David Brownfield was a one-man wrecking crew on the second day of the High Rollers Handicapping Contest Presented by Horse Tourneys on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.
Brownfield picked the four highest-priced winners on the 10-race card, starting with Hurricane Season ($93.20) in the second race. Subsequent revelations came in the fourth race with Queen Diana ($22.40); the fifth with Mr in Personal ($48.60); and the seventh with Holiday Fantasy ($56.60).
Although four seats to an upcoming National Thoroughbred Racing Association/National Horseplayers Championship were at stake in the two-day contest, suspense about the identity of the overall winner faded quickly Saturday. By the close of the afternoon, Brownfield’s original $500 bankroll had ballooned to $4,960, leaving the remainder of the 129-player field to vie for the three remaining NTRA/NHC seats at an upcoming tournament.
Evan Trommer had already won a seat by virtue of his Day 1 total of $920. Brian Chenvert won a seat as the overall runner-up with a final bankroll amount of $2,797.50.
With Brownfield also the Day 2 leader and an NTRA rule prohibiting a contest entrant from winning two seats, the fourth and final available seat went to Jeff Van Drie, the third-place overall finisher with a $2,682.50 bankroll.
Brownfield, Chenvert, Trommer and Van Drie had already qualified for the 2026 NTRA/NHC tournament and chose to apply the weekend’s prize seats to the 2027 tournament. This year’s championship will be held the weekend of March 13-15 at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.
Almost $45,000 in prize money was paid out to the top five finishers. Brownfield earned $22,450; Chenvert won $8,980; Van Drie collected $6,735; fourth-place finisher Mark Vitaliano took home $4,490; and fifth-place finisher Dylan Donnelly won $2,245.
Pictured in the accompanying photograph are (left to right): David Brownfield; Dylan Donnelly; Brian Chenvert; Jeff Van Drie; and Mark Vitaliano.
Around the oval. Trainer Darien Rodriguez teamed with jockey Samy Camacho for back-to-back victories today. They won the second race with Moralito, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Sabal Racing Stable, and came back first in the third with Bravo Kitten, a 7-year-old daughter of Kitten’s Joy owned by John Lauriello and Beth Lauriello.
Camacho completed a hat trick by winning the ninth and final race on the turf on Sherlock’s Jewel, a 6-year-old gelding owned by Wharton Connell Racing and trained by Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III.
Leading jockey Samuel Marin rode two winners. He captured the first race on North Ship, a 5-year-old gelding owned by James Kerins and William John Bourke and trained by Kathleen Guciardo. Marin added the sixth on Passioned, a 5-year-old gelding owned by Amazing Luxury Miami and trained by leading conditioner Juan Carlos Avila.
Thoroughbred racing continues Wednesday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:47 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs races each Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from now through Sunday, May 3 with the exception of Easter, April 5, when the track is closed.
Otherwise, Tampa Bay Downs is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and professional instruction and pleasure at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.