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

October contests were full of tricks, treats, and NHC seats. The final NHC Free Tour Member Contest was held in October, with more than 1,700 entries. The free contest awarded 5 NHC seats, with winner Tarik Touchtaf (Bayside, NY) earning his second NHC seat. Four other Tour members finished in top 5 and won NHC seats – Derek Deutsch (Nazareth, PA), Michael Bailey (Pomona, CA), and two first-time qualifiers, Phillip Drake (Union Bridge, MD) and Jacob Warden (Lexington, KY).

Santa Anita’s Opening Day Challenge hosted by Xpressbet and Santa Anita awarded two NHC seats on October 2. Frank Capaccio (Northport, NY) won his first NHC berth and Chris Savage (Denham, LA) earned his second NHC seat. The final leaderboard can be found here. That same weekend, Hawthorne hosted two contests. The Hawthorne Contest welcomed 141 entries and yielded two NHC qualifiers, Darren Yarwood (Secaucus, NJ) and Anthony Garafalo (Loveland, OH). Darren’s victory makes him eligible for a $1 million bonus if he were to win the 2023 NHC. The Hawthorne Invitational at Club Hawthorne Villa Park also awarded two NHC seats. First place went to Chris Larmey (Kennewick, WA) who chairs the NHC Players’ Committee and second place went to 2019 NHC Champion, Scott Coles (Mokena, IL).

On the east coast, Monmouth Park hosted an on-track contest this month. Darren Yarwood had a spooky good winning streak, winning the contest for the second weekend in a row and double qualifying for the NHC. Joseph Perry (Hamilton, NJ) came in second place out of the field of 118 entries. Farther south in the Mid-Atlantic region Laurel Park hosted an ontrack contest, that awarded two NHC seats to Robin Buser (Delran, NJ) and Gilson Fontz (Millersville, MD).

Warming up for the BCBC, Keeneland hosted two October contests on Friday, October 14 and Saturday, October 15. David Browning (Lexington, KY) and Mike Weisenburger (Reminderville, OH) took home the two NHC seats on Friday. The Saturday NHC-BCBC Fall Handicapping Challenge contest awarded ten NHC seats (see winners below).

Online contests awarded almost 20 NHC seats. Horseplayers.com winners were Wes Herek (High Point, NC), Robert Engelhard (Aston, PA), Dan Piazza (Chicago, IL), Robert Ferguson (Columbus, OH), Steve Nemetz (Vancouver, BC), Paul Shurman (Dix Hills, NY), Wendy Long (Surrey, BC), Ken Shaw (Hermosa Beach, CA), Scott Cavalieri (Attleboro, MA), Alexander Calzi (Glenside, PA), Daniel Jablanski (Hudson, NY), and Dale Hatfield (Campbell, KY). Horsetourneys.com winners were Robert Montgomery (Ottawa, ON), Raj Satyan (Loveland, OH), Dylan Rossi (Delray Beach, FL), Joe Tambasco (Amsterdam, NY), Eric Boyd (Fort Davis, TX), Charles LeFevre (Centerton, AR), and Kirk Tesar (Ankeny, IA).

Michael Bailey

Chris Savage

Darren Yarwood

Chris Larmey

Scott Coles

NTRA is excited to announce its continued partnership with Caesars Entertainment. Last week, they announced a multi-year agreement for Bally’s, the soon-to-be Horseshoe Las Vegas, to remain host-site of the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) through 2026. This year’s contest will be held March 10-12, 2023, and future dates include: 2024: March 15-17, 2024, 2025: March 14-16, 2025, 2026: March 13-15, 2026. Read the full release here.

Best-in-class horse wagering app with unmatched rewardsmexpands platform access in seven states where it’s live

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: CZR) (“Caesars”), and NYRA Bets LLC (“NYRA Bets”), the official online wagering platform of the New York Racing Association, Inc. (“NYRA”), today announced that the horse racing account wagering app, Caesars Racebook, is now available on Android and desktop. Horse racing fans in Kentucky, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Oregon, Montana, and North Dakota can now enjoy expanded access to Caesars Racebook ahead of the 2022 Breeders’ Cup.

“Expanding Caesars Racebook’s access to Android users and desktop is key for the platform’s continued growth,” said Dan Shapiro, Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer of Caesars Digital. “We’re excited to offer even more customers a horse racing wagering experience that treats them like royalty, no matter what type of device they prefer, thanks to the integration with our industry-leading Caesars Rewards loyalty program.”

Caesars Racebook utilizes the NYRA Bets platform providing customers with pari-mutuel wagering on premier horse racing content from more than 250 tracks around the world with betting on marquee tracks in the United States and internationally. In addition to the upcoming Breeders’ Cup races at Keeneland, the wagering menu includes Aqueduct, Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course, Gulfstream Park, Del Mar, and Santa Anita, as well as Caesars-operated tracks Harrah’s Hoosier Park, Horseshoe Indianapolis, Harrah’s Philadelphia, and Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs.

In addition to the full horse racing wagering menu and livestreaming from racetracks around the world, Caesars Racebook provides a differentiated wagering experience that integrates the award-winning loyalty program, Caesars Rewards.

Now through the end of 2022, Caesars Racebook players will receive 4x the Racebook Points for every $1 wagered on races at Caesars Entertainment racetracks, with no opt-in required. Racebook Points can be redeemed for free wagering credits and past performances in the Caesars Racebook store. New Caesars Racebook customers can earn a first deposit match up to $300 ($500 in Ohio).

