December 2023
November kicked off with the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC), the biggest live money handicapping tournament in the world which awarded more than $1,00,000 in cash prizes. The 15th annual BCBC drew a record of 571 entries, and tournament players generated an all-time contest-record wagering handle of $7,759,434. Kentucky native Sean Boarman was declared the winner and earned the highest total any player has achieved in BCBC history of $642,363. In addition to those big cash payouts, the top 15 finishers were awarded berths to #NHC2024. These seats went to Sean Boarman, Kevan Strom, Mike Mulvihill, Christy Moore, Tyler Sprague, Justin Mustari, Tom Arndt, Vince Foglia, Clay Sanders, Frank Gryboski, Bob Hansan, Frank McGoey, Mark Kapitan, Robert Novicki, and David Rink. The Sport of Kings free NHC Qualifier Finals were also held Breeders’ Cup weekend, awarding two NHC seats to Ken Gribek and Vincent Mazzotta.
On November 10, Horseshoe Indianapolis hosted an online tournament which awarded three NHC seats to Peter Rinato, Jennifer Sandore, and John Toyama. Richard Giger also won a seat in November in the Rachel’s Warrior contest.
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 NHC seats and three lucky players will be playing for a $1 million bonus if they win NHC 2024. The onsite contest, offered at 6 betting locations, featured a $300 live bankroll on Friday, and $500 live bankroll on Saturday and Sunday. The three $1 million bonus winners are David Gutfreund, Michael Mulvihill, and Karl Broberg. The other seven berths were awarded to Tony Zhou, Jacob Albrecht, Melvin Simonovich, Darren Yarwood, Charles Thompson Jr., Mark Beedle and Matthew Bickey.
Following Thanksgiving Twin Spires held the $5,000 NHC Qualifier Finals and awarded two NHC seats to Todd Hartman and Steven Taracks. That same sunny Del Mar hosted the Del Mar Fall Handicapping Challenge. The one-day live money contest played live on-track or through TVG.com gave away more than $100,000 in prizes and two NHC seats to Bob Traynor and Steve Lehman.
Online contests awarded nearly as many seats in the month of November as the on-track contests did. Horseplayers.com awarded 19 seats to the 25th NHC to: Suresh Bomman, Randy de la Gardelle, James Morgan, Daniel Kaplan, Peter Yan, Eric Brothers, Alexa Zepp, Siva Shankar Vellanki, Laura Arth, Cara Yarusso, Stephanie Davis, Jay Coatta, Robert Ferguson, Daven Turner, Tom Walsch, Joseph Perry, Andrew Pinto, Timothy Hughes, and William Sadoo. Horsetourneys awarded 6 seats to the NHC to Wes Herek, Daniel Hawkins, David Brownfield, Christopher Skotz, Michael Davey, and James Norris.
Bob Hansan
Charles Thompson, Jr.
Suresh Bomman
Dan Kaplan
Jay Coatta
Cara Yarusso
Tanya Taylor
Q&A with Tanya Taylor
Hometown: Little Rock, AR
Occupation: Retired physical therapist
What was the first contest you played in and when? Approximately around 2010 when Oaklawn Park was hosting tournaments.
What do you like most about handicapping contests? The structured competition really makes me focus on the horses and I love having a target to achieve.
How did you get interested in handicapping contests? Couple of friends were playing contests and my competitive nature got the best of me.
When and where did you qualify for the 2024 NHC? Online HorsePlayers October 14
Tell us about the day you qualified for the NHC at the track or online (how it went, your strategy, the energy, etc.) It was very exciting day of racing when I caught a bomb. But the stress was at the last race of the contest because I had to have the winner to pass at least one person. It was one of those tough decisions where you hope you don’t have the same horse as the other players plus enough value to win. I stuck with my original pick and was fortunate it won and the other two players did not use the horse. However they both used the same horse and it ran second. Waiting to see if the payouts were enough to mo