October 2023
Summer wrapped up with the popular Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge for the third consecutive year. Phil Lam is the 2023 National Turf Handicapping Champion and took home the prestigious belt. He also won a NHC2024 entry and $10,530 in cash. Other players that won NHC seats throughout the course of the weekend were Anthony Mattera, John Kostin, Mikael Christen (double qualified), Mike Abinanti, William Shurman, Dave Gray, Ben Posen, & and Chris Savage.
The First State hosted a contest on September 9th at Delaware Park. The ontrack $300 handicapping contest yielded two NHC2024 seats to Paul Buttafuoco & Bob Jeffrey. A few days later, on September 13th Canterbury Park hosted its $2,000 NHC/BCBC Qualifier that yielded three berths to NHC2024 to Michael Caposio, Jim Tipps and Justin Mustari. Canterbury Park also hosted its 27th Annual Dog Days of Summer Handicapping Contest the weekend of September 16-17. This longest running live-bankroll handicapping tournament yielded two NHC seats to Mike Yurczyk and Joe Gauthier. That same weekend the Woodbine Mile Contest featured a $1,000 entry fee and awarded seats to James Metzger and John Kaiser.
The PA Derby Xpressbet contest held on September 23rd awarded two NHC seats to Chris Larmey and Richard Jerardi. That same day ontrack at Los Alamitos, Mark Streiff and Jean Huttepain won their way to NHC2024. Santa Anita Opening Weekend Challenge featured a $4,000 buy-in contest and awarded NHC seats to Nisan Gabbay and Joseph Rosen (double qualified).
The 2023 Hawthorne Race Course Summer Coast-to-Coast Showdown Contest concluded this month, after running from July 15 through September 4, with Nicholas Shirilla taking home the grand prize. Another summer special contest the Beat Byk annual event concluded with George Smith coming out on top – more to come on him and the Beat Byk Contest later.
Horseplayers.com awarded 26 seats in the month of September to: Dan Shugar, James Henry, Sarah Wiener, Michael Mainzer, Nick Noce, Brian Salamone, Tim Smith, Mike Steindler, David Browning, Mark Detro, Wayne Eigelbach, Yolanda Labordo, Kenneth Molicone, Gwyn Houston, Julie Kochensparger, Kevin Costello, David Wolff, Allen Carrick, Steve Decaspers, Bob Montgomery, Dan Brockman, Dennis Dougherty, Michael Foster, Joseph Rosen, Patrick Kennedy, and Joseph Paese.
Horsetourneys.com awarded eight seats in the month of September to: Jeff Higgins, Crystal Andaur, GT Nixon, Edward Reidy, Bernard Reilly, Rich Pawlowski, David Mullin, and Frank Paros.
Phil Lam
John Kostin
Justin Mustari
Mike Steindler
Mark Streiff
Joseph Paese
Mark Detro
Leonard Peterson
Q&A with Leonard Peterson
Hometown: Galewood, Chicago, IL
Occupation: Retired
Do you have any children? Pets? 3 children, no pets
What was the first contest you played in and when? I think my first contest was maybe about 10 years ago. Cheryl Benes recommended I go play in a Hawthorne tournament; I finished 2nd but had to leave early. Had I played on the last day, I would have won. After that day I thought to myself, if I can compete with these guys, when I had no idea that I could, then I should keep playing – which is what I’ve done.
What do you like most about handicapping contests? I like the format – $2 win and $2 place, that way it’s more equal for everyone as opposed to live tournaments with live money. I’m just a regular guy, drove a bus for a living for 32 years, this format allows me to compete with a guy with deep pockets – and I like that.
What is your favorite racetrack? Hawthorne, I’m even going back there this year to do the BCBC from there, on Xpressbet.
When and where did you qualify for the 2023 NHC? I am double qualified this year, at Hawthorne.
Tell us about the day you qualified for the NHC at the track or online (how it went, your strategy, the energy, etc.) My strategy is just to try to pick the winner. What I normally do is get there early, I like to read the track, try to get an edge on the competition, work some angles. I used to not really play the bigger Friday tournaments with 500 or more people On Horseplayers.com, but instead I would play the smaller weekend ones. The Friday tournaments have more entries and more Tour points, so this year that’s where I’ve been focused on, and it has paid off. I am so grateful that I finished the first half of the NHC Tour in first place, and I’m hoping to keep that going this year and at least finish in the top 5 overall.
What is your favorite restaurant in Las Vegas? Usually, I go out to eat and I’ll just pick a place. It’s business for me, I can’t go out and party. I’ve got to treat it like a job.
