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.

Contests were kicked into high gear in November, starting with the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (more to come on that in the next article). Running at the same time as the BCBC was the Sport of Kings Finals. The Sport of Kings hosted monthly free qualifying events leading to the Breeders’ Cup weekend finals. More than 1,400 tour members participated but only two players topped the field and won NHC prize packages – John Orrechio and Dan Smith. The Sport of Kings does an excellent job living up to its mission of cultivating new horseplayers and actively engaging current ones. They will be back in February 2023 to host their next qualifying event that is free for NHC Tour members.

Thanksgiving weekend was full of more than just turkey, with contests across the country and online. The legendary 3-day Hawthorne Thanksgiving contest awarded 10 seats to the NHC. Friday kicked off with 163 entries that awarded 2 NHC seats to Justin Mustari (2021 NHC Champ) and Jeff Mustari. Justin’s win came along with a $1 million bonus opportunity if he were to win NHC 2023. Saturday saw 157 entries, with Jordan Jayne winning that contest and the chance to win a $1 million bonus if he were to win NHC 2023. Jim Benes (2013 NHC Champ), Justin Waitekus, and Pat Stich also won NHC seats on Saturday. Day 3 had 125 entries. Matt Miller, the 2021 BCBC Champion, won the contest and the $1 million bonus opportunity, however, he already had 2 NHC entries so the NHC seats were awarded to the 2^nd through 5^th finishers: Rockwood Edwards, Joseph Paladino, Bryan Doranski, and Mark Odorisio. That same weekend in sunny southern California, the Del Mar Fall challenge had 115 entries. NHC prize packages were awarded to Ryan Flanders and Danny Wolf.

Online participants stuffed themselves full of 21 NHC berths this month. Horseplayers.com hosted contests every weekend and awarded 19 NHC seats. On November 4 on Horseplayers.com, Hall of Fame member and past NHC Tour Champion, Sally Goodall earned her second 2023 entry. Other Horseplayers.com NHC winners were Xiang Guo, Mark Simonovic, Bob Gianquitti, Spencer Multack, Sarah Wiener, Basil Devito, Wendy Long, Tammy Johns, Robert Moore, Jerry McClenin, Nick Yerton, Dino Herrera, Joe Hyerczyk, John Farrar, Carm Adimando, Steven Hartshorn, Patrick Kennedy, Cheryl McIntyre (past NHC Tour Champion). Horsetourneys.com awarded 2 NHC seats to Eric Archer and George Novick.

Justin Mustari

Jim Benes

Jordan Jayne

Pat Stich

Ryan Flanders

This year’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge held at Keeneland, in conjunction with the 39^th Breeders’ Cup World Championships, saw a record number of 569 entries in the contest’s 14^th year. Drew Coatney went all in on Flightline to win a whopping $549,653, win the contest, and win his first NHC berth. The two day live-money tournament generated a contest-record wagering handle of $7,125,391 and over $4 million of that total was wagered on track at Keeneland. The full leaderboard and results can be found here.

What was it like to win the BCBC? What was your strategy, the energy, etc? Surreal and proud. I feel very proud that I brought a strategy to the table on Saturday to turn $5.7k into $140k. For horseplayers, it is rare that the day and picks work out how they did that day. And the fact that my wife was there as a critical part of my operation helped provide stability and clear mindedness to achieve the specific targets that needed to be hit to achieve a $100k bet on Flightline, a wager I knew I was going to place on Wednesday evening. She helped give me the confidence to execute the plan and a foundation for my day. She also helped review minimums and the math to make sure I was on track for the targets at the specific stages in the contest. This freed me up to do one job: get to a point where I could make a $100k on Flightline. The surreal part of the feeling comes down to, “why me?”. I am not a professional bettor nor the best handicapper in the room. The people that surrounded me to support my horseplaying skills over the past four years through the In The Money Players’ Podcast is what truly made this happen. I was just a young 20 something back in 2014 listening to podcasts, trying to learn from three guys to have fun and make money at the races: Jonathon Kinchen, Peter Thomas Fornatale, and Matt Bernier. I’m forever grateful and humbled by the horseplayers who have helped along the way: Mike Maloney, Sean Boarman, Matt Miller, Tommy Massis, and countless others.

Are you excited for your first NHC? What are you most looking forward to? Yes and no. The NHC is a completely different beast than the BCBC. My edge is in live money contests, so the long grind of $2 WP will be a tall task to perform well. I have set my expectations appropriately. I’m more excited to hang out with awesome horseplayers and hopefully root home someone from my table to be at the Final Table.

Lone Star Park | December 3 │ Ontrack │ $1,000 live bankroll │ 2 NHC seats guaranteed

Horseshoe Indianapolis | December 3 │ Ontrack │ $500 live bankroll │ 3 NHC seats guaranteed

Monmouth Park | December 3 │ Ontrack │ $150 live bankroll/$150 entry │ 2 NHC seats guaranteed

Canterbury Park | December 17 │ Ontrack and Online│ $400 live bankroll/$100 entry │ 2 NHC seats guaranteed

Los Alamitos | December 17 │ Ontrack │ $400 live bankroll/$100 entry │ 2 NHC seats guaranteed

Horseplayers.com│December 2, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 30, 31

Horsetourneys.com│December 3, 18, 31

The Horseshoe Indianapolis Clubhouse will once again be the host of an NHC qualifier that will award three spots to Las Vegas on Saturday December 3, 2022. The $500 live money format contest had 135 entries last year. This year’s qualifier will be a $500 no-entry fee live roll with three NHC prize packages guaranteed.

“Hosting an NHC Qualifier each year has become a staple on our special events schedule,” said Eric Halstrom, Vice President and General Manager of Racing. “It’s always so fun to see new fans coming in from all over the country that have never been to our facility before, and it really helps bring awareness to Horseshoe Indianapolis as well as our Indiana racing program.”

No advanced registration is required. Learn more here.

The NHC Tour Leaderboard has been updated through November 30. Scott Cavalieri remains atop the 2022 NHC Tour overall leaderboard with 21,697 points.