I'm in a similar boat. I was saving up energy for months of not playing and had about 4000 at the start. I'm down to 2000 energy but am close to getting the Kelpie... I have 1974 points, the next 3 are 518, 317 and 286. I guess I would like to win (I used to compete to win, now it's coming easily) but I don't mind not winning either.
Suggestion to S8: Have an opt-out button so folks that don't want to win the prize aren't taking it from people who do.