• Tour Winner Costello Playing for $5 Million Bonus
  • Record Turnout at Last Chance/First Chance Contest
  • Remington’s Day Latest Track Announcer at NHC
  • Bally’s Las Vegas To Become Horseshoe Las Vegas

 

LAS VEGAS (Friday, January 28, 2022) – NHC Tour winner Kevin Costello (who goes by his middle name, Kevin, but uses his given first name, Joseph, in tournaments to make his taxes easier) is playing for what would be the biggest single payday in handicapping contest history if he can win this weekend’s 23rd NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) presented by Racetrack Television Network, Caesars Entertainment, and Bally’s Las Vegas. On top of the $725,000 first-place prize that everyone is dreaming of, the NHC Tour winner is eligible for a $5 million bonus if he can be the first to pull off the sweep.

The bonus is covered by a policy the NTRA purchases each year via Insurance Office of America (IOA). However, the premium is established for one entry and Costello is double-qualified this year with the maximum two entries. As a result, Costello had to pick which of his entries would be eligible for the bonus. He went with his second entry, which shows on the leaderboard as “Joseph Costello- 2.”

“There’s a running joke with my friends that it always seems my second entry does better than my first,” Costello said. “I guess I tend to wing it a little more with my second entry. I have an inkling that, statistically, when I do win tournaments more of them have come from that second entry.”

Costello is a 6-time NHC qualifier.

Costello led the entire field after his first optional play of the day paid $32.40. Unfortunately, the payoff came on Entry 1, which is not eligible for the bonus.

Defending Champion Mustari Aims for Repeat

Justin Mustari, who became the youngest NHC winner in history last August at age 26, is looking to make history again this year as the NHC’s first repeat winner.

“It feels good to walk back in this room again after everything that happened in the final race last year,” Mustari said. “It still feels like a miracle.”

Mustari, of Des Plaines, Ill., said after taking down the $725,000 first-place prize at #NHC2021 that he planned to buy a house for himself and girlfriend Paulina. That hasn’t happened just yet because Mustari, like the expert horseplayer he is, insists on getting the price he wants.

“We were under contract one time but the seller backed out and the market right now is just so hard,” Mustari said. “I’m not going to buy anything way overvalued so I’m still waiting for the right one.”

Of course, another big check this year could allow Mustari to increase the top of his price range.

“I’m just chipping away today but tomorrow there are a lot of opportunities on the Pegasus card,” Mustari said.

Remington Announcer Day Makes NHC Debut

Track announcer Dale Day of Remington Park is making his NHC debut this year after qualifying in one of the free online contests open to all NHC Tour members on Horseplayers.com. Other track announcers who have qualified over the years include Travis Stone, Vic Stauffer, John Curran, and Nick Tammaro.

“I’ve been around horse racing a long time but I’ve never seen anything like this,” Day said. “You come down here in the morning and you just feel the anxiety.”

Day started playing in qualifiers three years ago after trying the free contest presented by “At the Races with Steve Byk.”

“I joined the NHC Tour after that and I’ve only played the free contests but now that I’ve been here and seen it I already know I’m going to be playing a lot more to try to get back,” Day said.

Day regaled a gaggle of NHC regulars with a story about a long-ago visit to Las Vegas with NHC Tournament Director and NTRA COO Keith Chamblin, who once worked with Day at Remington.

“It was December 1994 and we had just finished our season,” Day said. “Chamblin suggested we go to Vegas and we ended up with a big group from Remington.”

The group stayed at Barbary Coast and had a great time. After the first two nights, though, one member of the crew noticed that their considerable supply of booze, cigars and Daily Racing Forms seemed to be diminishing faster than could realistically be expected. The rest of the group chalked it up to excessive consumption.

Day came back to his room on the third afternoon and noticed that it smelled like cigar smoke, even though the group had been out all day. And that is when he found a stranger trying to hide in the back of the closet with a lit cigar and a fifth of whiskey.

“I was just buzzed enough to not be as scared as I should have been,” Day recalled. “I just looked at him and said, ‘What are you doing?’ He said it was his room. I told him, ‘No, this is my room.’ And then he jumped up and elbowed me and ran for it.”

Hotel security nabbed the trespasser, who confessed that he had been breaking into the room each day and helping himself to the Remington stash. Police later learned that the suspect had collected keys (back in the day of actual room keys as opposed to cards) from dozens of local hotels and had been ransacking them regularly for months.

Barbary Coast did reimburse Day for his room.

