“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost

On the handicapping tournament scene where longshots make the world go around, it was a mid-range player who played sensible horses and chalk that ruled the day to win the 25th annual NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) on March 15-17 at the Horseshoe Las Vegas. The tournament offered purse money of $3,013,550.

Mike Gillum, a 54-year-old from Fishers, Ind., who qualified for the NHC last month at Horseshoe Indianapolis, used a steady stream of 3-1 to 7-1 winners and threw in some well-timed 4-5 and 3-2 shots to top a field of 765 entries and ascend to Thoroughbred handicapping’s pinnacle. His victory was good for a grand prize of $800,000, and the title of Handicapper of the Year to be awarded at the 2025 Eclipse Awards.

“I’m just so excited and happy,” Gillum said right after winning the tournament’s final race to secure the victory. “I can’t believe it, is this really happening?”

Gillum amassed a final total of $320.10 based on $2 win-and-place bets on a wide selection of races from the season’s top simulcast tracks. He sat in fifth place after Day One of the three-day tournament but dropped back in the field during Saturday’s Day Two, which featured a few more of the kinds of longshots that contest players typically thrive on.

“I had a lot of winners on Friday, Gillum said. “Saturday, I didn’t have a very good day.”

Players had to finish in the top 10% of the field – in the top 77 places at the end of Saturday – in order to make the cut and move on to Sunday’s deciding day of action. Nearing the end of Saturday, however, Gillum’s entry had dropped back to 81st place. Gillum then decided to use his final two optional bets on Saturday on a pair of heavy favorites in order to make the cut. The strategy worked when those picks won, moving him up safely into the top 77 at 64th place at the end of Saturday.

“Take what they give you, add to your total, and get yourself into position,” Gillum said of his strategy. “I pecked away at it and (the horses) came in boom, boom, boom!”

During the NHC’s final day on Sunday, the object for the 77 semi-finalists was to finish in the top 10, which would advance them to the NHC “Final Table,” where the top players square off on Sunday afternoon to determine the winner of the NHC.

Gillum roots one home. (NTRA Photo)

The Sunday momentum swung back into Gillum’s favor as the winning longshots that others were relying on dried up while Gillum’s picks got hot. His entry, which started the day in 64th position, moved up throughout Sunday into eighth place to earn him a seat at the Final Table.

The winners kept coming for Gillum at the Final Table as the NHC boiled down to a battle between him and the Day Two leader Seth Morris, a bloodstock agent from Rockville Centre, N.Y., who had entered the Final Table with the lead. Gillum and Morris were virtually tied going into the last race of the tournament when Gillum out-smarted his rival – once again with a favorite – picking Sharp Aza Tack, who won the final race of the tournament in Santa Anita Park’s fifth race. Sharp Aza Tack’s $5.20 win and $3.40 place payoffs were enough to make the difference, giving Gillum a $320.10 final total that was good for nearly a $10 margin of victory over Morris, who finished with $310.28.

“I got lucky today, it was just my day today,” Gillum said. “This is the best game in the world.”

The Final Table guaranteed the top 10 finishers a minimum of $65,000 for tenth, with six-figure payoffs going to the second- through fifth-place finishers. Morris held on to finish second and earned the NHC’s second prize of $250,000. Matthew Blanchet, an NHC rookie, finished third with a score of $289.22 and won a $200,000 third prize. Laurence Kahlden of St. Petersburg, Fla., scored $284.56 and finished fourth to earn $150,000. Daniel Kaplan totaled $278.48 to win $125,000.

The rest of the top 10 was rounded out by Rob Henie in sixth (won $85,000), Nicholas Shirilla in seventh ($80,000), T.J. Sonde in eighth ($75,000), G.T. Nixon in ninth ($70,000), and Scott Cavalieri in tenth ($65,000). Prize payoffs of at least $10,150 went all the way down to 77th place encompassing every player that made the Sunday cut.

The NHC win, and the $800,000 purse that goes along with it, puts the icing on the cake for Gillum and his 20-30 years a handicapper. “It’s a passion for me, I’ve been doing it forever. The money will do wonders for me and just help me straighten out my life.”

Handicappers cannot buy an entry to play in the NHC. You must join the NTRA’s NHC Tour and win a spot with a high finish in an NTRA-sanctioned contest. Qualifying for the next NHC finals in 2025 is already open. For a full schedule of NHC handicapping events, and to join the NHC Tour, go to www.ntra.com/nhc/membership.

