5/5/2025
The Professor DW Kentucky Derby…DERBY!! contest was a 4-way photo finish with 4 tying for the top prize. It came down to the tie-breaker of guessing the $1 superfecta pay-off, without going over (the Price is Right rule). Strategy was a big part of the superfecta guess and the one who was most conservative came away with the win, like bidding $1 on the Price is Right when you think everyone else will bid overbid.
Before we get to that the race was a mess with a sloppy track, 2 late scratches and then #21 Baeza scratching into the race which kicked-in our #21 rule. We did not allow anyone to select #21 Baeza because we began the contest prior to any scratches. When Rodriguez scratched on Thursday this allowed Baeza to run in the race. Then early Friday Grande was scratched from the race leaving 19 to run.
We didn’t want contestants to pick Baeza and then it not even get a chance to run in the race so the rule was if he got in he wouldn’t count. But to have any impact also meant Baeza would have to place in the top 3. So of course he did, getting 3rd and nearly getting up for 2nd. This wiped out the chance to pick the top 3 finisher’s and only those who selected Sovereignty or Journalism were able to cash.
4 of the 41 contestants picked it perfect with Sovereignty winning and Journalism 2nd. No longshots in the top 2. So the top 4 collected $2 win-place-show on Sovereignty which paid a combined $31.04. They also got the $2 place- show for Journalism which paid $8.64 and they collected the $1 exacta pay of $24.16 for a total of $63.84.
One person selected Sovereignty to win and Journalism to run 3rd and totalled $34.74 for 5th place. 6th through 8th place the winners had Sovereignty to win collecting the $31.04 and 9th-12th place all had Journalism to win and Sovereignty 2nd totalling $21.72.
The winner won a day for 8 at Emerald Downs and $100, 2nd place got a day for 6 at Emerald Downs and $75 and 3rd place won a day for 4 and $50. We decided to extend a 4th place prize of a day for 4 at Emerald Downs and $25 since it all came down to the tie-breaker. The tie-breaking superfecta pay-out was $1,682.27. You had to be below that unless everyone went over then it was the closest to the official pay-off.
Places 5th-12th all win a day for 2 at Emerald Downs.
Our Winner by tiebreaker went to Carlo Marinuzzi. Carlo’s tie-breaker was $328.80. Carlo was the only one of the 4 under the $1,682.27 superfecta pay-out. 2nd place went to Robert Webb who guessed $2,735, 3rd place was Jennifer Kickner with her $7,416 guess and Shannon Brazell took 4th. Shannon was hoping for two big longshots to push the superfecta up to an $11,234 pay-off.
27 contestants ended up collecting some money and were in the running down the stretch, only the biggest of longshot players ended up with 0 or a total of 14. So 2/3’s or so of the field putting up numbers on the board is pretty impressive.
Best Tie-Breaker Guess
The person closest to guessing the tie-breaker number with-out going over was Erin Walick at $1,500.00, missing the perfect guess by $128.27. The person closest overall was Angela Roy guessing $1,721.00 missing a perfect guess by just $92.73. However, both Erin and Angela were looking for longshots and ended up with 0 in their total.
Worst Tie-Breaker Guess
This was not close as Jared Kickner blew away the competition with a guess of $170,359.00. That guess was 90k more than the next closest guess of $80,000 from Eva Stockwell which also far over the actual pay-off. Hey, Jared and Eva this is a $1 bet in horse racing not a Mega Millions ticket. But, if you’re gonna go big, you did it right!
Now as far over as those two were there were plenty others who were way over the pay-out. Just a hint for next year, if you pick 2 of the top 3 favorites to come in 1st and 2nd and they do the superfecta is not going to pay, say $28,171…Kevin!
For the record the Professor went with Journalism to win, Sandman to run 2nd and Citizen Bull 3rd and collected the place-show for $8.64. His $3,333.33 tie-breaker put him in 18th place.
Thank-you all for playing and for sure we have an All-Star Baseball contest coming up and it’s never to early to begin planning for the Professor DW Pro-Football Pick ’em competition that will begin in September. We’ll keep you updated on all of our contests.
Here is the top 26 finishers of Professor DW’s Kentucky Derby…DERBY!! All other contestants checked in with $0.00 and tied for 27th.
| Place | Name | Total Win | Tie-Breaker | |
| 1 | Carlo | Marinuzzi | $63.84 | $323.80 |
| 2 | Robert | Webb | $63.84 | $2,735.00 |
| 3 | Jennifer | Kickner | $63.84 | $7,416.00 |
| 4 | Shannon | Brazell | $63.84 | $11,234.00 |
| 5 | Tim | Robinson | $34.74 | $2,793 |
| *6 | Tony | Davila | $31.04 | $357.00 |
| 7 | Trent | Twamley | $31.04 | $324.00 |
| 8 | Kim | King | $31.04 | $120.00 |
| 9 | Alicia | Clark | $21.72 | $852.00 |
| 10 | RJ | Wilson | $21.72 | $2.00 |
| 11 | John | Barnes | $21.72 | $6,328 |
| 12 | Skip | Smith | $21.72 | $8,000.00 |
| 13 | Craig | Fredrickson | $16.78 | $1,200.00 |
| 14 | Eric | Vasilauskas | $14.22 | $5,084.00 |
| 15 | Lee | Stockwell | $14.22 | $8,001.00 |
| 16 | Darin | Arthur | $8.64 | $999.99 |
| 17 | Bob | Kickner | $8.64 | $104.00 |
| *18 | Professor | DW | $8.64 | $3,333.33 |
| 19 | Keith | Stottlemyre | $8.64 | $5,432.00 |
| 20 | Stephen | Gruginski | $8.64 | $7,500.00 |
| 21 | Brian | Permann | $8.64 | $9,876.00 |
| 22 | Ed | Cornier | $8.64 | $13,477.00 |
| 23 | George | McCahey | $8.64 | $22,001.00 |
| 24 | Mike | Miyagi | $8.64 | $22,500.00 |
| 25 | Kevin | Hamrick | $8.64 | $28,171.00 |
| 26 | Jared | Kickner | $8.64 | $170,359.00 |
| *Ineligible for Prizes and are ESN affiliates. | ||||
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