Tourney Talk- “Scott C” leads BetPTC Finals after Day 1

Based on his social media posts, I can only assume that the Scott C. atop the BetPTC leaderboard after Day 1 of the Cash Is King contest is none other than Scott Carson, known on Twitter as @CarsoniPH.  Carson tweeted on Saturday that he rode Risky Proposition and his 22.5-1 off odds to wins in “a couple of contests”.  And while there is still one day to go in the BetPTC event, Carson’s +2250% ROI stands as a commanding lead in the event with a first prize of a seat in the Pegasus contest at Gulfstream in January.

Although, it isn’t over.  Contest rules require all 39 players to wager at least $250 on Saturday and at least $250 on Sunday.  Carson bet the minimum on Saturday, and were he to bet only $250 on Sunday and miss with his bet(s), his ROI would drop to +1075%.  That’s good news for the other participants, myself included.  I missed with all $350 of my plays yesterday, so if Carson doesn’t hit anything today, I need to turn today’s $250 into at least $7,200.  That would mean $600 in total wagers over the two days, for a net profit of $6,600 (+1100%).  Put another way, I need to make a $250 wager that returns odds of about 29-1.  And that requires Carson to miss with his bet(s) today.

The silver lining for me is that entering yesterday, my Plan A was to bet $250 to win on Spikes Shirl in the 8th at Churchill.  But then I decided to really dig in to the race, and in doing so, I stopped liking Spikes Shirl.  Mainly because I warmed up to another horse at similar odds.  But also because I felt like 6F wasn’t Spike Shirl’s best distance.  When he won at 6-1, I wanted to vomit.  I was sure that a wager on Spikes Shirl as planned would have given me a big lead in the BetPTC contest.  But now, given Carson’s hit yesterday, I would still need to hit something today, just at way lower odds.

At the moment, I am planning on either a cold exacta or double that figures to return just over 30-1.  Its a longshot for me.  But not impossible.

Bad luck to Scott and all the other PTC competitors!!!