Columnist Ralph Siraco: Texan earns $120,000 prize

Ralph Siraco

Monday, April 2, 2001 | 10:43 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday, and his Southern California selections run Tuesday through Friday. Reach him c/o Las Vegas Sun, 2275 Corporate Circle Drive, Suite 300, Henderson, NV 89014.

Tommy Castillo is a unique person. After Saturday, he is also a rich one.

And, he has become an instant legend in Las Vegas. It's not so much for winning big -- this town has a multitude of big winners and losers.

And it's not so much for being the latest Texan to score in this city of high rollers. Instead, it's for being possibly the first person to leave town while on a roll and winning big without even knowing it.

Tommy Castillo won in excess of $120,000 over a three-day period as the big winner of the inaugural Suncoast Invitational horse race handicapping contest at the newest Coast Resorts hotel-casino. The tournament attracted 307 entrants -- at $1,000 apiece --- competing in a win-only shootout that began on Thursday and ended while Castillo was en route to his Texas base early Saturday evening.

The retired resident of Grand Prairie, Texas, had to turn his attention of under-the-hide horsepower to some under-the-hood horsepower while keeping a promise Sunday to his two grandsons, Cole and Cody. The NTRA simulcast competition in the Suncoast ballroom was replaced by some NASCAR action in the stands in Dallas.

While Castillo, who played two tickets in the Suncoast tournament, knew he would "cash" in the competition, he had no idea that he would be pocketing the winner's share of the $357,000 prize fund until he was flying back to Texas from Nevada on Saturday. He had no idea how much he had won until this reporter gave him the news on Sunday afternoon.

Castillo had to leave the Suncoast complex at 4 p.m. Saturday to catch a plane to Dallas in time to meet his grandsons for the NASCAR Winston Cup race that started early Sunday. While Castillo held the top two positions with his pair of entries after the second day of competition, his final day selections produced a lone $30 winner on his runner up ticket and a goose egg on the leading entry.

While being interviewed for this column Sunday night, Castillo asked how much he had won.

When he learned of the amount, he just laughed and said his wife of 40 years would certainly have plans for the money. "Ruby is going to scream when she hears how much," he said.

Castillo started following the horses just five years ago -- at the same time he retired -- while learning how to operate a computer. The "Handicapper's Technology & Research" computer program, written by Ken Massa, started the new handicapper on his mission.

Castillo has competed in two tournaments this year -- both in Las Vegas -- finishing second in a February MGM contest and notching his first career win in the Suncoast Invitational.