Turfvivor at GP

[km]

MikeM, DonM (gumper) and PaulN (navrah) are HTR users competing at the Turfvivor at GP starting Friday. Dumb format but a big prize of $100,000 and perhaps the final 4-ball qualifier to the NHC ever. Those are darn good prizes for a 125 person tournament.

They'll bet 5 races (all mandatory) each day on Fri and Sat. The five races are picked at 12noon the day of the contest, and the format is WPS with the top 16 highest totals going on to Sunday's final. There are 125 entrants, so 109 of them will be out of luck on Sunday. For $1000 entry fee you'f think they would have a better format, but the event keeps filling every year. I'll post results here when I get em.

[km]

After day 1

MikeM in 6th
DonM in 31st
PaulN in ?

[Cliff]

Thoroughbred horse racing handicapper William Connery Jr. held an extremely narrow lead following the initial day of Turf-Vivor III – the three-day handicapping contest being held by Gulfstream Park in conjunction with the Florida Thoroughbred Marketing Corp.

Turf-Vivor III will pay out a $100,000 guaranteed first prize to Sunday night’s eventual winner, with $132,000 guaranteed available in total prize money from the inaugural handicapping contest held at Gulfstream.

As the leader following the first day of competition, Connery earned $2,000 after accumulating 83.4 points.

John DeVincenzo, a close second behind Connery with 83 points, earned $1,500 of the total prize money available.

Finishing in third position after the first day of competition was Robert Gianquitti with 79.6 points. Gianquitti earned a $1,000 prize.

There are two distinct parts to the Turf-Vivor III contest. During the preliminary rounds Friday and Saturday, contestants were to wager $2 across the board on one horse in each of five selected Gulfstream races.

The 16 players who finish the preliminary rounds with the highest bankroll totals will come back in Sunday’s final round. Those 16 contestants will be seeded according to total, with the top bankroll the #1 seed and so on. The #1 seed will meet the #16 seed in head-to-head competition, while #2 meets #15 and so on. Each round Sunday will consist of two races, with each player allowed a $2 across the board wager. In case of ties, the higher seeded player will advance.

[km]

Mike Mayo finished 15th overall and advances to the round of 16 on Sunday.
DonM and PaulN were out of the money.

[Cliff]

Danny Hogan, in 11th place among 125 contestants during Friday’s initial day of Turf-Vivor III – Gulfstream Park’s annual handicapping contest – vaulted to the front of the pack after Saturday’s second day of competition and will be the #1 seed in Sunday’s third and final round.

The grand prize for the eventual contest winner of Turf-Vivor III is guaranteed $100,000, with $10,000 to the runner-up and $7,500 to the third-place finisher.

The third annual Turf-Vivor contest, held in conjunction with Gulfstream Park and the Florida Thoroughbred Marketing Corp., offers $132,000 guaranteed in total prizes.

The top 16 contestants after the first two days of Turf-Vivor III face off in Sunday’s final round.

A complete list of the top 16 finalists follows:



NAME POINTS

1. Danny Hogan 108.60

2. John Silvertand 98.80

3. Joe Scanio 98.00

4. John Pappalardo 98.00

5. Mark Richards 98.00

6. Jeff Sotman 95.20

7. Craig Kaufman 93.60

8.John DeVincenzo 92.80

9. Alfred Kuschner 92.60

10. Jim Mineo 91.80

11. Tom Quigley 89.80

12. Michelle McSweeney 86.40

13.William Guenther 86.40

14. Robert Gianquitti 86.00

15. Mike Mayo 85.20

16. Barry Rosa 84.80

[Cliff]

1) Looks like the guy in first place the first day 0-fered the 2nd day?

2) Maybe they are only sending 3 to the NTRA? Orignal rules called for $5000 to the 3rd place finisherS. Web site now reports $7500 to the 3rd place finisher.

[km]

Mike Mayo finished either 3rd or 4th, he will receive $15,000 either way and is the 1st HTR qualifier for the NHC 2004 -- congratulations Mayo!!

Tom Quigley, the editor of Horseplayer magazine was the winner.

Next stop for all is the Orleans, March 25.

[Navrah]

1 MAR 2004 - TOM QUIGLEY WINS $100,000 IN GULFSTREAMS HANDICAPPING TEST, BECOMES TURF-VIVOR III CHAMPION

Tom Quigley, owner and publisher of HorsePlayer Magazine and a veteran of handicapping contests, has now gained the title of handicapping champion by capturing Turf-Vivor III, Gulfstream Parks increasingly popular handicapping challenge that attracted the best handicappers in North America.
Quigley, 44, of Beverly Hills, California, earned Turf-Vivor IIIs Grand Prize of $100,000 and posed with the championship trophy immediately following the contest today.

What was great was that so many of my friends were here for this tournament giving me support, said Quigley during post tournament ceremonies. Of course, winning this tournament was the biggest thrill of all, but the fact that so many of the people I have gotten to know all around the country came here to Gulfstream to offer their support that really meant a lot to me.

Gulfstream has really done a great job with this tournament, Quigley added. It quickly has become one of the best tournaments in the country.

Finishing second in Turf-Vivor III after losing to Quigley in the final round was Danny Hogan, the No. #1 seed going into Sundays final day of the competition. Hogan, 62, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, earned $10,000 for his runner-up finish in Turf-Vivor III.

The entire tournament and the accommodations provided by Gulfstream were wonderful, said Hogan. The people who put the tournament on are very pleasant and it was a lot of fun. This is one of the best tournaments in the country.

