by Dan Leary, USTA director of marketing and communications

Columbus, OH — Thomas Montgomery of Denville, N.J., and Daniel Kaplan from Las Vegas, Nev., clinched the final two ($1,000 value each) USTA World Harness Handicapping Championship Free, Online Qualifiers during the past weekend to earn berths to the $100,000 World Harness Handicapping Championship (WHHC) at the Meadowlands on Saturday, April 13, 2013.

Montgomery needed to hit the final two of 14 races at Northville Downs on Friday night for his come-from-behind victory. By selecting Glow In Motion ($10.00, $5.00) in the 13th race and Mega Chips ($5.80, $2.80) in the finale, with a $112.00 total, Montgomery was able to outdistance second-place finisher Ron Mijal by $5.80. He picked eight winners and a second-place finisher on the card.

In Saturday’s 10th and final contest of the series, Kaplan was like a mad bomber, hitting only the two biggest winners on the 13-race card and cashing on four place wagers, including two for more than $20, to earn $126.50 and beat runner-up Steve Morningstar by only $2.70. His big winners were in the ninth race with Market Value ($32.20, $12.40) and Cool Man Cool ($19.30, $4.30) in the following race.

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

Qualifier 9–Northville Downs, Friday, Feb. 15
No.-Name-Earnings
1. Thomas Montgomery-$112.00
2. Ron Mijal-$106.20
3. Tyler St Louis-$105.20
4. Kenny Anderson-$103.40
5. Wayne Gray-$102.60
6. Stephen Coyne-$97.20
7. Glenn Armes-$96.60
8. Tony Wong-$96.40
9. Michael Alfano-$96.20
10. Sally Hinckley-$95.80

Qualifier 10–Buffalo Raceway, Saturday, Feb. 16
No.-Name-Earnings
1. Daniel Kaplan-$126.50
2. Steve Morningstar-$123.80
3. Newt Thomas-$118.70
4. Albert Czerniga-$117.20
5. Bobby Brown-$115.90
6t. Howard Lewis-$111.10
6t. Roger Younker-$111.10
8. Gary Reinhardt-$110.30
9. Joseph Kovalenko-$109.90
10. John Musco-$106.00

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

Following are the results with featured racetracks for the completed USTA Free, Online WHHC Qualifying Series:

Date-Track-Winner
Fri. Jan. 18-Meadowlands-Sally Goodall (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Sat. Jan. 19-Balmoral Park-Brenda Hogan (Jeffersonville, Ind.)
Fri. Jan. 25-Maywood Park-Paul Groffie (Trenton, N.J.)
Sat. Jan. 26-Cal Expo-William Woodrum (Lexington, Ky.)
Fri. Feb. 1-The Meadows-Michael Rosenthal (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Sat. Feb. 2-Yonkers Raceway-Ira Schwartz (Sunny Isles, Fla.)
Fri. Feb. 8-Northfield Park-Andrea Nash (Elkridge, Md.)
Sat. Feb. 9-Pompano Park-Mark Levine (Stratham, N.H.)
Fri. Feb. 15-Northville Downs-Thomas Montgomery (Denville, N.J.)
Sat. Feb 16-Buffalo Raceway-Daniel Kaplan (Las Vegas, Nev.)