2017 RECAP

Local boy made really good in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge last weekend as Torrey Pines native Nisan Gabbay parlayed big scores in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf and the Breeders’ Cup Classic to win racing’s biggest live-money tournament with a total record bankroll of $537,000, including at $350,000 first prize.

New participation records were set in the ninth annual BCBC with a record 439 players wagering on site at Del Mar, at satellite locations at Churchill Downs and Gulfstream Park, and online through TwinSpires.com and Xpressbet.com.

Gabbay’s $537,000 tally is the largest-ever total earned by a champion in history of the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.

“It’s always special to win, but to win it at home is extra special,” said Gabbay, 40, who works in software development and now lives in San Francisco, but started going to the races at Del Mar as a teenager.

Gabbay made his boldest moves starting with the Breeders’ Cup Turf, when he wagered $4,000 of the $7,500 allotment, most of it on Talismanic to win. The wager returned $52,000, which moved Gabbay into the Top 10 in the standings going into the Classic.

“I liked Gun Runner best of all,” said Gabbay on his betting strategy for the Classic. “I was originally planning to bet it all on him but with the odds fluctuation, I wasn’t clear if a win bet on him would win the tournament.”

So instead, Gabbay spread out the $52,000 earned from the Turf into four wagers in the Classic, three of them being exacta bets with Gun Runner on top over Collected, Gunnevera and West Coast. His $11,000 exacta score on Gun Runner-Collected netted $187,000, and the tournament title.

2016 RECAP

Joe Appelbaum of New York City zoomed from 47^th place to first with a big exacta score in the Breeders’ Cup Classic to win the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge with 396 players participating on site at Santa Anita Park, at satellite locations Aqueduct, Churchill Downs and Gulfstream Park, and online through TwinSpires.com.

Going into the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday, Appelbaum had to adjust his strategy to get to the top of the heap. “I was originally going to make a win bet on Arrogate, but when I saw his odds drop to 8-5, I had to change those plans,” said Appelbaum, who was playing in his fourth BCBC.

Instead of the win bet, Appelbaum bet a $13,000 exacta of Arrogate and California Chrome, which resulted in a $65,000 payout (less a $1,000 penalty), taking him from 47^th place to first, surpassing Charlie Davis, who finished second with a score $61,505.

“I was thrilled to win it,” said Appelbaum, who took home $364,000 from the tournament. “It’s the largest live money tournament and to prevail here I feel incredibly fortunate.”

The 396 tournament entries resulted in a 23% player participation increase over 2015 when 322 played. Total handle in BCBC from all locations was $5,404,000 compared to $4,250,000 in 2015, a 27% increase. The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge on-track handle at Santa Anita Park was $3,500,000 or 17% of on-track handle during Breeders’ Cup weekend.

2015 RECAP

The seventh Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) presented by West Point Thoroughbreds brought top horseplayers to Keeneland Race Course and four satellite sites to compete in the biggest live money handicapping contest in the world. Tommy Massis of Toronto outdistanced the BCBC field of 322 competitors to grab the Championship. Once again, the BCBC set a record in player participation with 222 players at Keeneland and another 100 entering the BCBC from satellite locations at Belmont Park, Del Mar, Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita Park. This represented a 12% increase in player participation from 2014. The cash prize pool was also a record at $805,000.

“I’m back to normal today, trying to maintain an even keel,” said Massis, 52, a longtime horseplayer who got started by playing the races at Woodbine. “I had qualified three of the last four years, so I got it right this time.”

Massis showed that he likes Keeneland, having earned a BCBC spot in a live tournament back in April. Returning to the Bluegrass last Friday, Massis built his starting bankroll of $7,500 into $90,682, and when combined with the $230,000 first-place prize, Massis total winnings were $320,682 in cash.

Massis’s biggest score came in Saturday’s Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf, where he accumulated $85,000 on the Found-Golden Horn exacta ($42.80).

2014 RECAP

For the second consecutive year, a horseplayer has turned a $110 online qualifying spot into over $300,000 in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. Robert Traynor of Oceanside, Calif., scored big when his selection of Bayern in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic led wire to wire to catapult Traynor to first place, collecting $301,000 in Thoroughbred racing’s biggest live money event. Traynor wagered his entire remaining bankroll ($10,000) on Bayern to win - and after nervously waiting out a stewards’ inquiry-- collected $71,000 for his winning wager but also netted $230,000 for first place prize money over an all-star cast of the nation’s top handicappers betting on the 13 Breeders’ Cup World Championships races at Santa Anita Park.

The sixth Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge set new records for participation, as 287 players competed for $730,000 in prize money at the Championships, and for the first time, included players at satellite locations at Keeneland Race Course in Kentucky and Aqueduct Racetrack in New York.

Traynor, 54, a regular player at Santa Anita had only started playing in contests over the past few years. As many players did, Traynor won his full $10,000 entry in a qualifying contest.

Reflecting on the moment, Traynor said, the Classic was his biggest wagering moment, and “and having to wait out the inquiry, and thinking that still wouldn't be enough to win the BCBC but turned out that it was.” 

