September 2022
Welcome back to the September edition of the NHC at the Post, your monthly update on all the happenings of the National Horseplayers Championship Tour and more. There were a lot of exciting contests in August. Both online and in-person, from east coast to west, events were jam packed and we could barely rein in the fun.
August proved to be another exciting month on the Tour with several contests all across the country. On August 6, The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club teamed up with LRF Cares, a 501(c)(3) sponsored charity, to host a live money contest to benefit Thoroughbred aftercare. Christy Moore of Fishers, IN won the contest and an entry into the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC). Brian Chenvert of Rogers, MN and Robin Buser of Delran, NJ both qualified for their 13th NHC at the contest.
Colonial Downs hosted an online only contest on August 16 where players could only play Colonial Downs races. Bill Shurman of Danville, CA won the contest and will be joining Christy in Lexington, KY for the BCBC. Tim Hughes of Point Pleasant, NJ and Eric Kurzhal of South Bend, IN took home NHC seats and will make their way back to Vegas in March.
The final on track contest of the month was held at Monmouth Park on Travers Day, August 27. Of the 149 entries, three Monmouth Park regulars and NHC veterans took home NHC seats: Joe Scanio of Brooklyn, NY, Ken Jordan of Farmingdale, NJ, and Frank Sorensen of Bronx, NY. Phil Lam won the contest and a seat in the BCBC along with it.
29 NHC qualifiers grabbed the reins of this month’s online contests and will be heading to Vegas next year.
A whopping 21 NHC Tour members from 15 different states and Canada qualified on Horseplayers.com this past month. Five players – Paul Calia (Kansas City, MO), Shaun Khwalsigngh (Woodbridge, NJ), Tim O’Leary (Newville, PA), Thomas Riccobono (Garden City South, NY), and Mitch Stark (Hastings, NE) – qualified in the Horseplayers.com NHC Tour Free Member contest held on August 27. Horseplayers.com will host three contests the first weekend of September including a $100 Labor Day contest guaranteeing 3 NHC prize packages.
Horsetourneys.com hosted three contests in August awarding 6 NHC berths. Eric Archer (Arlington, TX), 2018 NHC Champion Chris Littlemore (Smith Falls, ON), Mark McGuire (Newbury Park, CA), Kevin Engelhard (Franklin Park, NJ), Ben Gibson (Benton, AR) and Gary Brous (Las Vegas, NV) all earned their first or second NHC entry on Horsetourneys.com this month. The next NHC qualifier on Horsetourneys.com will be held on September 3.
Xpressbet hosted a $1,000 live bankroll tournament on Travers Day. Christy Moore was victorious again amassing a $27,250 bankroll and winning a BCBC entry. Christy won her NHC seat at Monmouth Park in the June Pick Your Prize contest. The two NHC prize packages were awarded to Tim Yohler of Fishers, IN and Bryan Millang of Granite Bay, CA.
Robin Buser
Brian Chenvert
Eric Kurzhal
Ken Jordan
Kevin Engelhard
Christy Moore
Joe Scanio
Refer a Friend – Get $25 credit
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In order to redeem this promotion, please have your friend enter your first and last name into the coupon code section whenever they join the Tour.
Link to share: www.ntra.com/membership
Brett Wiener
Las Vegas, NV
Q&A with Brett Wiener
Hometown:
Clearwater, FL and Las Vegas, NV
Occupation:
Retired
What was the first contest you played in and when?
November 2009 on HorseTourneys to get into the NHC, which I just saw an ad for in the DRF the week before….and I won!
What do you like most about handicapping contests?
Online: the challenge
In Person: Meeting new people, and keeping in touch with all our friends at the events.
What is your favorite racetrack?
Keeneland and Kentucky Downs
When and where did you qualify for the 2023 NHC?
February on HorseTourneys and July on HorsePlayers
What do you like best about the NHC?
The whole event itself and how well run it is along with seeing all the competitors in one place.
