The first results from the 25th annual NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) are already in, and the $3 million handicapping tournament hasn’t even officially started yet.

While the 2024 NHC field of more than 700 entries comprised of roughly 600 individual qualifiers gets ready to assemble at the Horseshoe Las Vegas for the NHC main tournament on March 15-17, the NTRA has already been busy awarding the first prizes to be awarded NHC week with the announcement of the final results of the 2023 NHC Tour.

Kevin Costello, 55, from Chicago became the 16th NHC Tour champion and won the NHC Tour’s $75,000 top prize. The NHC Tour is a year-long bonus series where NHC Tour members accumulate points with wins or high finishes in NHC feeder contests both online and at different live tournament sites across the country. In all, the NHC Tour will award nearly $350,000 in cash prizes to its top 20 finishers.

Costello is a former aerospace engineer who has been a fan of horseracing for 30 years since Unbridled’s Kentucky Derby win in 1990. His favorite tracks are Hawthorne Race Course and Del Mar. As NHC Tour champion, Costello earned one of the first qualifying berths to the next NHC finals in 2025. He has already secured the maximum two entries into the upcoming 2024 NHC finals, where his NHC Tour championship will make him eligible to win a $5 million bonus if he goes on to win the NHC main event.

Costello was also the 2021 NHC Tour winner two years ago, and his victory in the 2023 NHC Tour makes him the first ever two-time NHC Tour champion. No player has ever won the NHC main event twice.

The 2024 NHC finals will mark the eighth straight year Costello has qualified to play in the main event. In addition to his two NHC Tour wins, he also finished fourth in his first year on the NHC Tour in 2016. Costello has cashed at three NHC finals to date, with his highest NHC finish so far coming in 2022, when he finished 22nd.

“Eight years ago, I set out with a goal of winning the NHC Tour. I had no idea at the time if I would be capable of doing it,” Costello said. “Although there are other prizes in the tournament world that are more lucrative than the Tour, the Tour always meant something special to me because of the necessity to perform consistently well over the length of a full season. As much as I enjoy the sense of accomplishment and the pride I take in my play, it all pales in comparison to the best prize of all that I’ve received in these eight years, and that is a new community of friends, tournament directors, competitors, and media folks who have enriched my life more than any title or prize money ever could. I very much look forward to seeing everyone in Las Vegas.”

Costello played in a total of 31 tournaments on the 2023 NHC Tour and earned three victories, including two online wins at HorsePlayers.com plus an on-track win in the Horseshoe Indianapolis tournament on Dec. 2. Points are earned on a sliding scale for top tournament finishes, and a player’s top eight scores throughout the year are used in calculating point totals. Costello’s other big points-earning tournament finishes in 2023 included an 11th-place finish in the rich Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and a seventh-place finish at Gulfstream Park in the Florida Derby Challenge. Costello finished with 24,053 points to win the top prize. He edged out runner-up Michael Mulvihill, 45, of Palatine, Ill. for the title. Mulvihill finished second with 22,991 points. Evan Trommer, 58, of Lexington, Ky., finished third on the Tour with 22,709 points. The 2020 NHC Tour champion, Sally Goodall of Las Vegas, finished fourth with 22,600 points. Newly inducted NHC Hall of Famer Brett Wiener, 56, of Las Vegas, finished fifth with 22,399 points.

Previous winners of the NHC Tour include: Jay Johns or Meridian, Idaho (2022), Costello (2021), Goodall (2020), David Snyder of Mission Viejo, Calif. (2019), David Gutfreund of Chicago (2018), Mike Ferrozzo of Eagan, Minn. (2017), Cheryl McIntyre of Massallon, Ohio (2016), Jonathon Kinchen of Austin, Tex. (2015), Eric Moomey (2014), former trainer Brent Sumja or San Anselmo, Calif. (2013), Mark Streiff of Mission Viejo, Calif. (2012), Paul Shurman of Dix Hills, NY. (2011), Tom Noone (2010), Bryan Wagner of New Orleans (2009), and Sam Brooks (2008).

The National Horseplayers Championship main event will be held on March 15-17 at the Horseshoe Las Vegas. The winner will take home first price money of more than $750,000 and will win an Eclipse Award as Handicapper of the Year.