Las Vegas (March 15, 2026) – Richard Sugimoto of Big Bear City, Calif., leads the 27th NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) field with a mythical bankroll of $301.22 at the conclusion of Sunday morning’s Semifinal round, which consisted of 83 entries from the participants. The top 10 players will continue on to compete in this afternoon’s Final Table in the Events Center at Horseshoe Las Vegas, where the ultimate winner will earn a coveted Eclipse Award as the Horseplayer of the Year and take home the $825,000 first prize. Click here to access the full NHC Leaderboard.
Bankrolls from previous rounds carry over to the Final Table, where players must select one horse for a mythical $2 Win-Place wager on each of the same seven races.
The Final Table players, in descending order by bankroll:
Name Total
- Richard Sugimoto $301.22
- Frank Polk $288.60
- Tommy Lenberg $281.54
- Dylan Donnelly $277.04
- GT Nixon $275.72
- Tammy Johns $272.96
- Dan Piazza $271.32
- Roger Mcdow $271.20
- Kenneth Jordan $269.88
- Terrence Frank $268.36
The Final Table mandatory races are (all times PT): Fair Grounds Race 5, 12:45 pm; Aqueduct Race 7, 1:17 pm; Tampa Bay Race 9, 1:43 pm; Oaklawn Park Race 8, 2:10 pm; Gulfstream Race 10, 2:25 pm; Oaklawn Race 9, 2:44 pm, and Santa Anita Race 5, 3:00 pm.
The National Horseplayers Championship is presented by Caesars Race & Sportsbook, Horseshoe Las Vegas, and Racetrack Television Network (RTN).
About the NTRA
The NTRA, based in Lexington, Ky. and Washington, D.C., 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.