What do you like best about the NHC? I really like the NHC –once you get there it is awesome. I drove a bus for 32 years, I don’t have a lot of money, but when you’re there it doesn’t matter. The only thing that counts is picking more winners than the last guy. I love the people that run it, it’s just an awesome experience for me to be in the same place as these guys that have so much going for them. And there’s a reason why no one has won this twice because it’s not easy.
The fifth annual Beat Byk NHC Challenge drew nearly 929 entries throughout the summer and ultimately named George Smith the winner. Smith will be heading to Las Vegas for the 25th Annual NHC next March.
Smith’s love of horses goes back to his childhood. He grew up going to Arlington Park with his dad, and he worked as a hot walker on the Arlington backstretch while home from college in the summers. After qualifying for his first NHC in 2005, he has been to 7 NHC’s with his best finish being 7th place in 2009.
“Given that Beat Byk is one prize for nearly 700 entries, I knew I was going to need some longshots. I looked for separator type plays, horses that most handicappers would not play,” said Smith when asked about his strategy for the Beat Byk NHC Challenge. “I’ve played a lot of NHC contests, and used to be on the players committee – so many NHC qualifying contests are real money and big bank rolls. Mythical contests like this are a great opportunity for people who aren’t that comfortable with or can’t afford live big bankroll tournaments to win a seat to Las Vegas.”
Together with the NTRA, Steve Byk, host of the Thoroughbred radio news magazine “At the Races” on Sirius XM, partnered to send one NHC Tour member to Las Vegas. Throughout eight weeks this summer, Byk selected the weekend stake races to comprise the competition for that week. There were 16 chances to qualify before the Beat Byk NHC Online Qualifier the weekend of September 4. All who correctly selected the winning horse in each round advanced to the qualifier.
Byk quote: “Congratulations to George on a great effort to win his way to Vegas as the Beat Byk representative. I’m proud that Beat Byk is a free contest that gives small budget players a chance to qualify for NHC.”
“At the Races with Steve Byk” is Thoroughbred racing’s only national daily news and talk show. The show also streams live on www.stevebyk.com.
Final Free NHC Tour Member Qualifier
The final FREE NHC online qualifier of the year will be held on Sunday October 8. The top three finishers in the contest will earn automatic berths to the 25th Annual NHC, which is slated to be held at the Horseshoe Las Vegas next March 15-17, 2024. An additional $3,000 in HorsePlayers credits will be distributed to the top finishers of the contest.
Registration is now open here.
Participants must be a 2023 NHC Tour member to be eligible to win a qualifying spot. To sign up for the NHC Tour, go to www.ntra.com/membership. Individuals also must be registered at HorsePlayers.com (free).
2023 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge
The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) is racing’s biggest live-money handicapping tournament 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. Last year’s winner Drew Coatney, took home the Grand Prize winnings of $549,653 and a seat to his first NHC which he participated in last March.
For the full BCBC rules and information how to play, visit the Breeders’ Cup website.
October NHC Qualifiers
Keeneland
- October 13 | $400 Keeneland Fall Challenge – 2 seats guaranteed. ON TRACK
- October 14 | $3,000 NHC/BCBC Keeneland Contest – up to 10 seats. HYBRID
Monmouth Park
- October 7 | $300 NHC Qualifier – 2 seats guaranteed. ON TRACK
Horseplayers.com
- October 6 | $75 – 2 seats guaranteed.
- October 8 | FREE – 3 seats guaranteed.
- October 13 | $75 – 2 seats guaranteed.
- October 14 | $210 – 2 seats guaranteed.
- October 20 | $75 – 2 seats guaranteed.
- October 22 | $165 – Restricted to players that have now qualified to NHC 2024 – 1 seat guaranteed.
- October 27 | $75 – 2 seats guaranteed.
Horsetourneys.com
- October 7 | $165 – 2 seats guaranteed.
- October 15 | $165 – 2 seats guaranteed.
- October 21 | $165 – 2 seats guaranteed.
- October 28 | $165 – 2 seats guaranteed.
NHC Tour Leaderboard Updates
The NHC Tour Leaderboard has been updated through October 4. The 2023 Tour Rules can be found here.
REMINDER: Please ensure your NHC Tour membership is valid and active prior to playing in any NHC qualifiers.
Evan Trommer
22,465
Kevin Engelhard
20,835
Joseph Costello
20,485
Brett Wiener
20,229
Sally Goodall
19,905
Gregg Kingma
19,882
Mark Heider
18,910
Michael Caposio
18,763
Leonard Peterson
18,757
David Snyder
18,123