October 19, 2015 – The eliminations are now history and the fields are known for next week’s Breeders Crown festivities for the 2015 HANA Harness Grand Circuit Handicapping Challenge presented by the Bellino Stables, DRF Harness, Green Acquisition Corporation, Hambletonian Society, Isle of Capri Pompano Park, Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment, Northfield Park, Tioga Downs, and Vernon Downs.
We celebrated the upcoming big day with two evenings of eliminations at Woodbine Racetrack. On Friday evening we had seven races to decipher. There were three handicappers who went an impressive five for seven. The winner of the evening, with the best set of five, was Jay Hochstetler with 227 HANA points. The key difference was that his five included Haughy who paid several dollars more across the board than Yankee Moonshine. Dennis O’Hara and your truly, Rusty Nash, had the same set of five winner and Dennis won the tiebreaker 188 to 187 with his other place and show prices.
Saturday saw six eliminations for everyone to puzzle through and only one handicapper was able to pick four of six. Five players were able to select three of six. The repeat winner for Saturday was Jay Hochstetler with 185 points. Derick Giwner was the best of the three for six group as he landed Foiled Again at a very healthy 8-1!
Mark McKelvie, Rusty Nash, Michael Carter and Dennis O’Hara round out the “three” group.
By sweeping the double header, Jay Hochstetler was the clear winner of the week with 412 points. Jay was able to move more than 300 points closer to the leader. With two in the money finishes, yours truly was able to hang onto second for the week with 291 points. Dennis O’Hara continues his surge and has now creeped to within 500 points of our leader. Honorable mention goes to Derick Giwner in fourth and Early Paulson completing the week penta.
With the number of short prices that won during the eliminations there was not a lot of movement in terms of positions. The top five handicappers continue to be Sally Hinckley, Mark McKelvie, Dennis O’Hara, Anne Stepien, and Gordon Waterstone.
What we did see was a tightening of scores among the top ten in the group. With the biggest evening of the year on tap next week we are sure to see a lot of movement as we enter the final stretch of the HANA Grand Circuit Handicapping Contest.
Be sure to check back next Saturday, October 24th, for the entire teams selections for the Breeders Crown finals from Woodbine Racetrack in beautiful Rexdale,Ontario Canada.
