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BELMONT FALL SHOWdown BEGINS SEPT. 5; SIGN UPS START FRIDAY


By NYRA Press Office

Belmont Fall SHOWdown will begin when the New York racing circuit returns to Belmont Park on Friday, Sept. 5. Thousands of dollars will be on the line.

There is an entry fee of $10 for the online contest. All of the money is returned in the form of prize money. The winner will take 60 percent of the overall pot. The top 10 finishers win monetary prizes.

The object of SHOWdown is to select one horse to finish first, second or third on each of the 38 racedays of the 2003 Belmont Fall meeting (Friday, Sept. 5 to Sunday, Oct. 26). If successful on Day No. 1, contestants move on to Day No. 2, and so on until the contest is decided with an overall winner.

The sign-up period begins on Friday, Aug. 15, 2003. Contestants must sign up on NYRA.com before 10 a.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 5.

Entry fees can only be paid online with a Visa or MasterCard. Entry fees are nonrefundable.

Past SHOWdowns have featured large payouts. Saratoga SHOWdown, the current ongoing contest, attracted an overall purse of $44,500; the winner will receive $26,700. Brian Vogler, 31, of Syracuse, N.Y., is a two-time winner: he won $15,684 from the 2003 Belmont Spring SHOWdown and a total of $13,429 in 2002 Aqueduct Fall SHOWdown. Con McCleester of Houston won $11,142 in 2003 Aqueduct Spring SHOWdown. And Howard Hong of Phoenix, Ariz., won the $10,188 grand prize of 2002 Belmont Fall SHOWdown. Steve Wolfson Jr., who won the inaugural SHOWdown at Saratoga in 2001, has since moved on to win the title of 2003 Daily Racing Form/NTRA Handicapper of the Year.

The deadline to make each daily selection for 2003 Belmont Fall SHOWdown is 15 minutes prior to first race post time. Entrants who correctly select a horse to finish first, second or third are eligible to select a horse for the following raceday and continue in the contest. Entrants who fail to make a selection before the daily deadline are eliminated from the contest. If a selection is scratched, the contestant will receive the actual post-time favorite in that race. There are four tiebreakers that will go into effect to determine the winner. Complete Official Rules are available on NYRA.com.