Caesars Racebook plans to continue to launch in additional states across the U.S., pending regulatory approvals, providing players with all the additional benefits of NYRA Bets, including race replays, handicapping insights, and more. NYRA Bets, the fastest-growing national advance deposit wagering platform features a secure, state-of-the-art wagering platform that allows its customers to conveniently and securely watch and wager on horse races.

As a longtime supporter of horse racing, Caesars recently announced plans to build and operate a Harrah’s racetrack and casino in Columbus, Nebraska, and extended its hosting of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s National Handicapping Championship at Horseshoe Las Vegas through 2026.

The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) is racing’s biggest live-money handicapping tournament with an estimated $1,250,000 in cash prizes. In addition to cash prizes, the top 15 finishers in the tournament will be awarded berths into the NHC in Las Vegas. Last year’s winner, Matt Miller, took home the Grand Prize winnings of $543,300 (see more on Matt below).

Since its founding in 2009, the BCBC has grown from 75 players to nearly 550 competing in 2021. Tim Schram runs the event and has watched it transform over the past 13 years. “I enjoy doing it and have developed a lot of friendships along the way, especially with horseplayers who have played every single year,” Tim said. “I’m always glad when the ones I know that have played a long time, walk away with a big check.” When asked how many participants he expects this year, he said, “Last year we had 534 participants, and we’re ahead of pace right now. It’s a crossover between BCBC players, NTRA NHC tour members, qualifiers online – it’s great to see the horseplayers thrive.”

Each player is required to deposit a $10,000 buy in, $7,500 of which goes to the bankroll and $2,500 of which goes to the prize pool. Players may participate in the BCBC from Keeneland (host site), official satellite locations at Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park, and Santa Anita Park. Players can also participate online at TVG.com (FanDuel.com), the official wagering partner of Breeders’ Cup, Xpressbet.com, NYRA Bets (non-New York state residents only), 4NJBets.com (New Jersey residents only), and HPIbet.com (Canadian residents only).

Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge· | November 4 & 5│Ontrack or Online│ $7,500 live bankroll/$2000 towards prizes │15 NHC seats guaranteed

Horseplayers.com│November 4, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 27

Sport of Kings Finals│November 4 & 5 | FREE | Must have qualified to enter

Horsetourneys.com│November 20, 26

Del Mar Fall Challenge│November 26 │Ontrack or Online │$2,000 live bankroll/$1,000 towards prizes │2 NHC seats guaranteed

The Hawthorne Thanksgiving Contest │ November 25, 26 & 27 │ Club Hawthorne designated venues │ Friday $300 live bankroll │Saturday & Sunday $500 live bankroll │10 NHC seats awarded over the 3 days

Along with jockey Florent Geroux, Chad Gray of Orlando, FL rode The Queens Jules to victory in Keeneland’s 2022 BCBC-NHC Fall Challenge topping the field of 214 entries. Chad took home $46,000 plus a BCBC and NHC berth for his victory.

Chad’s final bankroll of $23,701.80 was accumulated on the last race of the day, with $2,500 to win, a $106 exacta, and a $20 trifecta. Second place finisher Robert Traynor just missed, with $2,678 to win on The Queens Jules and a final bankroll of $21,213.90 plus $23,000 in prize money.

In fact, the top seven finishers used that horse in the finale and moved to the top of the leaderboard.

Six BCBC and 10 NHC berths were awarded to the top finishers. BCBC entries were awarded to Gray and Traynor, along with James Metzger, Frank Mustari, Tim Hughes, and Kenny McMahan. They will be back at Keeneland for the BCBC competing in the largest cash tournament in the world. NHC berths were awarded to Gray, Traynor, Metzger, Mustari, Hughes, Joseph DiSanza, Steve Nemitz, Eric Kurzhal, Robert Hansan and Michael Gotkin. They will be competing in the National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas in March.

For full contest results, click here.

Turkey isn’t the only thing to be excited about this year for Thanksgiving. Hawthorne Race Course is once again hosting their legendary Thanksgiving weekend contest, now with three $1,000,000 bonuses if the winner wins the 2023 NHC. With three one-day contests all weekend long (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), 10 NHC seats are up for grabs. Players from across the country come to Chicago for this contest, featuring a $300 Black Friday bankroll and $500 starting bankrolls on Saturday and Sunday.

John Walsh, Assistant General Manager at Hawthorne said: “Contests are an essential part of our effort to engage race fans because they showcase players as much as the action on the track. Yes, it’s a fierce competition between these men and women, but it’s also great camaraderie. Everyone is sharing in their love of this sport and when any of our players do well in the NHC, all of them celebrate and encourage each other.”

Hawthorne is expecting around 300 players this year who will battle it out for the 10 NHC seats and three $1 million bonuses. This contest has produced 2 NHC winners in the last few years and several final table contenders so there’s a really good chance for a player to have a very big pay day.

The NHC Tour Leaderboard has been updated through October 31. Scott Cavalieri is back at the top of the 2022 NHC Tour overall leaderboard with 21,697 points.

Thankful

Gearing up for Breeders’ Cup I am feeling especially grateful for working in the horse racing industry. I started working for the NTRA/Breeders’ Cup in 2003. At that time the two companies had merged. I was hired as the Operations & HR Assistant. I was given many opportunities from my supervisors, peers, and mentors. I was able to travel and assist at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, NHC, and Eclipse Awards.

When the two companies went their separate ways, I was hired full-time by the NTRA in the marketing and events department. I have been working with horseplayers and the NHC now for almost two decades. The NHC has grown from a purse of $212,000 and 160 entries in 2000 to an estimated $4 million in cash and prizes and over 750 entries in 2023. It has been an amazing experience to be a part of the growth and development of the NHC and NHC Tour.

I would like to give thanks to all of you and the amazing team at the NTRA.

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