Four Roses Apple Rose
A quick after-work cocktail to give your day a little Fall fun.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 1/2 fl oz. Four Roses Bourbon
- 1 1/2 fl oz. Apple Juice
- 4 dash (es) Angostura Bitters
DIRECTIONS:
Fill highball glass with ice and add Bourbon. Top with apple juice. Stir briefly, topping with more ice if needed and add dashes of Angostura bitters on top. Garnish with apple slices.
September NHC Qualifiers
Beat Byk | Through September 7 | FREE | ONE NHC seat awarded │No NHC Tour points awarded | September 17 Beat Byk Finals
Canterbury Park Dog Days of Summer | September 17-18 | On-track Only | $400 live bankroll/$100 entry fee | TWO NHC seats guaranteed
FDTV Turf To Surf Handicapping Contest | September 10 | Online Only | $500 live bankroll/no entry fee| TWO NHC seats guaranteed
Horseplayers.com – September 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 16, 18, 23, 24, 30
NOTE: Special Labor Day $100 NHC Qualifier 3 NHC SEATS GUARANTEED
Horsetourneys.com – September 3, 11, 17, & 25
Kentucky Downs Turf Handicapping Challenge | September 1, 4, 11 | Online Only
Pacific Classic Betting Challenge | Del Mar or TVG.com | September 3 | $2,000 live bankroll/$1,000 towards prize pool | TWO NHC seats guaranteed
Sport of Kings | Every weekend in September | FREE | Each month the top 50 players advance to Round 2 to be held Breeders’ Cup weekend
Table 24
A story of lifelong friendship at the National Horseplayers Championship
It was January 2014 when two “first time” NHC qualifiers, David Gray from Cleveland, OH and Dino Herrera from Scottsdale, AZ, were standing in the registration line at Treasure Island. Neither knew anyone participating in the NHC that year and they began talking while waiting in line. As rookies and new acquaintances, they decided to sit at the same table together – a round table numbered 24. In the years since, David and Dino have claimed “Table 24” with a little help from the NTRA staff every year in the nearly decade since and affectionately refer to it now as just T24. The original T24 group includes Alan Levitt (Baltimore, MD), Sharon Roller (Las Vegas, NV), John O’Neil (Huntington Station, NY), Rob Ramirez (Long Island, NY), Derek Isenberg (Philadelphia, PA), Matt Thomas (Stamford, CT) and Daniel DePonte (Jupiter, FL). Since then, new members have been added as the year-to-year qualifiers change.
More than just a table at the NHC, T24 has morphed into a true group of friends. Together, T24 members have qualified for over 100 National Horseplayers Championships. Four Table 24 members have finished in the top 10 of the NHC and original T24 member, John O’Neil, won the 2015 NHC. Three T24 members, including Daniel DePonte, Dino Herrera, and breeder Matt Malley, have formed the NHC T24 Racing Stable.
By day, T24 members are professionals that include doctors, lawyers, engineers, CEO’s, financiers, successful businessmen, and a couple of retirees. But in the world of handicapping, they have developed a special lifelong friendship that all started at the NHC. Their love of the sport has developed into a camaraderie that has expanded to over 20 contest members from all corners of the country. So far, six T24 members have qualified for the 2023 NHC. We look forward to welcoming them and hopefully other table members in Las Vegas in March!
Meet the Player’s Committee
The NHC Players’ Committee is comprised of thirteen veteran and accomplished NHC Tour members from across the country. The Players’ Committee members volunteer their time to help improve and grow the NHC and NHC Tour. Feedback and ideas from NHC Tour members to the committee are brought back to the NTRA Team to make the NHC and NHC Tour better. The entire committee and the NTRA Team meet virtually 3-4 times a year. Click here to meet the NHC Players’ Committee members. They are here to represent you. And of course, you may also reach out to Michele, Holly or Keith with any questions or feedback.
ICYMI: FanDuel TV Launching September 1
FanDuel TV will emerge from predecessor TVG Network, a channel synonymous with delivering racing excellence for the past quarter century. In keeping with its proud TVG lineage as the unquestioned home of horse racing, FanDuel TV will feature a stacked lineup of unparalleled coverage from respected experts including Christina Blacker, Britney Eurton, Gabby Gaudet, Mike Joyce, Todd Schrupp and the rest of TVG’s award-winning on-air talent roster. FanDuel TV’s programming schedule will be underpinned with the best live coverage from the top tracks including Gulfstream, Del Mar, Keeneland, Pimlico, Santa Anita and many more.
