By Noel Michaels
Sally Goodall is on a roll. Her 2021 was filled with accolades and will be a tough act to follow in 2022, but that won’t stop her from trying. If she is to repeat her numerous 2021 successes in 2022, a good place to start would be the upcoming 23rd edition of the National Horseplayers Championship [NHC]. Goodall will once again be back where she always is at this time of year, taking her seat for the finals of the NHC in Las Vegas, where she no doubt she will be ready to give the field a run for its money.
Sally Goodall will be making her record 20th appearance in the NHC Finals when the event reconvenes on January 28-30, 2022 at Bally’s Las Vegas. No player has qualified more. Her first appearance was at NHC III in 2002, and she has now qualified every year consecutively since 2006 for a streak of 17 years in a row. She has double qualified in seven of the last eight years.
Goodall began 2021 at the top of the handicapping game when she won the 2020 NHC Tour Championship and its $100,000 grand prize, and ended the year 2021 with her picture on the cover of MYVEGAS magazine named as one of the Top Las Vegas Women of 2021. In-between, she accepted perhaps the greatest honor of them all in August 2021 when she was inducted into the NHC Hall of Fame along with Ray Arsenault, becoming the 13th and 14th people ever to earn that distinction.
“I don’t have the words to express how excited and honored I felt when I received the call from the NTRA informing me that my fellow players had inducted me into the Hall of Fame,” said a delighted Goodall. “I have really loved playing in the NHC contests for 20 years and this wonderful honor is simply the cherry on top of my mooncake.”
Sally Goodall’s husband, longtime tournament fixture Richard Goodall, won the NHC title in 2008 and was elected to the NHC Hall of Fame in 2020. With Sally’s Hall of Fame induction, they became the second husband/wife combo to join the Hall of Fame alongside July Wagner (2016) and Bryan Wagner (2019).
Sally immigrated to the United States from Nanjing, China as Sally Wang in 1993, and moved to Las Vegas in 1995. Shortly thereafter she met Richard at a travel agency and became Sally Wang Goodall six-months later. She first joined Richard in business at his financial healthcare company, and later joined him in his favorite leisure pastime playing in handicapping contests, which Richard has been involved in even before the dawn of the NHC era in 2000.
“We focus on NHC contests every day,” Sally Goodall said. “Since I met my husband, he took me to the racetrack and we play the horses for fun. He has mentored me and taught me very well how to bet on horses for the contests. We have fun and we’ve gotten lucky too.”
The Goodall family, which also includes Sally’s son-in-law Christopher Goodall, has been prolific in the 20+ year of the NHC. Richard Goodall announced his “retirement” from the day-to-day demands of the tournament scene at this Hall of Fame induction in 2020, but the family as a whole is proud to say they plan most of their year around the annual Las Vegas-based tournament.
As good as the recognition in the horse tournament world has been for Sally, it was incredibly gratifying for her to earn recognition outside of the tournament world this past year when she was named as one of the “Top 100 Women” in 2021 in Las Vegas and featured on the cover of MYVEGAS magazine and on myvegasmag.com for the issue released in December 2021. The magazine featured Sally in a two-page feature story.
“I had been selected one of the Top 100 Women in the Las Vegas area,” Goodall said. “I was so lucky to be on the cover page!”
In addition to Richard’s 2008 NHC Finals victory and Sally’s 2020 NHC Tour title, the Goodall family has won dozens of tournament titles through the years. Christopher Goodall was in serious contention at the Final Table at the most recent NHC Finals in August 2021. He went on to finish third to earn a $150,000 prize. Sally also cashed for $24,000 with an NHC Finals 24th-place finish in 2017. During Sally’s 2020 NHC Tour-winning campaign, she posted three tournament wins and five other top-10 finishes that season.
“The contests are fun to do. It’s a different strategy than betting live. I like the breeding, and I’ll look at jockey/trainer combinations, Goodall said. “Mostly I just enjoy meeting the people at the NHC. Everyone knows me, I know them, and it’s like a family reunion. It’s good to achieve the goals, and my husband and I both did.”