JT Wins $10k Horse Racing Tournament

Horse Racing Contests

JT from Central Texas unleashed a furious rally to capture the March 9 $10,000 horse racing contest by picking jockey Edwin Maldonado’s Birdlover ($34) in the final race of the contest. Combined with his other picks, Birdlover gave him a final score of $94.80. That was enough to out finish Yagli and Kevincapper, who finished second and third, respectively.

This wasn’t the first rodeo for the seasoned tournament player. Known by the username “taytay“, he loves to play the handicapping contests at DerbyWars.

“I cut my teeth at the track in SoCal, mainly Del Mar.  I have developed a pretty unconventional, somewhat aggressive style based on years and years of handicapping, book reading and good ole backstretch knowledge from some grizzled veterans that were kind enough to share their secrets.” JT said.

An unconventional strategy got the job done for the Texas native.

“I’m not sure any strategy that I come up with is a good one.  For this particular game, as I was looking at the card, I saw that the #4 horse was in my top 3 in just about every race.  I had been playing earlier in the day and had a couple of bad beats with the #4 horse losing both.  I made a decision to play the #4 in the big game if it was in my top 2 or 3 for that race because of that experience.  How’s that for handicapping?” said JT.

As the old saying goes, it is better to be lucky than good.

JT used a qualifier game to springboard himself into the main event at a fraction of the regular cost.

“If I recall correctly, I used a voucher ($19) to enter the tournament.  I am not sure where else I could have parlayed that $19 into $5,000.  What a return!!  Gotta love that ROI.” JT said.

When asked for some words for advice for new players, JT had the following to say.

“If I can win, anybody can win.  Develop your own style and stay true to your own mind and thoughts.  There is something to be said for Dreyfus’s strategy in one of this industry’s greatest flicks, ‘Let it Ride’.  Thanks to Derby Wars for letting me say ‘I’m having a very good day!’.