Christian Hellmers and Fahad Althani went neck and neck to the finish line to finish first and second over 148 total entries in Del Mar’s Pacific Classic Betting Challenge. Both had large win bets on the last race winner but Hellmers, then in second, overtook Althani to pull out the victory.
Hellmers finished with a final bankroll of $55,780 over Althani’s $52,346 in an epic 11 race battle going back and forth throughout the day. With prizes, Hellmers takes home more than $110,000 while Althani won over $75,000.
Third place finisher Tyler Sprague was also in striking distance at the end finishing with $36,140 from the $3,000 starting bankroll in the one-day Challenge.
The top five received $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entries. Also awarded were National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) spots.
Participants competed for $150,000 in total prizes, from either on-track at Del Mar or online on TVG.com, during the fantastic Pacific Classic Day card consisting of five stakes races.
| 2023 PCBC Results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Place | Name | Final Bankroll |
| 1 | Christian Hellmers | $55,780.00 |
| 2 | Fahad Althani | $52,346.00 |
| 3 | Tyler Sprague | $36,140.00 |
| 4 | Ken McMahan | $15,003.00 |
| 5 | Mark Stanton | $13,480.00 |
| 6 | Cory Shorr | $11,885.00 |
| 7 | Linda Rodriguez | $10,950.00 |
| 8 | Frank Mustari | $10,600.00 |
| 9 | Robert Novicki | $8,866.00 |
| 10 | Jeannie King | $6,624.00 |
| 11 | Gregg Kingma | $6,006.00 |
| 12 | Chris Soronen | $5,292.55 |