win, place & show [Updated October 2006]  

2006 WBC Report     

 2007 Status: pending 2007 GM commitment

John Welage, OH

2006 Champion

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Event History
1992    Bruce Reiff      14
1993    Stephen Kershaw     10
1994    Stuart Tucker      20
1995    Dennis Nicholson      29
1996    Bruce Reiff      17
1997    John Coussis      15
1998    Bruce Reiff      14
1999    Bruce Reiff     31
2000    Ken Gutermuth     26
2001    Ken Gutermuth     42
2002    Stuart Tucker     40
2003     Robert Drozd     41
2004    Dave Steiner     57
2005     Dave Steiner     28
2006    John Welage     37

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Ken Gutermuth      TX    06     73
  2.  Bruce Reiff        OH    05     53
  3.  Dave Steiner       DE    05     50
  4.  Robert Drozd       IL    06     48
  5.  Stuart Tucker      MD    06     47
  6.  John Welage        OH    06     36
  7.  Jim Bell           MD    04     24
  8.  Jeff August        VA    04     24
  9.  Jim Garvey         NY    03     18
 10.  Jason Levine       NY    06     15
 11.  John Emery         SC    06     14
 12.  Mark Kennel        DE    05     14
 13.  Lance Fogel        PA    01     12
 14.  Gerald Lientz      VA    00     12
 15.  Bruce Monnin       OH    02      9
 16.  Jeff Finkeldey     OH    05      8
 17.  Josh Githens       SC    04      8
 18.  Mike Zorrer        DE    05      6
 19.  Anna Palermo       NY    02      6
 20.  Joshua Garton      VA    01      6
 21.  Charles Ellsworth  NY    00      6
 22.  Frank Sinigaglio   NJ    99      6
 23.  Ted Drozd          IL    04      4
 24.  Michael Cook       VA    01      4
 25.  John Tighe         NJ    99      4
 26.  Bert Schoose       IL    05      2
 27.  Peter Martin       NJ    99      1

2006 Laurelists

Robert Drozd, IL
2nd

John Emery, SC
3rd

Stuart Tucker, MD
4th

Ken Gutermuth, TX
5th

Jason Levine, NY
6th


Past Winners

Bruce Reiff, OH
'92, '96, '98-'99

Stephen Kershaw, NJ
1993

Stuart Tucker, MD
1994, 2002

Dennis Nicholson, NY
1995

John Coussis, IL
1997

Ken Gutermuth, TX
2000-2001

Robert Drozd, IL
2003

Dave Steiner, DE
2004-2005


 If you win here ...

 ... you get to play here.

Race, Bet & Scheme

WPS rebounded in 2006 with 37 jockeys/owners returning to the paddocks at Lancaster. Five 5-player games on Tuesday and three 6-player games on Saturday qualified eight for the Big Board Final racing card Saturday.

The event opened with a night card as 25 would be owners and gamblers showed up Tuesday night to test their knowledge of the horses. Five previous champions were in attendance but only two qualified for an early spot in the Final.

In the first game, two-time champ Ken Gutermuth managed to stay close by consistently winning purse money until he was able to pull away with the Roach in Race 5 as the Roach sped to victory on the strength of two bonus numbers.

Our other previous champion to advance Tuesday evening was 2003's Rob Drozd. Rob built a lead with wins in the second and third race and then held on in the lowest scoring game of the first heat.

John Emery doused the hopes of two-time defending champion Dave "the Fixer" Steiner as he posted the highest score of the night. John was aided by a very strong first race in which he mistakenly looked at the third race card, made his bets, and managed to win the first race.

John Welage, a perennial contender, knocked off Mr. Plaque Bruce Reiff by cashing in on purses in five of the six races and betting on his own horses.

Carl Ademec held on to edge 1995 champion Dennis Nicholson who made a late charge with a Mona Lisa across the board bet and purse money.

The Saturday afternoon card brought in 19 owners. With an optimum of six per game, assistant GM Nate Hoam opted to sit out the heat in order to make a perfect 18. 

