For this first-time qualifier, the road to the NHC ran through Lexington.
Prior to last year, I had never been to Kentucky, but in April I made the first of what would be four trips in 2023. The primary purpose was to conduct interviews for a book I am writing on the Cody Dorman-Cody’s Wish story. I met the Dormans – Cody, his parents, Leslie and Kelly, and little sister, Kylie – in person for the first time after three months of weekly Zoom conversations.
I visited Gainsborough and Jonabell farms to talk to some of the key people from Godolphin who have played such important roles in the story: Danny Mulvihill, Mary Bourne, Michael Banahan, Dan Pride, Johnny Burke. I called on Breeders’ Cup CEO Drew Fleming to talk about the emotional scene in 2022 when Cody’s Wish won the Dirt Mile and returned to a highly emotional winner’s circle, with our guy Cody rightfully the center of attention.
Naturally, I timed my first visit with the 2023 Keeneland spring meeting, having never been to the venerable racetrack. I managed to sneak a few races in around my interviews on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but purposefully kept Saturday mostly clear to enjoy a full day at the track, because truth be told, I don’t really see the point of half-days at the track.
That day, April 15, was the day Keeneland and the great Jim Goodman ran the Grade 1 Gamble, considered one of the majors in the world of handicapping and betting contests. I had considered entering but was fairly ambivalent about it until I picked up my good friend and HHH Racing Podcast co-host Howard Kravets and he asked if I were going to play. After a few minutes of somewhat serious deliberation, I decided to enter – at 11:45 a.m., 15 minutes before it closed.
Long story short, it was one of those rare days in which my opinions were good and the horses and racing luck cooperated. Thanks to a ridiculously large daily double bet to close out the day, I ended up on top of a field of 292 players that included some of the very best players in the country. Call it a lightning strike.
In addition to the considerable cash prize, the win also earned me a free entry to the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (finished 37th out of 571) and the 2024 National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas, which starts Friday.
I have tried to qualify for the NHC many times with no success, so this was value added to the extreme.
So, it’s off to Vegas to match handicapping wits with a field of more than 700, with all the heavy hitters in the room. The NHC is a completely different exercise than the Grade 1 Gamble and BCBC in that the idea is strictly to pick winners, with all selections resulting in a mythical $2 win-place bet.
I’m very much looking forward to the opportunity for many reasons, with what I am told is a festival-like atmosphere at the top of the list. Howard will be there along with former BCBC champions who have become good friends: Drew Coatney (2022), fledgling author Matt Miller (2021) and Brad Anderson (2019). And it’s always good to have Kyle Roscoe around just because he’s a great guy to have a beer with.
The winner of the NHC gets $800,000 and an Eclipse Award, but to me it seems folly to even dream about finishing on top of this field. Between the circumstances of how I qualified, the opportunity to get back to Vegas – my 30th trip overall – for the first time since the pandemic, and the thought of being in a huge ballroom with people screaming at TV screens, this really is a no-lose proposition.
Having said that, I will be diving into the Daily Racing Form past performances to try to come up with the type of winning horses that you need to contend. The contest runs Friday and Saturday, with the top 10 percent of the leaderboard advancing to the semifinals Sunday. If I have one solid goal heading into the NHC, it would be having to reschedule the red-eye flight home I have booked for Saturday night.
The NHC has strict rules against collusion, so in the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I plan to have a silent partner in that room with me: a special kid who once had a horse named for him.
And that makes me a winner, regardless of what the leaderboard might say.