Record Turnout for Last Chance/First Chance

Thursday’s Last Chance/First Chance contest hosted by Bally’s Las Vegas awarded 24 seats to the 2022 NHC plus three to the 2023 NHC. A record field consisting of 532 entries competed. Five berths to #NHC2022 were guaranteed, with an additional spot added for every 20 entries beyond 140.

The top three finishers shared in a cash prize pool equal to 30% of entry fees, with the balance of entry fees going to the NHC prize pool. In addition to the NHC seats, winner Scott Cavalieri took home $40,200. Robert Bertolucci earned $26,800 for second, and Jay Johns got $13,400 for third.

Bally’s Las Vegas to Become Horseshoe Las Vegas

The home of the NHC, Bally’s Las Vegas, will undergo a transformation this year that will include a name change to Horseshoe Las Vegas, aligning the property with a Caesars Entertainment brand known for gaming, poker and making it right for the gambler. The news was announced by Caesars this week. Horseshoe Las Vegas will also become the new home of another championship event for gamblers, the World Series of Poker.

The transformation to Horseshoe Las Vegas will begin this spring and will include a renovated exterior, new entertainment and food and beverage options, and a reimagined casino floor and public areas. In keeping with Horseshoe’s classic sophistication, the design team will incorporate a handcrafted feeling with tooled leather, dramatic colors, and the brand’s signature gold horseshoe iconography. Additional details will be announced as the evolution progresses.

“At Horseshoe, it’s all about the gambler,” said Jason Gregorec, SVP and General Manager of the property. “Since 1951 Horseshoe Casinos have been home to the best odds, highest limits, and biggest jackpots. So, it’s fitting that we bring Horseshoe back to Las Vegas, and right on the Las Vegas Strip. Holding to the Horseshoe tradition of providing impeccable service, our guests will see the property transform over time, ensuring we aren’t disrupting the excitement while we make the transition.”

Occupying one of the most coveted locations in gaming, Horseshoe Las Vegas will stand at the 50-yard-line of the Las Vegas Strip at the corner of Flamingo Road. The multi-million-dollar investment is the latest in a series of reimagining for Caesars Entertainment’s storied Las Vegas resorts, including a new entrance to Caesars Palace, multi-million-dollar investments in the casino floor, gaming technology across the properties, and incredible partnerships with world-class entertainers and restauranteurs.

“Bringing the Horseshoe brand back to life in Las Vegas allows us to celebrate both our history and our future,” said Sean McBurney, Regional President of Caesars Entertainment. “2022 starts a new era for the Caesars Entertainment empire in Las Vegas, one being heralded by the return of Horseshoe.”

Horseshoe Casino was started by a gambler for gamblers. Over the years, as the brand expanded to markets across the country, Horseshoe has stayed true to its heritage, holding on to the thrilling spirit of no-limit betting. That spirit will come alive this summer as Caesars Entertainment’s World Series of Poker returns to its roots, having been first played at Las Vegas’ original Horseshoe in 1970, as it moves to the Strip for the very first time.

“We couldn’t be more excited to see the World Series of Poker return to Horseshoe,” said Ty Stewart, SVP and Executive Director of the World Series of Poker. “Horseshoe is where it all began for WSOP. It’s always been a brand for gamblers and card players. As we move WSOP to the Las Vegas Strip for the first time, that it will happen at Horseshoe makes it incredibly special.”

The transformation to Horseshoe Las Vegas should be complete by the end of 2022.

About the NHC

The NHC is the most important tournament of the year for horseplayers and is the culmination of a year-long series of NTRA-sanctioned local tournaments conducted by racetracks, casino race books, off-track betting facilities, and horse racing and handicapping websites, each of which sends its top qualifiers to the national finals. There are no bye-ins to the NHC. Each year, the NHC winner joins other human and equine champions as an honoree at the Eclipse Awards. For more information on the NHC, visit NTRA.com/nhc.

About the NTRA

The NTRA is a broad-based coalition of more than 100 horse racing interests and thousands of individual stakeholders consisting of horseplayers, racetrack operators, owners, breeders, trainers, and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with increasing the popularity, welfare, and integrity of Thoroughbred racing through consensus-based leadership, legislative advocacy, safety and integrity initiatives, fan engagement, and corporate partner development. The NTRA owns and manages the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance; NTRA.com; the Eclipse Awards; the National Horseplayers Championship; NTRA Advantage, a corporate partner sales and sponsorship program; and Horse PAC®, a federal political action committee. NTRA press releases appear on NTRA.com, Twitter (@ntra) and Facebook (facebook.com/1NTRA).

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