Self-described as a relative newcomer to handicapping, Dennis Loo, or Sasha7 as he’s known in the DerbyWars world, managed to take home the winner's share of the $10,000 High Stakes Game last weekend on DerbyWars.
Introduced to horseracing by his wife about a year ago, Loo admits he was not hooked immediately. "At first when we went to the track (mostly Santa Anita) I would take a book to read while she watched the races because I wasn't that into it." he said. "Overtime I got involved and began to fully appreciate the romance and excitement of thoroughbred horse racing."
Since then, Loo may have found his niche in tournament handicapping, especially enjoying the competition with other horseplayers. "The competition at Derby Wars is intense and the handicappers are among the nation's best, certainly better than the public handicappers," he said.
"My training is as a social scientist so I approach handicapping in a similar way: looking for patterns and performance likelihoods based on predictability factors," Loo said. "I also am something of an athlete and student of sports so I appreciate and draw upon that angle in handicapping."
Loo got off to a slow start in the $10K High Stakes Game, losing the first two legs. In the first leg, Loo backed the beaten favorite Silky in the sixth race at Belmont, a 1 1/2 mile turf Allowance contest. For the next leg, Loo took the 9-2 third choice, Runyon Humor, in a one-mile turf race at Monmouth, who finished off the board.
Loo finished off the board in the next three legs, backing favorites in Belmont's ninth and Monmouth's tenth, and the 5-2 second-choice in Monmouth's eleventh.
"I was blanked in the contest's first two races, hit a second, second, and first in the next three races, but then hit another dry spell of three races DURING which Desvolus who paid $39.80 came in for those who had it," Loo said. "It wasn't looking good for my chances but a 13 race contest allows you time to catch up and fortunately, it wasn't a day where stabbing for long shots would have won you the contest."
Not to be discouraged, Loo looked toward the final five races in contention - the fifth through ninth races at his home track of Santa Anita.
"The $10k contest was a tough one because it featured a whole lot of turf races and Monmouth in particular is very difficult," Loo reflected. "I only hit one at Monmouth, a second place that paid $2.60. Fortunately, the So Cal area and Santa Anita in particular is like my home court so having the contest end there with five races was a welcome respite from the rigors of Monmouth!"
"Fortunately, in the 9, 10, and 11th legs of the contest, only MasterofPics matched my winning pick on Wake Up Nick in the 11th leg [the Santa Anita Juvenile Stakes] so I gained steady ground on the leaders. After the penultimate race I was now sitting in second, behind leader Moomeyer by about $10 or so, having moved steadily from 7th, to 6th, to 5th, and then to 2nd. So I knew I would get at least $1,000 no matter what, which felt really good since for much of the contest I wasn't feeling very hopeful."
Loo backed four of the five winners on the Santa Anita portion of the contest, missing only with Robo Girl in the 12th leg, the Landaluce Stakes won by the heavily-favored Enchanting Lady.
"I LOVE this new format where the top five finishers win at least $1k and where you have thirteen races."
"My winning total of 7 out of 13 races with $76 total was low relative to the usual winning total which showed how hard it was to pick winners," Loo pointed out. "It wasn't really a chalky day: only three of the winning horses were the betting public's favorites and there were two long shots that came in, Champagne Rain in the fourth leg at Monmouth that paid $33.40 and Desvolus. I had neither of those long shots!
"My longest shot was Old Harbor at Belmont 8 who paid $21.90 and who I switched to after I saw how great she looked," he added.
"You just have to put your head down and try to keep picking winners and you never know what can happen."
Loo netted $5,000 for the High Stakes win, besting the competition in a full contest of 24 players. Moomeyer earned $2,000 for his second-place finish. Additionally, the third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishers were awarded $1,000 each.
"I LOVE this new format where the top five finishers win at least $1k and where you have thirteen races, making a single lucky stab longshot insufficient to win," Loo said, "which makes it much more satisfying for more people."
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