Marshalls World Of Sport’s Mark Bowman is looking to make it a double in the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge at Hollywoodbets Scottsville today, after a terrific win in the popular competition on Thursday.
Playing under the name ‘Sea Warrior’, Mark banked the first cheque of R4 000 for topping the first 20 stampede on the leaderboard, selecting five winners on the Hollywoodbets Greyville Thursday 15 April card.
The seasoned racing man beat a hardknocking field of 13291 players to the line!
Had he found another four winners, Mark could have walked away with the progressive bonus jackpot of R1 225 000.
On Sunday at Hollywoodbets Scottsville, the 100% winner jackpot prize goes to R1 250 000!
Sea Warrior wins the 1986 Richelieu Guineas
Mark plays the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge under the pseudonym ‘Sea Warrior’ – the name of the talented 3yo that won the 1986 Richelieu Cape Guineas.
A first success in the classic for trainer Vaughan Marshall, Sea Warrior – an R18 000 National Yearling Sale buy – benefitted from a superb tactical ride by jockey Michael Roberts on the sharp Milnerton near bend into a howling South Easter, to beat Ecurie.
Have a look at this clip of the race and witness a superb ride!
But back to Thursday’s winner!
Married for 25 years, the 55 years ‘young’ – he said it – Mark has two grown-up sons aged 23 and 20, and plays the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge by studying collateral form, rather than being influenced by the betting.
“While the prizes are terrific, my biggest thrill about winning is to have beaten every one of all those many thousands of players,” Mark told the Sporting Post as he savoured his hard earned bragging rights.
The free-to-enter competition requires players to select a horse in each race.
Depending on the finishing position, every horse earns points – but it is winners that really count as bonus points are awarded for winning selections, where the Hollywoodbets Starting Price (SP) for that horse are added to the points calculation.
The 10-1 Tromso rounded off a big day for Mark Bowman (Pic – Anneke Akal / Gold Circle)
And Mark proved the advantage of finding the value.
His successes included the winners of the last four races on the nine race programme. They were Banha Bridge (9-1), Kings Road (8-1), Deerupt (7-2) and Tromso (10-1). In the process he accumulated 120,10 points which saw him beat Neresh01 (117,21) and Fatimazn on 115,83.
Mark was keeping his choices for Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday close to his chest.
“I am the defending champion and can’t afford to give away any tactical advantage to my opposition,” he laughed.
At Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday an amount of R1 250 000 is up for grabs for a 100% winner clean-sheet, with a must-be-won R10 000 to be shared again amongst the top 20 on the leaderboard.
Click here for more on the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge
With three competitive features headlining a tricky card, the first of nine races is off at 12h00.
Don’t leave it late to get your entry in, and let’s see if we can beat the high-riding defending champion!
