Robert Lowe Vaults to Lead in Net Standings in Arlington Park Handicapping Contest Series Following Lockport Tournament

Craig Smith, Wally Maevski, Larry Duncan, and William Vitek Round out Top Five

For weeks Craig Smith sat atop the net cumulative standings in Arlington’s fall, 2009, OTB Tour featuring handicapping contests and seminars.  The net standings are the cumulative ranks after the weekly first-place finishers are subtracted out.

Now Smith has been relegated to second position in the net standings after Robert Lowe turned his $50.00 contest bankroll into $627.70 and “only” finished second in last Saturday’s handicapping contest at Arlington’s Lockport OTB, thereby boosting his season total to $757.20.  To read the story of last week’s contest and how Robert Lowe did it, click here. 

But don’t be too quick to count Smith out.  With a season-to-date total of $637.43, a sharp player like Smith can easily make up the difference with just one bet.  And behind Smith, there are more sharp handicappers who can be heard from in the remaining weeks of the handicapping contests series.

Contest participants play each week, at a different Arlington OTB parlor, attempting to run their $50 starting bankroll as high as they can.  First prize each week is a trip to Las Vegas to play in the 2010 Coast Casinos World Series handicapping tournament to be held February 18-20.  The top finisher in each weekly contest wins a paid entry into the World Series worth $1,000, a $500 travel voucher, $200 cash, plus Arlington pays for the winner’s lodging for the duration of the World Series.

But Arlington is awarding nine such trips in the current fall OTB Tour series.  Eight trips go to each of eight weekly winners, plus an additional trip is awarded to the player who accumulates the highest total of money won over the course of the fall series without winning a weekly prize.  Thus, the prize rewards steady participation and performance, and is therefore named the consistency prize.

Your next chance to win a trip to Las Vegas and compete for the big prize money in the World Series (estimated first prize:  $300,000!) is this coming Saturday, November 21, when my OTB Tour returns to Arlington’s Hodgkins OTB parlor located in the Salerno-Pincente Italian Ristorante.  The suburb of Hodgkins is bordered by LaGrange and Countryside.  The OTB and restaurant is conveniently located just north of The Stevenson Expressway (I55) and just east of LaGrange Road (Route 45) behind the Menards located on the southeast corner of LaGrange and Joliet Roads.  To learn more, including directions and a map, click here then scroll down and click on Trackside Hodgkins.

Can’t make it this Saturday?  Then make plans to hook up with my Tour on any succeeding Saturday.  For more information, including the Tour schedule, contest rules, and more, click here.

Below are the cumulative standings through last Saturday, November 14, the sixth week of the Tour.  Only accounts with a positive balance are shown.  The six weekly winners to date in the fall series are highlighted.  Remember, the net cumulative standings exclude those six weekly winners.

Good Handicapping!  See you in Hodgkins!

     Scott

M. Scott McMannis

*Arlington Handicapper, The Chicago Sun-Times

*Midwest Correspondent, The HorsePlayer Magazine

*Owner/Publisher, Arlington and Hawthorne Trainer Patterns,

   and The McMannis Speed & Trip Service Weekly Newsletter

*Seminar and Contest Host, Arlington Park