Barnsdale gains slightly in Hiawatha Challenge

Harness racing handicapper Nicholas ‘Ace” Barnsdale scored the highest point total so

far in the $500 Hiawatha Horse Park Youth Handicapping Challenge, but he could only gain one point on Leamington Raceway track announcer Nathan Bain, whose prognosticating was also on point Saturday, August 14.

Barnsdale clicked for 89 points on the strength of correctly predicting the winner of 7 of the day’s 12 races. He also scored five bonus points when his Best Bet Thatll Be Sporty tallied a three-length win in race 7.

But Bain also had a strong day, scoring with eight winners and his Best Bet Jayport Hi Class who was a 3 and 1/4 length winner of Race 10.

Barnsdale won the day because 11 of his 12 top selections finished in the money, all scoring points. Bain had three top picks finish off the board. Bain still holds a commanding lead, 654 points to Barnsdale’s 595, with only five race cards left in the Challenge.

The contest – for which the $300 first prize and $200 second prize is supplied by Hiawatha Horse Park – runs every Saturday and concludes when the last race is run on closing day, September 18th.

Follow Bain’s (@NBainracing) and Barnsdale’s (@AceBarnsdale) weekly Hiawatha selections on Twitter every Saturday afternoon. Barnsdale’s selections also appear on the Ontario Racing “Tips from the Pros” page.

by Melissa Keith, for the Canadian Chapter of USHWA