Rob Solmundson won last Saturday’s Player’s Choice Handicapping Tournament, and for the second time in as many months, the winning total was less than $100.
By G.S. Thompson
Longshots continue to be hard to come by, even for our core group of talented handicappers, and while the average winning score in the Player’s Choice is likely around $120, Solmundson built his bankroll to $90.40 ($1,000 prize) to defeat runner-up Trevor Phelps ($85.10, $400 prize) by $5.40, followed by Brad Kinnear ($83.00, $200 prize), James McMullin ($79.20, $150 prize) and Mel Peddle ($75.20, $100 prize).
Last month, Brandon Barter won the tourney with a total of $93.40. Is this the beginning of a trend? Probably not, as averaged out over time, these types of contests are usually won by doubling your money. And Rob’s selections certainly included a few nicely priced winners.
Rob’s winning selections featured a mix of Standardbred and Thoroughbreds, with his biggest winners being Native Star ($13.60, $7.80, $3.90), who wired her field in the fourth race at Delta Downs, and Myultimate Snowy A ($9.90, $6.10, $3.10), who dueled the length of the stretch and edged away late in the fourth race at Woodbine Mohawk Standardbred.
There are all kinds of ways to win the Player’s Choice tourney, but Rob proved once again that you can get the job done…
Without longshots.