SANCHEZ WINS ROUND 1 OF YONKERS RACEWAY/SOA OF NY HANDICAPPING CONTEST
YONKERS, NY, Thursday, November 21, 2013–First-round bragging rights went to Matthew Sanchez, who won the free, on-line handicapping contest, sponsored by Yonkers Raceway and the Standardbred Owners Association of New York.
Sanchez earned $847 from his mythical $20 win bet on eight races Tuesday night. He defeated 731 other opening-round participants, including Gerald Steffanelli ($843),
Tony Beltrame ($842) 
, Wendy Mandar ($840) and Mitch Lampert ($760).
The contest continues the next four Tuesdays (Nov. 26, Dec. 3, 10 and 17). The final round is set for Sat., Dec. 21, Yonkers' final racing program of the season. It is coordinated through Trackmaster (
www.trackmaster.com/contest), and shall be run through that site, including free past performances pages for the designated contest dates.
For each of the prelim rounds, it's $500 for first place (way to go, Matthew), $250 for second place, $200 for third, $150 for fourth and $100 for fifth. The first ten finishers in each round qualify for the final, but each handicapper may only qualify once.
As for the final, $2,500 to the winner, $1,000 for the runner-up and $500 for third place. The $10,000 total prize pool is a partnership between Yonkers Raceway and the SOA of New York.
BY FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
That dirty Sanchez beat him by $5.
