DAY 2 NOTES: MEET A FEW OF THE PLAYERS AT THE NATIONAL HORSEPLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

 

LAS VEGAS (Saturday, January 29, 2022) – With 509 individuals competing at the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) presented by Racetrack Television Network, Caesars Entertainment, and Bally’s Las Vegas there are so many more stories here than there is time to tell them. Below are quotes from a small sampling of players, chosen because their listed occupations demanded further investigation.

Brett Allaire, 34, Uxbridge, Mass., researcher: “I work in biomechanics research at Boston Hospital. Our research focuses on bone fractures. If you’ve seen in video game production how they stick little reflective markers on people, we do that and have people run around, jump, pick up things. We track how their bodies move and identify potential risk factors. The long-term goal would be to identify the safest ways for people to perform certain tasks.”

On getting into racing and contests: “My uncle (Don Brodeur) got me into online contests. I play a lot of poker and daily fantasy and this felt like a natural for applying those same principles of statistics and modeling.”

Juliana Bargfeldt, 25, Owasso, Okla., mortgage loan officer: “This runs in my family. My maiden name is Richards and we have a whole bunch of Richards here. My aunt was a trainer, we’ve had jockeys in our family, we’ve owned racehorses. I just grew up with it and it’s in my blood.

“(The NHC) is fun but a lot more stressful than I thought it would be. I didn’t know what to expect but everything has far exceeded my expectations.”

Barry Camarda, 52, Winter Springs, Fla., concert production manager: “I’m the concert manager at House of Blues Orlando. It’s a LiveNation company now and I’ve been there for 24 years.”

On his personal favorite concerts that he’s worked: “I’ve got so many that I’ve enjoyed. Return to Forever, which is Chick Corea’s band. I did James Brown. We had Van Halen in our club that fits 2,000.”

On getting into racing and contests: “I started out betting greyhounds. My father brought me to the track. When simulcasting came around I got into the horses and from there I started making trips to Tampa Bay Downs.”

Erin Doty-McQuaid, 39, Nicholasville, Ky., International Data Management, The Jockey Club: “I’m a quality control coordinator and it just means that I double-check all of the data that we get in from other countries to make sure that it’s accurate. If something is missing or wrong I go in and fix it.

“Getting to know international racing is great. I’ve been so focused on domestic racing my whole life it’s a whole new world to explore.”

On getting into racing and contests: “I got into horse racing because of my love for horses. I used to go to the Sonoma County Fair and we’d go to the races there and I just fell in love with it at a very young age.”

On her experience at the NHC: “Being here is huge. This was my dream when I started playing contests. I would only play the free contests but after a few years I realized that was going to be a really hard way to qualify. I qualified this year in the Kentucky Downs contest, which was my first live money contest ever.”

Terry Flanagan, 52, South Orange, N.J., financial editor: “I started as a reporter and editor at Bloomberg. Now I’m at a smaller organization called Markets Media and we cover the infrastructure, technology of Wall Street. Capital markets, trading, technology, the securities business as an industry. We have six different editorial platforms and I oversee a lot of stuff but it’s a small place so I also roll up my sleeves and write a lot of stories myself.”

On getting into racing and contests: “My dad was a racing fan and started taking me when I was about 10. Then I started going with my friends to Monmouth Park when I was about 16. About 2004 I started dabbling in contests at Monmouth and thought it was fun.”

Jay Johns, 60, Meridian, Idaho, President of IHOP Restaurants: “I live in Boise, Idaho now. My wife is there and I’m getting close to retirement. We got a place there and thought it was where we’d live when we retired but then COVID hit and we just moved there permanently. I work at home and commute to Los Angeles every week if I’m going to the office.

“The thing that’s great about IHOP is we’re an iconic brand that’s been around over 60 years and we’re growing at a faster rate now than ever in the history of the brand. I attribute that to how we make people feel great and bring them joy in their lives. It just goes from generation to generation. Kids love us, and because of that families love us, and because of that the extended families loves us. The common theme is we bring joy to people’s lives.”

On getting into racing and contests: “First time I went to the track I was in sixth grade. My mom’s roommate’s son-in-law was the track announcer at Ellis Park. We got to visit him up in the booth so my first time was a complete insider experience. I just thought it was really cool.

“I didn’t really get into it, though, until I was an adult and Lone Star Park opened. I started going on a regular basis and my very first contest was there, around 2004. The last few years I’ve gotten into it more heavily.”

On his experiences at the NHC: “It’s interesting, it’s entertaining, it’s fun, but it’s a lot of anxiety at the same time.”

Bill Sullivan, 61, St. Paul, Minn., author of Lemon Jail: On the Road with The Replacements: “I was with The Replacements when they started and through most of the 1980s. I drove, set up gear, broke up fights, whatever.

“I wrote the book because people used to just write about the troubled lives they led. But they were missing what a lot of fun it was. We were in our 20s, sleeping in vans and on people’s floors. I started in ’81 or ’82 working around Minneapolis with them but then we went on tour around the country and then around the world. I wrangled my way in and made myself useful and stuck around for a long time. It was great fun.

“Then Soul Asylum hired me as a tour manager and I was with them for 10 years. I worked for Bright Eyes for many years. I found Mason Jennings in a coffee shop where there were all these kids were singing along. I told him to get a band and come play at my bar and it was packed all the time.”

On getting into racing and contests: “When you’re traveling around there’s horse tracks and there’s not much else to do. Like when The Replacements played with Tom Petty at Saratoga I ran over to the track because I’d always wanted to see it. I got back and (Paul) Westerberg was like, ‘You’d better have won.’

“My brother (David Sullivan) got me into contests. He was teaching in California but also playing at the San Bernardino OTB all the time. One year he invited me to Vegas to play in the Last Chance and I won my way into the NHC.”

In addition to its three presenting sponsors―RTN, Caesars Entertainment, and Bally’s Las Vegas―the NHC is supported by official partners Daily Racing Form, EquinEdge, FanDuel Group, Four Roses Bourbon, NYRA Bets, Race Lens, TVG, and 1/ST Bet. The Final Table, where only the top 10 players advance to determine final placings based on seven climactic races, is sponsored by Caesars Sportsbook and Global Tote, A BetMakers Company.

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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