May, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

NHC Rundown: Olsson Double Qualifies For NHC 2022

Each week, the NTRA will provide a rundown of those who have qualified for the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) the previous weekend. A total of five players earned automatic entries into the 2022 NHC from May tournaments on Horseplayers.com and on HorseTourneys. Chris Olsson of Bellmore, N.Y., qualified last Saturday through on Horseplayers.com and on Sunday gained a second NHC qualifying spot playing on HorseTourneys.

The NHC is the most important tournament of the year for horseplayers and is the culmination of a year-long series of NTRA-sanctioned local tournaments conducted by racetracks, casino race books, off-track betting facilities and horse racing and handicapping websites, each of which sends its top qualifiers to the national finals. The 2021 NHC is slated to take place in the Bally's Events Center from August 27-29 with the 2022 NHC set for January 28-30 at Bally's.

Last weekend's qualifiers, and their respective contest sites, are as follows:

Horseplayers

Christophe Huttepain of Los Angeles, has qualified for his third NHC. In his first NHC, in 2015, Chris finished 24th, and cashed for $17,400.

Geoffrey Schutt of Salem, Mass., has qualified for his fourth NHC. In 2017, he bankrolled $9,500, finishing 52nd overall. Geoff finally qualified for his first NHC in his ninth attempt. “I realized I needed to change my handicapping completely because it wasn't just the horses, it was trying to learn (and handicap) other players who seemed to be doing everything right,” he recalled. “I know racing luck is a big thing, but there are players who consistently do well, and who consistently make the NHC (and win tournaments). So I tried to study the picks they made. It's been a huge thrill each time I've qualified since, and last Friday's Pick-and-Pray contest is no exception.”

Gregg Kingma of Las Vegas, has qualified for three of the past four years for the NHC.

HorseTourneys

Chris Olsson of Bellmore, N.Y., has qualified for his fifth NHC. His best finish was 26th in 2017, cashing for $15,600. Chris described qualifying twice last weekend for the NHC as “surreal,” and “just feel fortunate that a couple of photos fell my way.” On Saturday, Chris nailed three consecutive races, starting with a $28.80, 10.80 win-place payout on Philo, who won the 12th at Gulfstream by a nose. Later at Santa Anita, Big Passion paid $28.40 with a half-length win in the sixth race, and right after that Niege Blanche ($13.40) won the Grade 3 Santa Barbara Stakes by a nose.

In registering his second 2022 NHC qualification on Sunday, Chris scored on Sanctuary City ($15.40) in the seventh at Belmont and then hit it big with Kanderel coming from behind in the stretch to take the fifth at Santa Anita, and paying $31.40. Two more 7-2 shots “sealed the deal.”

As a teenager, Chris got interested in harness racing first, going to the Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island with his father before gravitating to Thoroughbreds. He credits Noel Michaels' book on tournament play and the contests and seminars that Michaels and Steve Phillips organized at Nassau OTB that were “instrumental” in Chris's improvement as a contest player.

Phil Hoedebeck of Wichita Falls, Texas, is now a 10-time NHC qualifier. He finished 20th in 2012 and 58th last year, cashing for $11,110. Last Sunday, Phil hit four of his last five races, including Runaway Rumor ($21.60) at Belmont and, like Olsson, bagged Kanderel ($31.40) at Santa Anita. Phil started playing the races in the Southwest at Remington Park, Blue Ribbon Downs and Louisiana Downs. He also owns a few claiming horses with friends, and races them at Will Rogers Downs and Lone Star Park.

Click here for the full NHC Leaderboard

Click here for upcoming NHC qualifiers

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Horseplayers Sue Baffert, Zedan

Led by Michael Beychok, the winner of the 2012 NTRA National Horseplayers Championship, four gamblers have filed a Class Action Lawsuit against trainer Bob Baffert and owner Amr Zedan, alleging fraud. Each maintains that they made bets that would have won had GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico) not been “doped.” The plaintiffs allege that Baffert and Zedan are in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the California Control of Profits of Organized Crime Act (CCPOCA) and for committing state common law and equitable fraud.

The suit was filed Thursday in United States District Court for the Central District of California.

When reached by the TDN, Beychok declined to comment and referred all questions to his attorney, Bill Federman.

