TwinSpires.com qualifier Beychok wins $1-million as NHC champion
Michael Beychok of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, parlayed a third-place finish in the TwinSpires.com Online Handicapping Championship into a $1-million first prize as the winner of the National Handicapping Championship January 27-28 at Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas.
Beychok, who uses
TwinSpires.com for both his contest and horse-playing endeavors needed $11 to
reach the top of the NHC standings on the last race of the two-day tournament,
and he achieved that goal by a nose and $1 when Glorious Dancer rallied top nip
Greeley’s Agenda to pay $8.20 to win and $3.80 to place.
Beychok entered the final
stages of the tournament within striking range of TwinSpires.com member Dave
Flanzbaum, who led throughout most of day two but did not make up the necessary
ground until the final race.
“After the last mandatory
race, I still had four options left to play,” Beychok said. “I started thinking
about likely winners in the 2-to-1 and 5-to-2 range, which isn’t my normal
strategy, but I knew I could win this thing.
“When I went up to bet
[Glorious Dancer] he was 7-to-2, but afterword he clicked down to 5-to-2.
Everyone was excited when he won, but I knew I’d need 3-to-1. When they flashed
those odds up there I was feeling pretty good.”
In addition to being
involved in Thoroughbred racing as a horseplayer via TwinSpires.com, Beychok is
managing partner of That’s Me Stable, a racing partnership that campaigns
horses in Louisiana.
“I definitely plan to invest
this back into racing,” Beychok said. “I own a few horses and would like to own
a few more.”
Before winning $1-million at
the NHC, Beychok’s biggest score was a six-figure Pick 6 score in January 2011
at Santa Anita Park.
Beychok's favorite team is the LSU Tigers, so here's a spirited version of "Calling Baton Rouge" in honor of his big win.
3 comments:
Fantastic Great Job!!!!
great drama & excitement!!!
Just a few questions...
how is this scene of the eventual winner knowing they've won the contest in real time?
how is it that he knew that his selection needed to be at least 3-1 for him to overtake the then current leader. would he not have also needed to know that the then current leader had no selections left in the contest? And, that information was never published on any leaderboard updates throughout the weekend. Another thing to consider was the fact that the leaderboard updates were suspended for a time before that last race went off. So, how was this information gathered and is this a fair way to proceed? Just wondering.
Anonymous...... as the person who shot the video....I can tell you there was still some doubt as it wasn't official and there was no way of knowing for sure whether the leader had any plays of his own left. But they knew they needed at least $11 to have a chance and there was this much drama and excitement just for the chance. It was electric in that room.
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