Welcome back to the December edition of the NHC at the Post, your monthly update on all the happenings of the National Horseplayers Championship Tour and more.

For those of you who couldn’t make it to Las Vegas this year, here’s a recap of all the excitement which yielded millions in cash prizes to the record field of nearly 800 entries.

Paul Calia, of Kansas City, Missouri, toppled a field of 779 entries to take home the grand prize of $800,000, in addition to earning an Eclipse Award as Horseplayer of the Year. Amazingly, the NHC is the first contest that Calia has ever won. Read the full press release where Calia describes his NHC strategy. Check out the full leaderboard from the weekend here.  

This year’s NHC had the highest amount of prize money ever given out, with more than $3 million in cash prizes (a 33% increase over last year) and nearly a million dollars in hotel and travel awards. The full prize structure, including payout amounts, can be found here. Additionally, this year’s NHC paid out 78 finishers, vs last year’s 68 finishers.

Of the record field, 11 of the 23 past champions returned to attempt to become the first repeat winner of the NHC – Judy Wagner (2001), Steve Wolfson, Jr. (2003), Stanley Bavlish (2007), Michael Beychok (2012), Jim Benes (2013), Paul Matties, Jr (2016), Ray Arsenault (2017), Chris Littlemore (2018), Scott Coles (2019), Justin Mustari (2021) and David Harrison (2022). 

While many NHC veterans came back in an attempt to win again, there were also many fresh faces at the Horseshoe this year. Among those were 2022 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge winner Drew Coatney, who made his first NHC appearance along with 139 other rookies. There were 78 members of the field who have attended at least 10 NHCs in the past, with only four notable individuals having attended at least 20 NHCs, including three who competed in their 21st NHC. Learn more about this year’s field here.

This year’s inductees into the NHC 2022 Hall of Fame class were Jose Arias, Dennis Decauwer, Jim Goodman, and Bill Shurman. Read more about their handicapping prowess here.

All of the photos from this year’s NHC are available to download for any NHC participant or enthusiast here. If asked for a gallery password, please input NHC2023. Here you can also find all of the videos featuring Rachel McLaughlin, Racing Analyst at Horseshoe Indianapolis and NHC broadcast host, interviewing participants throughout the weekend.

Other coverage included At the Races with Steve Byk. You can go to www.stevebyk.com to listen to his archives of many great interviews and conversations. Hawthorne Race Course also streamed live from the event, if you want to catch up on their coverage.

Thomas Rapps – Kentucky Downs
King of the Turf Champion

NHC2023 Final Table

Tyler Hoffman and Alan Hoffman

Joe Paladino with friends

While the NHC was the talk of the Tour, there were many contests happening in March that awarded 28 berths to the 2024 NHC.

The NHC Last Chance/First Chance Contest had record participation on March 9^th. The 752 entries, which was more than a 40% increase above last year’s previous record of 532 entries, yielded 28 seats for this year’s NHC (which started the following day). Another 159 entries played for 6 NHC 2024 berths (because they were already double qualified) and those winners were Kris Andaur, Matthew Ache, Michael Caposio, Roger Cettina, Tammy Johns, and Evan Trommer.

On March 4, Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park and Xpressbet hosted the Ultimate Betting Challenge. Christian Hellmers and Dennis Tiernan finished first and second respectively, punching their ticket to the NHC in 2024. Leo Vukmanovich and Terrence Severson also won NHC seats in the March 18 Santa Anita $500 Challenge hosted by Santa Anita and Xpressbet.

Laurel Park hosted its 2023 Spring Champions Tournament on March 25, which awarded 2 NHC berths to Robert Wheeler and James Staub.

Horseplayers.com contests had a strong start after NHC 2023, awarding 14 NHC berths through March 27. Katelynn Andaur, Karl Barth, Nicholas Fazzolari, Dan Horvat, Terry Jerge, Joe Johnson, Ken Jordan, Michael Kavana, Gregg Kingma, Gregory Lewis, Leonard Peterson, Mark Stillmock, Matthew Thomas, and Joseph Zuer. Horsetourneys.com yielded two NHC seats in March to Jeff Arthur and Kirk Tesar. 

Tammy Johns

Kris Andaur (right)

Dan Horvat