“The horse racing industry as a whole has refused or cannot take steps that are necessary to protect the horses and the horseplayers from cheats” Federman said. “That's really the bottom line. Bob Baffert is known to have drugged horses in the past. Each time he said that it was an accident, that something was wrong, that somebody with steroids walked into the barn and sneezed. Can you believe it, the horse then tested positive ? Enough is enough, and that is the bottom line. If the industry is not going to police itself it's going to have to be further regulated or you will have outside groups forcing change.”

In several tweets earlier this week, Beychok touched on the controversy and welcomed gamblers to join in the class action suit.

“This guy Baffert wants us to believe that a horse in his care for the biggest horse race in the world was given an injectable drug without anyone in the barn's knowledge,” he wrote. “Are you kidding me with this? That's the best he's got?”

It was revealed shortly after the Derby that Medina Spirit had tested positive for a banned corticosteroid, Betamethasone. Subsequently, Baffert revealed that Medina Spirit was treated with an antifungal medication that contained Betamethasone to clear up a case of dermatitis and that he was treated with the ointment as late as Apr. 30, the day before the Derby. He maintained that he made an innocent mistake and gave the horse a medication that could not have had any effect on his performance.

The Kentucky Racing Commission has yet to take any action against Baffert and cannot do so until a second lab has tested a split sample.

In the suit, Beychok claims he made bets totaling $966 that would have resulted in payoffs between $10,000 and $100,000 had Medina Sprit not won the race. The other plaintiffs are Justin Wunderler, Michael Meegan and Keith Mauer. Wunderler claims he bet roughly $2,000 and stood to win at least $40,000. Meegan and Mauer each made small wagers.

In 2020, a bettor, Jeff Tretter, backed by PETA, sued harness trainer Robert Bresnahan, Jr. and owner J.L. Sadowsky for doping, racketeering and fraud after betting on a horse that finished behind a Bresnahan trained horse who won a 2016 race at the Meadowlands and tested positive for EPO. Bresnahan and Sadowsky settled with Tretter out of court, paying the Illinois gambler $20,000.

“The New Jersey case was clearly a shot across the bow for the trainer and the industry that apparently went unnoticed,” Federman said. “It's time for the industry to regulate itself. The industry has not been willing to represent those who bet their money.”

The plaintiffs maintain that they wagered on the Derby with the belief that there would be a level playing field and that none of the starters would be racing on prohibited medications.

“Bettors and members of the public expect that horses will give their best effort in every race and that all horses entered in every race will not be racing under the influence of a drug or foreign substance that has been administered in violation of racing rules and regulations,” the suit reads.

They contend that Baffert and Zedan committed fraud because they misrepresented to bettors that they had entered a horse that complied with all racetrack rules. The suit also points to the numerous drug positives racked up by Baffert throughout his career.

“The Baffert Defendants' acts are not isolated events; rather they are a pattern of events related to each other in that they have similar purposes, participants, methods of commission, and other distinguishing characteristics,” the suit reads. “Relatedness is also established by the fact that all acts were done for the purpose of winning thoroughbred races, including but not limited to the Kentucky Derby.”

Beychok is a partner and creative director at Ourso Beychok Inc., a Democratic direct mail consulting firm based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has worked on political campaigns at the local, state and national levels. His victory in the NHC netted him $1 million plus an Eclipse Award for best handicapper of 2012.

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Fort Erie Opening Day Pushed Back Due To COVID Restrictions

Opening day at Fort Erie Race Track will be postponed due to today's provincial announcement that stay-at-home orders will continue across Ontario through to June 2. The 2021 racing season was originally scheduled to begin on June 1, but will now be rescheduled for a later date.

Racing will commence when the province ends the lockdown and gives approval for horse racing to resume in Ontario. Fort Erie's backstretch will remain open in order to provide essential care for horses.

“Following the government's announcement and keeping in line with the province's COVID-19 guidelines, the track will remain closed for racing at this time,” said Drew Cady, general manager of the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium. “We are ready to begin our racing season and will continue to work with Ontario Racing and the province to safely commence live racing as quickly as possible.”

When the season begins, live racing will run on Mondays at 1 p.m. and Tuesdays at 4 p.m. For updates on the upcoming season visit www.forterieracing.com.

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Australia: Eduardo To Hit Top Gear In ‘Queensland Winter Carnival’

Eduardo, the world's third-highest ranked racehorse, is the headline act this Friday night in Australia, as the “Queensland Winter Carnival” hits top gear at Doomben Racecourse. Eduardo will line up in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 over six furlongs which will be broadcast live on TVG and available to stream on the new Sky Racing World App (First Post: 9:38 p.m. ET / 6:38 p.m. PT).

