric Heitzmann and is owned and was bred by Valene Farms. If you are a believer, Platinum Lady is 15 to 1 on the morning line.
Perfect Picks
The jackpot continues to grow in the weekly Sunday Perfect Picks pro football contest. To win, entrants must correctly select all winners of the noon games (with some totals occasionally mixed in). If there are no perfect picks, there is no winner and the $1,000 weekly prize carries over to the following Sunday. Week 3 of the season with no perfect slates submitted equals a $3,000 jackpot this Sunday. Be sure to wager using your MVP Rewards card during the afternoon in order to receive full prize pool payout. Multiple perfect entries split the pool.
ICYMI
There was a rare occurrence this past Saturday, the final program of the 68-day live race meet at Canterbury. Native American and Grand Full Moon hit the wire together, resulting in a dead heat in the $75,000 Shakopee Juvenile Stakes. Both horses are owned by Mercedes Stable and are trained by Robertino Diodoro.
Diodoro won the training title this season, unseating Mac Robertson who had held that honor the past nine race meets. Diodoro did it with a flourish on closing day, with six wins in five races, thanks to the dead heat. He tied Bernell Rhone for most wins on a single race card. Rhone accomplished the feat Aug. 14, 2003.
If you know of other same-owner dead heats, leave a comment please.
In other news, Shakopee-native Alex Canchari reportedly will ride at Santa Anita when that meet begins Sept. 26 and will be represented by agent Jim Pegram.
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