The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced Wednesday that Jose Arias, Dennis Decauwer, Jim Goodman, and Bill Shurman have been voted by their peers for induction into the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship's Hall of Fame. The four esteemed handicappers represent the ninth class of NHC Hall of Fame inductees and will be recognized during the NHC Champions Dinner on Sunday, March 12, 2023 at the conclusion of the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.
More on the 2023 NHC Hall of Fame Class:
Jose Arias, of Bell Gardens, CA, is one of the most accomplished horseplayers in the history of the NHC. Arias captured the 2014 NHC after a remarkable stretch that saw him record the highest two-day total in NHC history. As of 2021, Arias had two top 10 finishes at the NHC and came within a whisker of becoming the first two-time Champion of the event before settling for second-place. He is a highly skilled horse player with more than one million dollars in career earnings.
Dennis Decauwer, of Rancho Cucamonga, CA, is an 18-time qualifier to the NHC and has made innumerable contributions to the NHC and tournament play in general. Decauwer is a long-time Vice Chairman of the NHC Players Committee and is actively involved in the NHC Mentoring Program. He has advised several Southern California tournament directors on ways to improve or vary tournament structures. He has cashed three times at the NHC, including in 2009 when he finished in second place and earned $150,000.
Although a highly-skilled horseplayer and five-time qualifier to the NHC in his own right, Jim Goodman, of Lexington, KY, is the first member of the NHC Hall of Fame elected by his fellow horseplayers primarily due to his role in hosting successful contests at his beloved Keeneland Race Course where he has worked since 2005. As Director of Wagering Development, Goodman has built contests like the Keeneland Spring Challenge, the Grade One Gamble and the BCBC/NHC Challenge into must stops on the contest tour schedule, all the while introducing horseplayers from throughout North America to one of the world's most iconic racetracks.
William (Bill) Shurman, of Danville, CA, is arguably one of the most consistent handicapping contest players in the history of the NHC. He started participating in NHC qualifiers in 2003 and as of 2023 had earned a berth in the national championship in Las Vegas for an astonishing 20 consecutive years. A tournament mainstay from his native New York to Kentucky to his adopted home state of California, Shurman has won major tournaments at Keeneland and Del Mar while also cashing at Aqueduct, Saratoga, Santa Anita, among others. He is the brother of NHC Hall of Famer Paul Shurman.
More on the NHC Hall of Fame:
Arias, Decauwer, Goodman, and Shurman join 19 past Hall of Fame inductees: Ray Arsenault (2021), Stanley Bavlish (2022), Michael Beychok (2022), Roger Cettina (2020), Steve Crist (2016), J. Randy Gallo (2022), Richard Goodall (2020), Sally Goodall (2021), David Gutfreund (2022), Chris Larmey (2018), Paul Matties Jr. (2022), Mike Mayo (2015), Ron Rippey (2015), Paul Shurman (2017), Trey Stiles (2019), Bryan Wagner (2019), Judy Wagner (2016), Steve Wolfson Sr. (2017), and Steve Wolfson Jr. (2018).
To sign up for the NHC Tour, go to www.ntra.com/membership.
The post Arias, Decauwer, Goodman, And Shurman Voted Into NTRA National Horseplayers Championship’s Hall Of Fame appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
