from HANA Harness

This past weekend, HANA Harness’ The Pen vs. The Chip Handicapping Challenge, sponsored by the Hambletonian Society, Meadowlands, Tioga Downs, and Vernon Downs, held four separate rounds with Friday’s race card at Tioga Downs, Saturday night’s race cards at Mohawk Racetrack and Northfield Park, and concluding with Sunday afternoon’s racing at Tioga Downs. As a result of these individual legs, Chip Handicapper Trackmaster’s Chatsworth Consortium took a tight lead over Pen Handicapper Mark McKelvie by a mere 0.007 in the official Win ROI category.

Here is a breakdown of the individual legs.

Leg 20–Tioga Downs (July 20)

The sloppy track conditions made it a tough evening, but Earl the Pearl came out victorious in leg 20 with four winners on the nine race program resulting in a Win ROI of 1.506 with Trackmaster’s Chatsworth Consortium finishing second with a ROI of 1.361, with a difference of $2.60 between the two handicappers. With regards to exactas, Chatsworth Consortium was the only handicapper to have a positive ROI rating by having a ROI of 2.167, finishing $71.70 ahead of the next handicapper.

Leg 21–Mohawk Racetrack (July 21)

Saturday night was the first doubleheader of the contest with race cards at Mohawk and Northfield being handicapped by the contestants. At the end of the Maple Leaf Trotting Classic program at Mohawk Racetrack, Mr. Trifecta emerged triumphant with a Win ROI of 2.788 followed closely behind by the Chatsworth Consortium who earned a ROI of 2.312. Also finishing on the positive side of the ledger at Mohawk Racetrack was Scott Alberg with a 1.219. When it came to exactas, Chatsworth Consortium came in with a spectacular ROI of 3.281, cashing tickets totaling $170.60, $100.90 ahead of Mr. Trifecta (1.340) with Ray’s Robot finishing third with a ROI of 1.071.

Leg 22–Northfield Park (July 21)

It was a tough second card for the contest handicappers as evidenced by Mark McKelvie, who despite having six winners on the Battle of Lake Erie card, ended up $0.40 short of the breakeven point with a Win ROI of 0.985. Scott Alberg, another handicapper with six winners, ended up with a ROI of 0.792. Chatsworth Consortium and Pandy both had five winners on the card with the balance of the handicappers having four winners each. Exacta-wise, things were better as Earl the Pearl came out on top with an Exacta ROI of 1.627 with Trackmaster finishing second with a ROI of 1.269.

Leg 23–Tioga Downs (July 22)

The handicapping challenge returned for the second time over the weekend to Tioga Downs for the Tompkins-Geers races and when the day’s racing concluded, three of the handicappers had five winners for the day with Pandy making the most of his five with a Win ROI of 1.650 ($36.30), with Earl the Pearl finishing second (1.591, $35.00), and Bobby Z (1.423, $31.30) picking up the show honors. But when it came to Exactas, once again Pandy blasted his competition with a ROI of 4.458 and gross earnings of $178.30 including a first race exacta which paid $163.50 for the 3-8 combination; part of his 3-2-8 exacta key. Trackmaster was the only other handicapper who came out ahead in the Exacta category on Sunday with a ROI of 1.110.

At the end of the weekend’s racing action, Chatsworth Consortium holds a $4.10 lead in the win category with a ROI of 1.009 over last week’s leader Mark McKelvie who drops to second place with a ROI of 1.002. Other movers in the overall standings are Mr. Trifecta and Scott Alberg who both improved their positions in the standings.

After 23 legs of the Handicapping Challenge, the overall standings are:

Position-Name-$ Won-ROI
1. TM’s Chatsworth Consortium (C)-$647.60-1.009
2. Mark McKelvie (P)-$643.50-1.002
3. Pandy (C)-$556.90-0.867
4. Mr. Trifecta (P)-$546.50-0.851
5. Bobby Z (P)-$508.90-0.793
6. Scott Alberg (P)-$486.30-0.757
7. Ray’s Robot (C)-$476.00-0.741
8. Earl the Pearl (C)-$445.50-0.694

This coming week, Pen vs. Chip legs will be contested Friday evening at the Meadowlands where the eliminations of the Merrie Annabelle, Peter Haughton Memorial, Sweetheart, and Woodrow Wilson are scheduled to be competed with the weekend’s final leg being contested Saturday afternoon at The Meadows for the $500,000 Delvin Miller Adios, $150,000 Adioo Volo, and the Arden Downs for 2-year-olds.

As always, contest dates, handicapper selections, and additional statistical information are available at the contest website (http://hanaharnesscontest.blogspot.com). Each leg’s selections will be posted the morning of the day’s racing action.