By ITM Staff
Two races to go in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, and Vic Stauffer is in front. He got there with one huge bet, and by staying out of the way while the man ahead of him made one too many.
Stauffer finished Friday 2nd with $44,442.10 and had slipped to $39,822.10 by the Sprint. Then he put $39,822 on T O Elvis (#11), his whole bankroll to the dollar, split $20,000 to win and $19,822 to place. The Japanese sprinter came from the outside to catch Englishman, paying $7.58 to win and $3.42 to place. That returned $109,695.62. A small Mile exacta box (Deterministic over Notable Speech) gave back $2,930 of his $4,694 in that race. He then lost $4,400 in the Distaff and now sits at $103,531.72.
Steven Wells had the bigger day, and he is still very much alive. He ended Friday with $6,330 and bet every dollar of it to win on Ways and Means in the Filly & Mare Sprint. He doubled his money there, then put $12,500 to win on Further Ado in the Dirt Mile and doubled again. In the Sprint, Wells bet $20,000 of his $21,617.50 on exactas with T O Elvis over Englishman, three tickets in all. All three paid, and he came out of the race with $120,117.50 and the lead.
Then he went to the well one more time: $30,000 to win on Fully Subscribed (#4) in the Distaff. She ran second to Nitrogen. Wells now has $89,517.50, $14,014.22 behind Stauffer, with plenty of ammunition for the Turf and the Classic.
At least two players turned that same Distaff result into a fortune, and one of them is ITM’s own:
- Michael “Mikee P” Pribozie bet his whole $7,008 on Owen Almighty to win and place in the Dirt Mile. Owen Almighty lost the photo but paid $5.74 to place, which turned the $6,008 place bet into $17,243. Mikee then bet all $16,042 he had on the Nitrogen-over-Fully Subscribed exacta, collected $49,569.80, and climbed 40 places to 6th ($49,570.80).
- Howard Kravets hit a $761 Sprint/Mile double (T O Elvis, then Deterministic) that returned $17,563.90. He put $17,563 of it on the same Distaff exacta, got back $54,269.67, and jumped 34 places to 5th ($54,270.57).
Top 6 with two races left
- Vic Stauffer: $103,531.72
- Steven Wells: $89,517.50
- Clay Sanders: $57,287.35
- Dave Chenvert: $54,493.10
- Howard Kravets: $54,270.57
- Michael Pribozie: $49,570.80
More Breeders’ Cup: catch up on how the BCBC shook out on Day One, follow the PTF vs. JK head-to-head scoreboard, and find every race on the ITM Breeders’ Cup hub.