2013 RECAP

At the fifth Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge at Santa Anita Park, Peter Behr of London, Ontario, landed a score to remember when he parlayed a $110 buy in from an online qualifying tournament into $324,115 and became a BCBC champion.

Down in 28th place after the first day with $12,063, Behr climbed back into the mix in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with longshot Ria Antonia, which finished second but was moved to first on the disqualification of She’s a Tiger. Behr won $96,000, and zoomed into first place, now holding more than $120,000. Still by the time the Classic loomed, Behr was in second place, trailing leader Kevin McFarland by $18,472. In a case of less being more, Behr bet just $4000 on the final race, while McFarland wagered $26,850.

Both players came up empty.

Still, McFarland’s bet was large enough that he ended up finishing behind Behr into second place, while Behr won it all with a final bankroll of $124,115.

Participation rose in the BCBC from 138 individual players in 2012 to 182 in 2013.

2012 RECAP

History repeated itself in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge as Patrick McGoey became the first back-to-back winner of the racing’s biggest live money event. Like his 2011 triumph, McGoey used a large final-race wager to edge runner-up Christian Hellmers to win the tournament, and earned $255,341.

McGoey found himself in exactly the same position he was in 2011, trailing tourney leader Christian Hellmers of Del Mar, Calif., with one race remaining. McGoey again bet his entire bankroll in the Breeders' Cup Classic and his winning wagers totaled more than $85,000, enough to secure the title.

Hellmers had dominated the 2012 contest in similar fashion to 2011, building his bankroll to $75,000 heading into the second-to-last race of the day, the Breeders' Cup Mile. McGoey was down to $3,000 and he went all-in on Wise Dan at 9-5, turning his bankroll from $3,000 to $8,700. Still trailing by almost $60,000, McGoey's $7,000-win bet on Fort Larned in the Classic and $200 cold exacta with Mucho Macho Man (for second) netted $85,000 in winnings and enough to propel him past Hellmers.

The 2012 BCBC boasted a record 138 players in the field, which required a $10,000 buy-in and featured $370,000 in prize money, with $170,000 to the winner.

McGoey’s back to back BCBC wins has earned him over $525,000.

2011 RECAP

After two days of improbable upsets and some of the highest payouts in Breeders' Cup history, perhaps none was more so unlikely than the victory by Patrick McGoey in the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge at Churchill Downs. In its third year, the BCBC attracted 115 of the country's best horseplayers to face-off in a mega-stakes, live money $10,000 buy-in betting tournament.

McGoey finished first in a dramatic come-from-behind effort in the last race of the contest by wagering $7,000 to win on Drosselmeyer in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Drosselmeyer's victory at odds of $14.80-to-1 resulted in McGoey's $7,000-win bet, which returned $110,600.  Combined with the first place winnings of $160,000, McGoey took home $270,600.

McGoey, of New Orleans, had earned his spot in the BCBC in May by defeating 90 other players in a $100 online qualifying event for the Challenge. Elated by his victory McGoey said, “Everything fell into place perfectly to be in a position to make the bet on Drosselmeyer and watching his closing kick coming down the Churchill Downs stretch was tremendous. Knowing that I turned a $100 online qualifying spot into $270,000 is a fantastic feeling.”

Christian Hellmers of Los Angeles California finished in second place, winning $121,700. Hellmers held the contest's lead over the last four races until Drosselmeyer's and McGoey's last race theatrics.

2010 RECAP

Year Two of the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge saw increases in participation and in overall prize money. At total of 95 player gathered at Churchill Downs to compete over the two days of the Championships for $267,00 in total prize money. - Robert Hansan of Reston, Virginia, made the winning moves in capturing tournament, collecting $137,000 for first place prize money, along with another $44,863 in cash winnings – for a total of $181,863. Hansan went ‘all-in’ on the Classic when he bet his entire remaining bankroll of $7,236 to win on Blame. That bet paid $44,863 in cash and earned him another $135,000 for first place.

“It was quite thrilling to be part of this and I’m ecstatic about winning the event, which has become the most prestigious live money tournament in the country,” said Hansan. “It’s wonderful to be able to take in the atmosphere surrounding the Breeders’ Cup and witness the Championships in person. Finishing in 2nd and 3rd were well respected handicappers James Henry and Dennis Decauwer."

2009 RECAP

The inaugural Betting Challenge featured 75 players at Santa Anita Park, who each paid a $10,000 entry fee and competed for $225,000 in total prize money, which immediately made the new event the richest “live money” tournament in horse racing. Instead of being limited to playing Win and Place only, horseplayers could bet also Exactas and Trifectas in the tournament. The first BCBC winner was David Wilkenfeld, from New York City, who won the contest “coming from last to first” in the final race, the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Wilkenfeld nailed the trifecta of Zenyatta/Gio Ponti/Twice Over, which netted him $40,000. Finishing 2nd was Steven Hartshorn and up for the show position was Brian Herrity.