By Noel Michaels
Now completing its second decade, the NTRA’s National Horseplayers Championship has grown from an upstart idea into an established institution in the sport in the sport of horseracing. Once regarded by some as a fad or a novelty favored by a fringe group of horseplayers, the racing industry, led by the NTRA, has continually raised the stature of the NHC tournament over the course of the last 20 years to the level now where the finals of the NHC and the NHC Tour have awarded a total of roughly $26 million in purse money to over 700 individual cash prize winners during its history.
Twenty handicapping champions have now earned Eclipse Award trophies, which is 20 more horseplayers than before the NHC era. Thanks to the NHC, horseplayers have achieved a newfound level of recognition within the larger horseracing community. This great experiment truly has come of age and continues to grow and mature more and more each and every year.
As the NHC finals get ready to return to Bally’s for the 2020 championships, here is a look at the top 100 players in the history of the NHC in terms of the scores they have earned playing in the NHC finals in Las Vegas over the course of the first 20 NHC finals from 2000 to 2019.
Several players have consistently proven themselves at the top level of the tournament game, and have continued to do so over an extended period of time. There are no free rides into the NHC finals and players cannot buy their way in, yet several individuals continually reach the finals of the NHC year-after year, advancing to Las Vegas by playing their way into the finals for a shot at the title and the money.
The top players in the history of the NHC have made it to the Las Vegas finals many, many times, and have posted their share of high scores along the way. Please see the list below of the 100 top-scoring players in the 20-year history of the NHC finals. (Note: In years where players double-qualified, only their best score each year is counted toward the career scoring totals).
A total of 76 players now have amassed more than 1,000 career points at the NHC finals. Those players are listed below, led by NHC all-time leading scorer Paul Shurman of Long Island, New York. Shurman is an NHC Hall-of-Famer and former NHC Tour Champion, but has yet to win an NHC title. The highest-ranking former NHC winner is 2008 champ Richard Goodall at No. 3.
TOP-SCORING PLAYERS IN NHC HISTORY
1 Paul Shurman 2,188.20
2 Kevin Duke Matties 1,921.50
3 Richard Goodall 1,882.00
4 David Gutfreund 1,835.80
5 William Shurman 1,827.50
6 H. Mitchell Schuman 1,743.10
7 Joe Perry 1,630.10
8 Paul Matties 1,584.90
9 Sean Nolan 1,569.30
10 Ken Seeman 1,565.30
11 Rich Nilsen 1,556.40
12 Judy Wagner 1,539.60
13 Christopher Larmey 1,536.10
14 Don Allen 1,535.60
15 David Trey Stiles 1,487.00
16 Allan Schaffer 1,406.00
17 Roger Cettina 1,405.60
18 Stanley Bavlish 1,404.20
19 Edmund Teicht 1,396.20
20 Tom Noone 1,393.90
21 Sally Wang Goodall 1,389.50
22 Steve Hartshorn 1,389.20
23 Gary Johnson 1,386.90
24 Gwyn Houston 1,337.10
25 Craig Kaufman 1,325.10
26 Robert Bertolucci 1,324.80
27 Mark Richards 1,323.80
28 Paul Weizer 1,319.90
29 Dennis Dacauwer 1,310.50
30 Myles Richards 1,301.40
31 Joe Scanio 1,291.10
32 Dan Flanigan 1,283.10
33 Louis Constan 1,282.70
34 Mike Ferrozzo 1,267.40
35 John Nichols 1,256.50
36 Karen Richards 1,253.50
37 Brian Herrity 1,238.60
38 Craig Hom 1,238.10
39 Stephanie Davis 1,237.20
40 Richard Grose 1,235.00
41 Michael Beychok 1,233.70
42 Ray Arsenault 1,232.00
43 Matthew Rentze 1,216.40
44 Cheryl Kaufman 1,209.30
45 Jim O’Nail 1,207.60
46 Randy Bauer 1,202.30
47 Ken Jordan 1,194.90
48 Ross Gallo 1,186.50
49 Steve Wolfson Sr. 1,180.20
50 Stephen Thompson 1,165.80
51 James Henry 1,164.30
52 Brian Troop 1,158.30
53 Chris Littlemore 1.139.70
54 Kevin Geraghty 1,132.30
55 Brett Wiener 1,119.30
56 Monte Engler 1,116.30
57 Les Harris 1,115.20
58 Scott Carson 1,120.00
59 Paul Parker 1,099.90
60 Mark Rudy 1,099.10
61 Ron Geary 1,094.60
62 Frank Mustari 1,092.40
63 David Conover 1,069.80
64 Lee Geraghty 1,064.80
65 Mike McIntyre 1,059.80
66 Wendy Long 1,051.40
67 Mark Streiff 1,048.90
68 Kevin Engelhard 1,040.50
69 Chris Podratz 1,039.00
70 Joe Jarvie 1,036.90
71 Phil Lam 1,036.10
72 Tim Downs 1,023.10
73 Ron Rippey 1,022.80
74 Amy Brantley 1,007.90
75 Pat Gianforte 1,007.50
76 Bill Downes 1,003.20
77 Steve Wolfson Jr 998.60
78 Wayne Collier 996.00
79 Sarah Wiener 995.40
80 Chris Skotz 994.00
81 Don Beardsworth 993.10
82 Louis Licata 990.20
83 Garett Skiba 985.50
84 Steve Walker 973.10
85 Ed Reidy 970.60
86 Brent Sumja 970.10
87 Mike Mayo 969.60
88 Frank Polk 966.50
89 John O’Neil 963.30
90 Tim Stupka 942.80
91 Dan Kaplan 930.30
92 Jamie Michelson 928.20
93 Jim Benes 926.50
94 Dan Shugar 902.50
95 Damian Roncevich 895.20
96 Jim Meeks 887.60
97 Art Taylor 883.30
98 John Wilhelm 876.40
99 Thomas Blosser 875.60
100 Ed Lawless 869.50
(Only a player’s top score each year is used in totals)
The first 20 years of the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship have been quite a whirlwind. Stay tuned to see where the tournament goes from here. If you are a tournament fan like I am, I’m sure you will enjoy the ride.
– Noel Michaels has been the racing media’s top authority on the National Horseplayers Championship since the event’s inception in 2000, and is the author of the Handicapping Contest Handbook, a Horseplayer’s Guide to Handicapping Tournaments. He is a five-time NHC qualifier since 2010.