by Dan Leary, USTA director of marketing and communications

Columbus, OH — Paul Groffie of Trenton, N.J., and William Woodrum of Lexington, Ky., won the weekend’s two USTA World Harness Handicapping Championship Free, Online Qualifiers to earn berths ($1,000 value) to the $100,000 World Harness Handicapping Championship at the Meadowlands on Saturday (April 13). Both contests had the maximum 1,000 players entered.

Groffie selected nine winners and two second-place finishers in 14 races at Maywood Park on Friday night to earn $110.60 and edge runner-up John Lizzio ($108.00) by $2.60. His biggest winners were Picassos Boy ($18.60, $6.20) in the ninth race and Blissful Dreamer ($16.40, $5.40) in the third, but he sealed the win with Pure Smoke ($4.20, $3.00) in the finale.

In the closest finish of the contest to date, Woodrum’s $96.10 bankroll was only $0.90 better than second-place finisher Bill Bunyan’s $95.20 for the 13 races at Cal-Expo on Saturday evening. His biggest score was a $20.00 place payoff on 23-1 longshot Amazon Dot in the 12th race. Overall, the Lexington resident had seven winners and four runner-up selections with Good Tiger Falls ($12.80, $5.00) in the fifth race being his biggest winner and the clincher coming in the last race with D Man ($6.80, $5.60).

Free entries, limited to 1,000 per contest, for the next two contests for The Meadows on Friday (Feb. 1) and Yonkers on Saturday (Feb. 2) open at 9 a.m. on Monday (Jan. 28) at www.horsetourneys.com.

A link to Free TrackMaster Platinum Past Performances on their site will be available for each weekend’s contests two days before each event at www.horsetourneys.com.

Following are the top 10 finishers in the third and fourth USTA free, online qualifiers for the WHHC:

Qualifier 3–Maywood Park, Friday, Jan. 25
No.-Name-Earnings
1. Paul Groffie–$110.60
2. John Lizzio–$108.00
3. Nicholas Omicioli–$106.40
4. Richard Yuricich–$105.60
5. Charles Gambino–$105.40
6. Mark Chmielewski–$104.80
7. Rick Yarter–$104.00
8. Matthew Chmura–$103.20
9. Richard Garver–$102.40
10. Mark Lasowski–$100.80

Qualifier 4–Cal Expo, Saturday, Jan. 26
No.-Name-Earnings
1. William Woodrum–$96.10
2. Bill Bunyan–$95.20
3. Chris Bouchard–$90.20
4. Stephen Riccio–$85.40
5. Charlie Guiler–$84.00
6. Rich Barone–$83.70
7. James Schissler–$83.00
8. Scott Zajac–$82.40
9. Rich Brown–$82.00
10. Gary Machiz–$80.90

The USTA World Harness Handicapping Championship Free, Online Qualifying Series consists of 10 tournaments during January and February over five consecutive weekends and involve handicapping races at 10 different USTA member racetracks.

Following is the schedule/results with featured racetracks for the USTA Free, Online WHHC Qualifying Series:

Date–Track–Winner
Fri. Jan. 18–Meadowlands–Sally Goodall
Sat. Jan. 19–Balmoral Park–Brenda Hogan
Fri. Jan. 25–Maywood Park–Paul Groffie
Sat. Jan. 26–Cal Expo–William Woodrum
Fri. Feb. 1–The Meadows
Sat. Feb. 2–Yonkers Raceway
Fri. Feb. 8–Northfield Park
Sat. Feb. 9–Pompano Park
Fri. Feb. 15–Northville Downs
Sat. Feb 16–Buffalo Raceway