NHC News and Notes

The scene on Sunday. (NTRA Photo)

• All NHC players who did not make the cut in the top 77 were automatically eligible to play in the “Silver Sunday” consolation contest, which offered a $100,000 purse including a top prize of $25,000. The Silver Sunday winner was last year’s NHC hero David Harrison who topped a field of 611 players. Harrison also earned a qualifying berth into the next NHC finals to be held on March 14-16, 2025, back at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.
• The NHC field included finalists from 43 states and Canada and ranged in age from 22 years old to age 88. There were 24 women in the field including the tournament’s youngest player, Katelyn Andaur. Three veteran players in the tournament, Sanny Goodall from Las Vegas, Paul Shurman from Dix Hills. N.Y., and Trey Stiles from Houston, who’ve qualified for the NHC a record 23 times have been making the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas since before Andaur was born. Of the 77 entries that made the cut to play on Sunday, six were played by women including Linda Rodriguez, Jeannie King, and Christy Moore and Alexa Zepp, who each moved two entries into the final 77.
• Kevin Costello, 55, a former aerospace engineer from Chicago was crowned the champion of the 2023 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 awarded $350,000 in cash prizes to its top 20 finishers that was above and beyond the $3,013,550 purse of the NHC. Costello, who also won in 2021, became the first ever two-time winner of the NHC Tour. Costello was alive for a $5 million bonus if he went on to win the NHC main event. He finished 222nd.
• In addition to Costello’s potential $5 million bonus, six otherplayers in the field were playing for million-dollar bonuses courtesy of contests they won hosted by Hawthorne Race Course. The top finisher amongst those was Tony Zhou, whose 15^th-place finish was surely good enough to give Hawthorne’s insurance provider a few anxious moments.
• The 2024 NHC field featured 13 of the prior 23 champions of the event, including 2022 champ David Harrison, a 64-year-old real estate appraiser from Webster, NY, who defeated the field of 643 entries in last year’s NHC finals. Other past winners on hand were Justin Mustari (2021) Thomas Goldsmith (2020), Scott Coles (2019), Chris Littlemore (2018), Ray Arsenault (2017), Paul Matties Jr. (2016), John O’Neil (2015), Jim Benes (2013), Michael Beychok (2012), Stanley Bavlish (2007), Jamie Michelson (2005), and Steve Wolfson Jr. (2003). Littlemore, a 64-year-old retired auto worker from Whitby, Ontario, who won the 2018 NHC, was the only past winner in the field to make the cut. He finished 28th and took home a check for $15,100.

Tools of the trade. (NTRA Photo)

• The NHC Hall of Fame inducted a trio of new members this year based on their outstanding accomplishments throughout the 25-year history of the NHC. Those three were Brett Wiener from Clearwater, Fla., Jim Meeks from Elko, Nev., and Kevin “Duke” Matties from Laguna Beach, Calif. The joined prior NHC Hall of Fame inductees Sally Goodall, Dave Gutfreund, Paul Sherman, Trey Stiles, Roger Cettina, and Christopher Larmey in the 2024 NHC field. Wiener, who now resides in Las Vegas, was the only Hall of Famer in the tournament to make the cut. He finished 22nd and added another $15,700 in prize money to his career earnings.
• The NTRA hosted its annual NHC Last Chance/First Chance Tournament at Horseshoe Las Vegas on the eve of the NHC on Thursday, March 14. The event attracted a 884 entries and offered 31 qualifying berths into the 2024 NHC plus nine more into next year’s 2025 finals. The tournament also boasted a $132,600 purse. The winner of the Las Chance/First Chance was Chris Inman, a match teacher from Houston who not only qualified for the NHC but also took home a first prize of $23,840.
• The NHC also hosted the 10^th annual $10,000 NHC Charity Challenge presented by NTRA Charities. The winner was Jamie Haydon, president of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, who topped a field of 57 players. Haydon accumulated a point total of $68.50 on the eight mythical $2 Win-Place wagers he made in the eight contest races from racetracks that were also part of the NHC. Haydon named Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation as his charity of choice to receive $5,000. Also, as part of the winner’s prize, both the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) and Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF) each receive $2,500 in Haydon’s name.
• The 25th annual NHC was presented by Caesars Entertainment, Horseshoe Las Vegas, and Racetrack Television Network (RTN) and was supported by official partners Daily Racing Form, EquinEdge, Crown’s Way Racing, and Race Lens. New to the NHC in 2024 was a Final Table livestream co-hosted by Steve Byk and Rick Hammerle on NTRA’s website at www.NTRA.com.