November 2023

25th National Horseplayers Championship

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The NHC tour kicked off fall right this October with many contests from coast to coast, awarding 41 seats to the Horseshoe Las Vegas next March.

The first day of the month started with the $4,000 Santa Anita Opening Weekend Challenge hosted on track and online on Xpressbet. Nisan Gabbay & Joseph Rosen came out on top, and the full leaderboard can be found here.

Monmouth Park hosted its own $300 Fall Qualifier that yielded 2 NHC seats and cash prizes to the top five finishers. Bill Rendino and Dan Bergen won their NHC prize packs and will be making their way to Las Vegas. The following day the NTRA hosted its final free contest of the 2023 NHC Tour on Sunday October 8. All participants needed to be NHC Tour members to be eligible to win a qualifying spot. The three seats to the 25th NHC went to Travis Foelsch, Bob Schreiter, and TJ Sonde.

Keeneland’s Fall meet was not without great contests that led to 13 NHC seats being awarded. On October 13 Paul Weizer, 2023 NHC Champion Paul Calia, and Robert Mack punched their tickets to Las Vegas. The next day’s annual BCBC-NHC Tournament drew more than 200 online and on track participants and awarded a whopping 10 berths to the 25th NHC. Seats went to Robert Traynor, Marshall Gramm, Mike Castagnoli, Chris Savage, Tom Maloof, Jim Videtic, Richard Jerardi, Jim Tipps, Gary Steichele and James Metzger.

Horseplayers.com awarded 13 seats to NHC 2024 during October to: Joseph Paese, Michael Beychok, Thomas Blosser, Adam Haskins, Chris Bertolucci, Chris Hawranik, Tanya Taylor, Mark Stillmock, Joe Kasperski, Alex DeVito, Bill Alberg, Robert McIntyre and Tony Wong

Horsetourneys also awarded 8 seats to Robin Buser, Devanathan Murugesan, Jeff Bussan, Nick Noce, Peter Dresens, Tim Gavin, Francis Boustany and Jim Colbert.

William Rendino

Dan Bergen

Thomas Blosser

Marshall Gramm

Robert McIntyre

Jim Videtic

All NHC2024 Qualifiers

Paul Weizer

Q&A with Paul Weizer

Hometown: Leominster, MA

Occupation: Professor of Political Science

What was the first contest you played in and when? My first contest was at Suffolk Downs in 2002 and I first qualified for the NHC at Suffolk in 2004. This will be my 18th NHC in March.

What do you like most about handicapping contests? I like many things about contests. First and foremost is the chance to meet people with similar interests. The camaraderie at contests is tremendous. Many of my closest friends in life I have met through handicapping contests and I have been able to travel the country and see many of our greatest racetracks as a result. Second, the hardest part about racing in general is overcoming the takeout. There are still many contests where 100% or more of entry fees are paid back to the players. That is very appealing.

What is your favorite racetrack? Keeneland is far and away my favorite track. It is as close to paradise as one can get for a horseplayer.

How did you get interested in handicapping contests? I had been playing the races since I was a teenager. Once I found out about contests, I was excited to see how I measured up against the best handicappers and was lured by the opportunity for a big score.

When and where did you qualify for the 2024 NHC? I qualified for the 2024 NHC at Keeneland this October.

Tell us about the day you qualified for the NHC. I was on track at Keeneland. In fact, other than the remote COVID years, I have been on track for every Keeneland contest ever held. My strategy was simply to select the races I liked best and leverage my money so that if I was right once, I would likely be at the top of the leaderboard. That day, fortunately, I was.

What is your favorite restaurant in Las Vegas? Lakeside at the Wynn

What do you like best about the NHC? Seeing friends that I don’t get to see very often and, of course, playing for huge prizes.

What are your ideas to improve the NHC? I would like to see the contest be less top-heavy and reward more players for their success during the year.

Keeneland’s BCBC-NHC Tournament

Keeneland’s Annual BCBC-NHC Tournament drew more than 200 online and on track participants and awarded a whopping 10 berths to the 25^th NHC being held next March at the Horseshoe Las Vegas. First place finisher Ed Deicke (already double qualified for the NHC) turned his $2,500 live bankroll into $40,000 in prize money, a $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Entry, and a free entry into the Spring Keeneland Grade One Gamble.

The ten NHC seats went to Robert Traynor, Marshall Gramm, Mike Castagnoli, Chris Savage, Tom Maloof, Jim Videtic, Richard Jerardi, Jim Tipps, Gary Steichele and James Metzger. In addition to Deicke’s entry to the BCBC, another 5 players were awarded BCBC entries.

Full standings and tournament results can be found here.

2023 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge

Still time to sign up for racing’s biggest live-money handicapping tournament

There’s still a few days to sign up for the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) being held this weekend with more than $1,000,000 in cash prizes (proportional to how many players enter the Tournament). In addition to cash prizes, the top 15 finishers in the tournament will be awarded berths into the 25th NHC in Las Vegas next March.

For the full BCBC rules and information how to play, visit the Breeders’ Cup website.

Hawthorne Thanksgiving Day Contests Return for 2023

The Road to the NHC Runs Thru Hawthorne

Ten seats to the 25th National Horseplayers Championship are up for grabs at this year’s three Hawthorne Thanksgiving Contests. The three 1-day contests on Thanksgiving weekend will award not only NHC seats, but also offer three additional $1,000,000 bonuses to any winner who wins the 2024 NHC. The onsite contest, offered at 6 betting locations, features a $300 live bankroll on Friday, and $500 live bankroll on Saturday and Sunday.

More details can be found on Hawthorne’s website and the official rules can be found here.

TwinSpires $2,500 NHC Qualifiers

Two feeders left before the November 25 $5,000 Final

November will play host to two more TwinSpires $2,500 feeder tournaments, which will ultimately lead to the $5,000 NHC Qualifier being held on November 25. To qualify, you need to finish in the top 10% of one of the seven feeder tournaments. The final two feeder tournaments will be held at Churchill Downs on November 11 and November 18. More information can be found at TwinSpires.com.

November NHC Qualifiers

BCBC

November 3-4 | $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge – 15 seats guaranteed. HYBRID

Del Mar

November 25 | $3,000 Del Mar Fall Challenge – 2 seats guaranteed. HYBRID

Hawthorne OTBS

November 24 | $300 NHC Qualifier – 2 seats guaranteed. ON TRACK
November 25 | $500 NHC Qualifier – 4 seats guaranteed. ON TRACK
November 26 | $500 NHC Qualifier – 4 seats guaranteed. ON TRACK

Sport of Kings

November 4 | Sport of King Finals – 2 seats guaranteed. Must have qualified into. ONLINE.

TwinSpires.com

November 25 | TwinSpires NHC Qualifier – 2 seats guaranteed. Must have qualified into. ONLINE

Horseplayers.com

November 3 | $75 – 2 seats guaranteed.
November 5 | $165 – Restricted to players that have not qualified to NHC 2024 – 1 seat guaranteed.
November 9 | $100 – 1 seat guaranteed.
November 10 | $75 – 2 seats guaranteed.
November 11 | $210 – 2 seats guaranteed.
November 12 | $165 – 2 seats guaranteed.
November 17 | $75 – 2 seats guaranteed.
November 18 | $165 – 2 seats guaranteed.
November 19 | $165 – Restricted to players that have not qualified to NHC 2024 – 1 seat guaranteed.
November 19 | $500 – 1 seat guaranteed.
November 23 | $125 – 1 seat guaranteed.
November 24 | $75 – 2 seats guaranteed.
November 26 | $210 – 2 seats guaranteed.