Flanigan Earns Top Honors at The BIG One Handicapping Event
Flanigan Earns Top Honors at The BIG One Handicapping Event
Laurel Park Hosts Live-Money Tournament in New Sports Bar Area
LAUREL, MD – Medina, Minn. investment banker Dan Flanigan topped a 51-player field to win Horsetourney.com’s The BIG One handicapping tournament held Sept. 24 and 25 inside the new second-floor clubhouse sports bar at Laurel Park.
A live money tournament for the first time this year, The BIG One offered $103,000 in prize money as well as 10 seats to the National Handicapping Championship (NHC), eight seats to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) and 10 entries to the Horse Player World Series (HPWS).
Total value of the The BIG One, including bankroll, tournament seats and all benefits, was $375,600. The top 10 finishers each earned prize money and all players kept any remaining live-betting bankroll.
Flanigan, 45, turned a $1,000 wager on Belmont Park’s ninth race Sunday into a $5,850 return to capture The BIG One title. He took home first-place money of $35,200 as well as his $5,850 bankroll, and earned both an NHC package and $10,000 BCBC package.
Larry Burns of Voorhees, N.J. finished second with a live-betting total of $5,121.10, earning $17,500 in prize money and seats to the NHC and BCBC in addition to his bankroll.
Tony Zhou of Jersey City, N.J., who earned a berth in The BIG One by winning the Maryland Jockey Club Champions Handicapping Tournament held Aug. 20 in Laurel Park’s Carriage Room, was third with a bankroll of $2,523.90.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Michael Caposio of Temecula, Calif.; Gary Johnson of Massillon, Ohio; Kevin McIntyre of East Meadow, N.Y.; Pete Acocella of Babylon, N.Y.; Eric Moomey of Madison, S.D.; Brett Wiener of Clearwater, Fla.; and Frank Sorenson of Westfield, Ind. The top eight each earned seats to the NHC and BCBC.
Completing the top 20 and earning entries to the HPWS were Nicholas Fazzolari of Colts Neck, N.J.; Blaise Guadagno of Levittown, N.Y.; Francis Drew of Clearwater, Fla.; Sean Nolan of Alexandria, Va.; Timothy Lyons of Erie, Penn.; Yolanda Labordo of Sierre Madre, Calif.; Norris Bristow of Rolling Meadows, Ill.; Kevin Jones of North Chesterfield, Va.; Jason Hill of Corpus Christi, Texas; and Paul Kirnos of Media, Penn.
Players began The BIG One with a $1,000 live bankroll and were required to make 10 plays of at least $50 on each of the two tournament days on races from Laurel, Gulfstream Park, Belmont Park, Parx and Churchill Downs.
The BCBC will be held Nov. 4-5, 2016. Las Vegas will host both the NHC Jan. 27-29, 2017 and the HPWS March 30 – April 1, 2017.
According to tournament sponsor Horsetourneys.com, Laurel Park is expected to host The BIG One again in the fall of 2017. Qualifiers for that event will take place starting in January exclusively at www.horsetourneys.com.