Click here to see the announcement.
Click here for press release details.
NHC Tour Leaderboard Updates
Congratulations to Jay Johns, Scott Cavalieri, and Trey Stiles for earning a $10,000 BCBC entry for their First Half Tour finishes. Click here for the First Half Leaderboard. The First Half leaderboard consists of the top four scores from either online or ontrack.
Jay Johns
Jay Johns, from Meridian, ID, is an 8 time qualifier to the NHC and is already double qualified for NHC2023.
Johns was able to amass 13,407 points over the first half of the NHC Tour. Johns finished 3rd at the NHC Last Chance/First Chance contest in January earning his first NHC2023 qualification. He earned points on March 18 and June 19 for 2nd and 4th place finishes on Horseplayers.com. On July 15, he earned max online Tour points after winning a $75 NHC Qualifier and earning his second NHC entry.
Scott Cavalieri
Scott Cavalieri, of Attleboro, MA dominated the NHC leaderboard for much of the first half after his impressive 1st place finish at the NHC Last Chance/First Chance contest. Cavalieri has shown himself to be an excellent contest player, qualifying for the NHC every year since joining the NHC Tour in 2019 and finishing 24th in 2021.
Beyond the first place finish at the Last Chance First Chance contest, Cavalieri earned additional Tour points on April 22, July 15, and on August 26.
Trey Stiles
NHC Hall of Famer, Trey Stiles, of Houston, TX finished 3rd in the First Half Tour points by earning points on Horseplayers.com. On April 1st, he came out on top of a record-setting 628 entry $75 Qualifier. A month later on May 6, Trey came in third in another $75 Qualifier, then quickly capitalized on a Memorial Day weekend kick-off qualifier on May 27 with a 4th place finish. Three weeks later, he came in second in the June 17th NHC Qualifier.
The NHC Tour Leaderboard has been updated through the month of August. Jay Johns is currently at the top of the 2022 NHC Tour overall leaderboard with 20,833 points.
Michele’s Pick
AFTERCARE SHOULD NOT BE AN AFTERTHOUGHT
The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), an official charity of the NHC, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Many of you have met several members of the TAA team, including Stacie Clark-Rogers, Emily Scandore and Catherine Flowers, in Las Vegas at the NHC.
The TAA inspects, accredits, and awards grants to approved aftercare organizations to retrain, retire, and rehome Thoroughbreds using industry-wide funding. Since 2012, The TAA has granted more than $24.5 million to 82 accredited aftercare organizations. Click here to see the impact the TAA has made on the lives of thousands of Thoroughbreds after retirement.
I was recently at Saratoga and went to cash my winning ticket on a self-service machine. I was asked if I would like to donate a portion of my winnings to the TAA. I thought, OF COURSE, what an easy way to support the aftercare of Thoroughbreds.
The TAA sincerely appreciates the support it receives from horseplayers and looks forward to seeing many of you at NHC 2023. For more information on the TAA and ways to donate click here.
NTRA Update
President and CEO Tom Rooney sat down with DRF’s Matt Hegarty while in Saratoga this month. Excerpts of the interview are below, and the full interview can be found here.
Q & A: NTRA chief executive Tom Rooney
Q: I’m not going to start with a question. Here at Saratoga, 86 years ago, your grandfather, Art Rooney, had a rather extraordinary experience. I’ll let you tell it.
A: Like everything else, it’s been embellished and maybe not everything is accurate. But for the most part, it was over several days, at Saratoga and Empire City, which became Yonkers, but culminating here. Apparently, he had won so much money that the bookmakers had to stop taking bets because there wasn’t any more money left. He got a police escort to the New York-Pennsylvania border, because he was carrying, as I understand, over $300,000 in cash, which back then was a lot of money. He went back to Pittsburgh and told my grandmother that they’d never have to worry about money again.