Just as America's best eastern stables head south to Florida for the winter, Australia's focus shifts to its northeastern state of Queensland during the Southern Hemisphere winter. In fact, Florida and Queensland share the moniker “Sunshine State.” Queensland's capital, Brisbane, is Australia's third-largest city and my hometown. Its two racetracks, Doomben and Eagle Farm, are across the street from each other and will hold a Group One race six of the next seven weeks.

This Friday night, the G1 Doomben 10,000 is the seventh on a nine-race card. The six furlong weight-for-age event features late-blooming sprint star Eduardo (7-5 favorite). While always hinting at top-level ability, Eduardo was sporadically raced through his 6-year-old season, winning 4 of 13 starts. Since transferring to trainer Joe Pride, the gelding's 7-year-old season has yielded a pair of G2 victories and a G1 triumph from seven outings. His performances during the recent Sydney Autumn Carnival – which included breaking Randwick's five furlong track record in the G1 Galaxy – earned Eduardo his lofty ranking from the International Federation of Racing Authorities. Eduardo hasn't raced for five weeks, but Pride kept him ticking over with a trial (training race) win last Friday in Sydney, before embarking on the 580-mile van ride north to Brisbane.

Eduardo's opposition will include an enormously popular horse named The Harrovian (17-1), who has compiled an astonishing 16:14-2-0 record in Queensland since the beginning of 2019. Most of The Harrovian's exploits have been at lesser quality tracks in the far north of the state, but he won a pair of listed stakes races in Brisbane to cap an 11-race win streak that endeared him to fans statewide. While Eduardo and The Harrovian are both 7-year-old geldings, connections of two prospective stallions would love to notch a G1 win to enhance the commercial value of Wild Ruler (7-2) and Splintex (8-1). Wild Ruler, the lone 3-year-old, is coming off a G2 win during the Sydney Autumn Carnival, while 4-year-old Splintex is a last-start G3 Sydney winner.

The latter's trainer, Mark Newnham, would have been elated after drawing the rail, having earlier stated that “It doesn't matter if it's a Group One or a maiden, post positions going six furlongs at Doomben are vital … one to eight would be ideal.”

Godolphin's chances took a hit when their $5 million earner Trekking (6-1) drew gate 10.

Post positions weren't always as significant in six furlong races at Doomben. Apart from the Melbourne Cup, Flemington Racecourse is famous for its straight six furlong course. Modern-day racing fans – even in Brisbane – would be largely unaware that Doomben once had a “Straight Six” course. The Doomben 10,000 was inaugurated in 1933 as the Doomben Newmarket, and its first nine runnings were down the straight course. In 1942, the land was taken by eminent domain to become part of the neighboring Brisbane Airport. The race's name was changed in 1946 to reflect its purse money (in British pounds), which made the Doomben 10,000 the richest sprint race in Australia. That amount would be currently equivalent to US $590,000; the 2021 Doomben 10,000 field will compete for a purse of US $780,000.

Outside of Friday night's four Group races, great interest surrounds the return to action of Love Tap in Race 3. In the span of four races last year, the 3-year-old son of Tapit went from a debut win at an obscure “country” track to a G3 victory at Sydney's Rosehill Racecourse. An injury in January sidelined Love Tap from the Sydney Autumn Carnival, but the gray gelding is now set to appear for the first time since his only defeat, when well fancied in his Group One debut seven months ago.

The Doomben card will be broadcast live on TVG this Friday night (First Post: 9:38 p.m. ET / 6:38 p.m. PT) alongside cards from Rosehill, Kembla Grange and Gold Coast. All races will be live-streamed in HD on the new Sky Racing World App, skyracingworld.com and major ADW platforms such as TVG, TwinSpires, Xpressbet, NYRABets, WatchandWager, HPIbet, and AmWager. Wagering is also available via these ADW platforms. Fans can get free access to live-streaming, past performances and expert picks on all races at skyracingworld.com.

A native of Brisbane, Australia, Michael Wrona has called races in six countries. Wrona's vast U.S. experience includes; race calling at Los Alamitos, Hollywood Park, Arlington and Santa Anita, calling the 2000 Preakness on a national radio network and the 2016 Breeders' Cup on the International simulcast network. Wrona also performed a race call voiceover for a Seinfeld episode called The Subway.

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