Barnsdale inches closer in Hiawatha challenge

Harness racing journalist Nicholas “Ace” Barnsdale crept a bit closer this past Saturday (July 31) to Nathan Bain, leader in the $500 Hiawatha Horse Park Youth Handicapping Challenge.

The Leamington Raceway racecaller remains ahead by a score of 511 to Barnsdale’s 463 after seven weeks of the contest.

Barnsdale clicked with eight winners on the 13-race card to Bain’s seven, and the two handicappers agreed on six common winners. Bain earned five bonus points with his Best Bet, Dinner At The Met, who scored for the third time in a row at the meet for the trainer-driver combo of Tyler Nostadt and Marc St. Louis Jr.. Bluestone Investments’ 10-year-old Metropolitan gelding was popular with bettors, returning $2.50 as favourite. Barnsdale’s Best Bet, two-year-old trotting gelding Lexus Ranger, broke stride in Race 1.

The contest – for which the $300 first prize and $200 second prize is supplied by Hiawatha Horse Park –runs every Saturday and concludes at the end of the Sarnia track’s last race date of the current season. 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.

Join the challenge: Play their selections, or your own, at Hiawatha Horse Park every Saturday through September 18. It’s available for online wagering via Horseplayer Interactive and other ADWs.

by Melissa Keith, for the United States Harness Writers Association Canada Chapter