Christina Harley, Jason Levine and Tommie Johnston try to qualify in an early heat.	John Welage, Dominic Blais, Craig Fox, Owen Kyrollos and Anthony Lainesse play for a seat at the big board.
Finalists gather at the big board at Lancaster Downs.	Entering the backstretch in the fifth ...

The summer racing program at Lancaster Downs got off to its usual fast start with most of the usual handicappers present. There were eight programs run over three heats to determine who would advance. Ken Gutermuth, Gadoon Kyrollos, and Christine Harley punched their tickets in the opening heat on Tuesday evening. Former champs Bruce Reiff and John Welage were left tearing up tickets at the bettor's windows in the night program. In all, this program featured five former champions with 11 titles.

Friday's heat was poorly attended but that didn't prevent 2008 champ Jason Levine and Scott Beall from acquiring prime seats at the rail for the Final. The Drozd family, representing another two former championships, left the track disappointed.

In the last chance preliminary, both Bruce Reiff and John Welage earned their returns to the Final -- Bruce in spectacular fashion after being down to an empty wallet after his fifth race bets and clawing his way back in the sixth to cash out on top. They were joined by veteran pony admirer Craig Fox who took the third table handily. Dave Steiner joined the dejected prior champions in this crowd whose total haul numbered nine plaques between them.

The stiffness of the competition to enter the field was also represented by the amount of winnings required to succeed. Most of the heats necessitated winnings of over $150,000 to be competitive. The tracks, with the exception of Bruce's come-from-behind victory, were indeed fast. Even Bruce needed $127K to advance. This gave eight qualifiers for the Saturday evening Final, but Kyrollos and Beall opted out of their hard won seats, leaving six players at the rail -- all guaranteed laurels.

The weather outside the convention center apparently belied the conditions inside as the track turned muddy for the whole program and upsets were the rule rather than the exception during the opening races. All contestants kept their cash close to their vests and were frustrated in the early going. This, in turn, kept even the wisest of handicappers from amassing a large amount of cash. As late as Race 5, all the players remained competitive and the bidding for the favorites became quite spirited.

The large amounts paid for the favorites (and some not so favored) provided spotty results at the finish line. In the fifth race, the vagaries of the dice sent the usual long shot betting favorite Cockroach to an early lead only to be caught by the favorite Lobster Tail at the wire. This set up an even greater bidding war for prize money in the sixth. Favorites Jungle Monarch and Mona Lisa were win and show and all long shot Captain Ahab could do was place. It was a close contest to the end, but during this week of weeks, Jason could do no wrong. When the prize money and tickets were paid, Reiff and Fox were tapped out, Harley had kept her stake and Levine's $95K finished just ahead of Welage's $88K and Gutermuth's $75K. It was Jason's fourth title of the week.

Jason celebrates his fourth win of the week as Christina laughs at you-know-who's predicament.