Brisnet members dominate Handicapping Championship

Brisnet members dominate Handicapping
Championship

Brisnet member James Michelson Jr. earned the title of 2005 Handicapper of
the Year on Saturday, defeating 213 contestants to win the sixth
annual Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship (NHC) at
Bally’s racebook in Las Vegas. Michelson won the championship’s $200,000 grand
prize just two years after his friend and fellow Brisnet member Steve
Wolfson Jr. accomplished the same feat at NHC IV in 2003.

Michelson, a 38-year-old advertising account director from West
Bloomfield, Michigan, qualified for this year’s tournament last August. He received
the $200,000 Grand Prize for bankrolling $240.40 in mythical money during the
two days of play.

“To beat all these people is just mind-blowing,” said Michelson, who was a
close fifth after the first day. “Some days you pick horses and they all run
backwards, but this was one of those days when they won. I didn’t think I could
get lucky two days in a row.”

Players made 30 mythical $2 win-and-place bets at seven tracks. Michelson’s
total was $31.60 ahead of his closest rival, which was enough to give him the
largest margin of victory ever in the NHC. During his speech at the post-contest
awards ceremony at Bally’s on Saturday night, Michelson mentioned that Brisnet
information assisted him in his win.

Brisnet customers dominated the leader board throughout the two-day
competition. Seventeen members placed in the top 20 and nine were in the top
10. Michael Conway (Glencoe, Illinois), took the $75,000 second-place prize for
totaling $208.80 in his bankroll. Conway also led the Twin Spires Club team to a
win in the NHC team championship. The winning team split a prize of $15,000.

Michael Elsass, part of Churchill Downs #2 team, rounded out the top three with
$205.40 in his bankroll, earning $30,000 for third-place. Damian Roncevich
(Honolulu, Hawaii), finished day one in second place and hung around the
leaderboard the entire contest to eventually finish fifth place. Roncevich took
home $10,000 in prize money.

Other Brisnet members finishing in the top 10 included Bill Shurman, who was
the day one leader and sixth overall; Richard Gaetano and David Kassmier, who
tied for seventh; ninth-place finisher Don Sullivan; and 10th-place finisher
Calvin Manns. The sixth through 10th-place finishers each won $5,000 in prize
money. A total of $20,000 ($10,000 a day) was also offered to the top daily
finishers. Shurman took home Friday’s daily top prize of $5,000, with
Roncevich receiving $3,000 for second, and Conway earning $2,000 for third.
Brisnet members Elsass and Justin Carey won $3,000 and $2,000, respectively, for second- and third-place
daily prizes on Saturday.

Brisnet is now home to all six Handicappers of the Year. For the 2005
tournament, members captured an impressive $376,000 of the $412,400 in prize
money.

Brisnet congratulates all its members who were winners this year and wishes
them continued success in the future.