Jason Levine, a perennial track hound, rebounded from a devastating Roach performance in Race 5 to ride Mona Lisa to the win in Race 6 to earn his shot at the big board.

Racing regular Gerald Lientz joined Jason in the winner's column, denying former Champ Nicholson's second try to reclaimn past glories. Gerald's thirrd place bet on Captain Ahab in the finale assured his win.

In our closest contest of the weekend, two-time Champion Stuart tucker edged out Steve Raszewski on the strength of an erroneous foul claim. Steve's foul claim in Race 5 cost him $2,000 when it was shown that Stuart bet on the horse in question. Steve then came up $1,000 short of Stuart after Race 6.

The Final was now set with the twp-year reign of the "Fixer" ended as Dave Steiner failed to qualify. Seven of the eight qualifiers were able to make the finals including previous champions Stuart Tucker, Robert Drozd, and Ken Gutermuth. They were joined by former laurelists John Wellage, Jason Levine, John Emery and Gerald Lientz. There wasn't an easy mark in the crowd.

In the first race, the perennial favorite among bettors, Gunsmoke, came up one space short on the next to last roll and then failed to finish in the money. Both John's surged ahead as Welage took Eight Ball to show and place and Emery got three payouts with Lucky Old Sun to Win and Place and Rotunda to show.

The second race showed signs of fixing as Gerald ran Peace Corps to the outside, a move that didn't raise an eyebrow as Peace Corps is a very long shot. No one made a lot of money this race as the favorite Nothing Special won. Welage's purse money, a story that would follow the rest of the card, managed him to build a lead with his safety bet of Nothing Special to place and show. Emery's bets on Corn Plaster dropped him back to the pack.

The daily double of the two favorites, Lucky Old Sun and Nothing Special cost everyone $5,000 in lost bets. 

The third race would just about end all hopes of six of our contestants as Welage.began his final push of running his horses to purse finishes and betting on them. John ran Stampede to a first place finish and bet on Stampede across the board. This payout of $80,000 left him $93.500 ahead of Rob in second with $46,000.

Knowing they needed a miracle, the third race was uneventful as everyone waited for Race 5 and the Roach. In an exciting finish to the race, designated roller Lisa Gutermuth rolled boxcars on the last roll to give French Twist the win for Gerald. Jason and Stuart's across the board bet on the Twist allowed them to gain some ground, but they still trailed by $80,000.

The much anticipated bidding for the Roach in Race 5, especially with Jason, Stuart, and Ken known to pay a high price, was tempered when Stuart lost the dice-off and had to purchase the favorite Lobster Tail and Ken was forced to take Hung Jury. Welage bailed out of the bidding by taking slow Molasses. Jason ended up with the Roach for $5,500.

The race proved to be too slow for the Roach and favorite Lobster Tail won easily. A couple of bonus numbers for Slow Molasses gave Welage's horse second place and almost assured him of his first crown. Going into the last race, Stuart was in second place, $93.5K behind the leader.

As we entered the bidding for the last race, Jason let slip Stuart's traditional strategy of the Mona Lisa for the race. Knowing John would probably not be caught, bidding patterns changed. Welage got out early with a $7,500 bid on the favorite Jungle Monarch. Ken lost the roll off and had to take Swami before the big three horses entered the auction block. Wanting to stop Jason, Stuart let Robert have the Mona Lisa for $2,500 and Gerald managed to pick up Hannibal for $1,000. The bidding then skyrocketed as Captain Ahab went for $17,000 to Stuart. Using bonus numbers again, book favorite Jungle Monarch emerged victorious outracing Mona Lisa in a fairly slow race. The $25,000 purse money without a long shot winning assured Welage. of the crown.

Congratulations to John Welage on a fine win that showed if you bet on your own horses and run them well, you can race to victory. Final scores were John Welage $175,000, Robert Drozd $80,000, John Emery $31,000, Stuart Tucker $27,000, Ken Gutermuth $22,000, Jason Levine $16,500, and Gerald Lientz $4,000, leaving only two of our finalists above their starting cash.

 GM      Ken Gutermuth  [6th Year]   NA 
    kg33327@aol.com   NA

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