His brother had a club football team at the time, because pro football wasn’t a thing yet, and he was involved in that, with a couple of his brothers. [The team] went through a couple of iterations when professional football was finally legalized in Pennsylvania [in 1933]. First, it was the Majestic Radios, which was of course a sponsorship thing. I’m thinking of naming a horse that, so hopefully no one takes it. But that led to the Pirates, and then the Steelers. So if it wasn’t for this place that we are sitting at right now, the Steelers probably would have never been a thing, and second of all, I probably wouldn’t have had the blessings I had to run for Congress and eventually get this job.
It’s funny to look back and realize how a big heater for my grandfather here at this track translated into so much.
Q: I don’t want to be presumptuous, but growing up in the family that you did, my guess is that you had a lot of opportunities when you were a young man. You got your law degree, and then you went into the army. Take me through that decision.
A: My brother had gone into the Marine Corps. We were both in law school. He told me, ‘You should really think about going into the Marines.’ I think I was 27 years old at the time, and I told him, ‘I’m not joining the Marines.’ But my namesake, my grandfather’s brother, died in World War II, when he was 19. So it’s always been kind of heavy on me, that Tom Rooney was killed in action on Guam.
Then, for a more pragmatic reason, I was always interested in criminal law. Those were my favorite classes in law school. And then an army recruiter came to campus, and he said, ‘You can do DUIs at the state attorney’s office for the next 10 years, or you can potentially have a murder case at JAG Corps in your first year.’ I didn’t have a murder case, but I did have a manslaughter case. But the attraction was that you had a much greater exposure to serious crimes.
I had also just married my wife, and she was interested in joining too, so we went into the army together. We went to Ft. Hood, Texas, and then I got to teach constitutional law at West Point. It was great.
Q: So after that, after some political jobs, you served 10 years as a Florida congressmen, as a Republican in what became a reliably red district. But you decided to retire in 2019 after five terms. Why did you make that decision?
A: I had always said in my first campaign and throughout my career that 10 years was probably a good run. Most people don’t stick to those term-limit promises, especially because as you start to get seniority you get more power. But it was a moment in time when [Republicans] knew we were going to go back into the minority. For either party, when you are in the minority, you lose control of the floor, what comes to vote, your committees. As a freshman, being a minority, it’s fine. But when you are there after 10 years and you go back to the minority, you are basically neutered, so to speak.
Also, my kids were growing up, playing on the football team, playing on the baseball team. I just didn’t want to miss that.
There were various other reasons. It became more difficult to get things done [in Congress]. Things were getting very partisan on both sides of the aisle. There was very little cooperation. That may be because of social media, because of cable news going either hard to the left or hard to the right. The pragmatists were looking for the exits.
I loved it, my time in Washington. I’m not going to sit here and downplay it. But it has changed a lot even since then.
Q: So last year, the NTRA position became open with the retirement of Alex Waldrop. What attracted you to it, specifically?
A: Obviously, love of the horse. I grew up in my grandfather’s and my dad’s shadow. They ran racetracks in Philadelphia, Vermont, New York; they owned a stud farm in Maryland; and now, eventually, I am breeding and owning my own horses. I have a love of this place, and this sport, that goes beyond something like, ‘Oh, this might be a good job.’ For me, it’s really personal.
I had become involved in the Maryland Horse Breeders Association [after retiring from Congress], and I had gotten to know some people through the various iterations of the HISA bill before it became HISA.
So they knew that I was into horse racing, and I had gotten to know a lot of people in the industry as a result. When Alex Waldrop retired, they called me up and said this might be a perfect job for you.
At the time, I was coaching JV football (laughs). And the only reason I was doing that is because it was during COVID, and the only way you could go to the games was if you were a coach. I was 50 years old, and I didn’t want to be done. I thought I had another chapter after Congress other than just being retired.
So now I’m using my relationships I had made over those 10 years in Congress, whether it be legislators or staffers, to make sure that first of all, they know what I am doing now. But also so they know what’s important to our industry. More and more, with HISA, taxes, sports betting, all of that stuff, it’s bubbling up to the federal level, where it used to just be at the local, state level.
So I think it’s a good thing to have someone [at the NTRA] who the politicians already know. That’s why I think I am good for it.
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