Gulfstream Park president Scott Savin, who instituted the Turf-Vivor handicapping tournament three years ago, was also pleased with the success of its latest edition.

We are thrilled with the players response this year, said Savin. We were oversubscribed for the first time, and that means that the stature of this tournament and the acceptance of thr format we have is growing. Were proud to be the hosts of such a prestigious tournament.

Mike Mayo, 49, of Richardson, Texas, was awarded third-place money of $2,500.

Im very pleased with the way I played, Mayo said.

The fourth-place finisher was William Guenther, 54, of Brick, New Jersey, who was also awarded a check for $2,500. Turf-Vivor III was Guenthers first foray into the field of Thoroughbred handicapping tournaments.

I had a ball, Guenther said following the contest. Im extremely happy with my performance.

All four finalists from Turf-Vivor III automatically qualify for the 2005 National Thoroughbred Racing Association Tournament.

from Horseplayerdaily.com

[km]

The 4 finalist agreed to a more equitable split before the start of the semifinal round.

$55,000 = 1st
$25,000 = 2nd
$15,000 = 3rd
$15,000 = 4th

GP was paying cash for the awards and apparently complied.

[Mayo]

Thanks to all who called or emailed and offered support during the Turfvivor. It was a great tournament with lots of interesting strategies.

Of those in the final 16 Quigley (11) Sotman (6)Jim Mineo (10) and myself at (15) were by far the most experienced tournament players and we were all in the same side of the brackets. This was clearly tougher than the other bracket.

Tom Quigley and Jeff Sotman were partners in the tourney and drew each other in the first match at seeds 6 and 11. They created a block in the first race and were going to let
Sotman advance in the second race and give up the NTRA Qualifer (Jeff cannot play in the NTRA) and go for the 100K based on Jeffs better seed at 6. That changed when the 14 seed won the first race over the 3 seed and it appeared he would advance (which is what ultimately happened). Sotman then tanked and let Quigley move on so they could get the qualifer and the money.

In my first match I drew an English gentleman who was quite nice but not experienced in tournament play. He played both chalk horses in each leg. The first horse won and totaled about $10. I played a 9-1 who ran second and totaled $8.80. He was clearly relying on his better seed to advance. His chalk in the second race ran up the track from the 11 hole and my 9 at 6-1 closed to get beat in a photo for the win.

I then drew Jim Mineo, a local at Gulfstream and the winner of Turfvivor I. He too played the chalk in the first race and barely held for 3rd getting 4.60. My 8 horse at 8-1 ran out. In the second race he again takes the chalk at 9-5 from the 1 hole (he was a very false favorite according the HTR) and I went with the 8 at 6-1. My 8 ran a solid second getting beat only a head.

Quigley easily beat his guy and we moved to the semi-finals. I probably made my only tactical error of the whole contest in the first race of our match. It was a wide open maiden affair with several FTS and the favorites also looked solid. There was a coupled entry (FTS) that looked strong and I thought Quigley would go with this 4-1 entry. The favorite 8/5 and the second choice at 7/2 also looked strong. I made the decision to go with the entry instead of the favorite in the 2 hole and was really hoping to get blocked by Quigley which is what happened. I really liked a horse in the second race who was 8-1 morning line (and a knew Quigley would not play him) and the favorite was weak in the 10 hole. In retrospect I should have played the favorite who won and the second choice ran second. The entry ran out.

Off we go to the next race for winner take all. I took the 6 at 10-1 a strong FR1 play in this 9f turf race. Quigley surprised me and took the 10 (the Fav at 2-1) which is a very weak post for this type of race. My horse goes to the front and gets hooked with a 50-1 cheap speed who quits after 6. With 50 yards to go I am in the lead and out of no where fly into the picture two horses one of which is the 10 and the other is the 8 at 35-1. The 10 wins and the 8 noses me for second. Had I held second, the point totals would have been very close.

Quigley advances to play Paul Hogan who was the number One seed for the day. In his first 3 matches he basically picked chalk or a second favorite who ran out or he had the same horse as his opponent and blocked them and ulitimately advanced because of his lower seed.
Quigley buried him in the final. He picked the last two winners cold and Hogan went with chalk again in the first and then had to try for some price in the second, which ran out.

Tom Quigley clearly played the best for the day. Other than the two blocks, he played six races and had 4 winners and two seconds. He was a very deserving champion.

He and Jeff were also the ones who came up with the idea to redistribute the purse money among the semi-finalists prior to those matches. So needless to say, it worked out well for all.

And the bonus is WE ARE QUALIFIED!!!!

Thanks to all and hope you enjoyed the recap.

Mayo

[Glen]

Awsome Mayo...thanks for the write up!

[km]

Terrific recap -- thanks Mayo - consistent as always in these tourneys

Sounds like Quigley played a better game of poker on the final day than the rest of you. Handicapping was not the issue , outsmarting the opponents got the money.

[ronnie h]

great mike m. and thanks for the recap

[Donnie]

Very nice job Mike! Congratulations!

[AlanLN]

Congratulations Mike!
And thanks for the play-by-play recap. It's so much more interesting to know what has happened to get those final contest standings.

[Gambler]

Congratulations and thank for the play-by-play recap.

[tomcat]

Congratulations Mike!

[ggpagels]

Great contest, Mike!:D

[hurrikane]

Great job Mike! Congrats on the qualifier and the score.

Thanks for the recap...I always like to here how the pros do it.

See you at the Orleans!