Following NHC Disqualification, NTRA Issues Player Two-Year Suspension

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced Tuesday that the player disqualified from the 2022 National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) will be suspended from the NHC and NHC Tour for a period of two years. At the end of the two-year suspension, the player may request to the NTRA to be reinstated to the NHC Tour.

The suspension was issued by the NTRA following discussions and a recommendation by the NHC Players' Committee, a group of NHC players who act as a sounding board on NHC policy and rule matters. The suspension covers the 2022 and 2023 NHC Tour seasons and the 2023 and 2024 NHCs.

“Maintaining the integrity of the NHC is of the utmost importance,” said NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney. “We look forward to making the 2022 NHC Tour and the 2023 NHC the best ever.”

According to a report in HorseRacingNation.com, the disqualified player was Jonathon Kinchen, the Fox Sports racing analyst and a tournament regular who won the NHC Tour title in 2015. Kinchen reportedly left Las Vegas to attend Saturday's Pegasus World Cup day races at Gulfstream Park in Florida and had his tournament bets made in Las Vegas by an associate.

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Handicapping Heavyweight: Kenny Mollicone To Receive First King Of The Turf Championship Belt

Kenny Mollicone established himself as the National Turf Handicapping Champion by winning the King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge last September during the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs. Now he'll have the belt to prove it.

Mollicone, a 47-year-old real-estate developer from Somerset, Mass., will be presented the Global Tote King of the Turf Championship Belt during Sunday's awards dinner that wraps up the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) at Bally's Las Vegas. The Global Tote belt was designed to mimic boxing's iconic world championship belts.

“I love it!” Mollicone enthused recently when texted a photo of the Global Tote Championship Belt. “Never had a trophy quite like that. Never had a championship belt. I'm going to put it right in my office. Put it right in a case.”

Asked if he's been getting the proper respect for being King of the Turf, he said with a laugh, “Believe it or not, I've had more than a few people who bet horses stop me and go, 'Hey, King of the Turf!' It's pretty funny.”

Mollicone won the six-day competition based on Kentucky Downs' races with an aggregate bankroll total of $5,783.90 after playing in all three of the individual two-day, live-money contests. That gave him a comfortable $1,163.90 advantage over runner-up Christy Moore of Fishers, Ind. Mollicone also earned $20,000 as the overall winner.

“Like Kentucky Downs, the King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge is one-of-a-kind in American racing,” said Dallas Baker, Head of International Operations for Global Tote's parent company, BetMakers Technology Group. “We wanted our King of the Turf to get a champion's trophy as unique as the tournament format and its venue. It's especially appropriate to use boxing's fabled world-championship belts as our inspiration for an event in Kentucky, which of course gave us Muhammad Ali.”

Eleven competitors earned Kentucky Downs-sponsored berths for the NHC, which runs Jan. 28-30. Moore, who already had earned the maximum two NHC qualifying seats, instead received an entry for the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge, in which she finished fourth out of 522 entries.

“It's taken just two years for the Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge to become one of the most coveted prizes in the world of handicapping contests,” said Brian Skirka, Monmouth Park's marketing manager who has served as the Kentucky Downs' King of the Turf tournament director the past two years. “Andy Muhlada was a great inaugural champion in 2020, and 2021 champ Ken Mollicone – with the introduction of the new Global Tote King of the Turf Championship Belt – will literally carry his title into 2022.

“An unmatched layout and quality of turf racing gives Kentucky Downs such amazing content that serves as the ultimate ingredient with which to concoct a world-class contest series. I'm excited to work with the team to create this year's contest series.”

While the King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge features live money, with players keeping their final bankroll in addition to any prize money, the NHC's format utilizes mythical $2 win and place wagers on a single horse in mandatory and optional races. Competitors must play 18 races each of the first two days, after which the top 10 percent of entries based on mythical bankroll qualify for the third day's semifinals, where players pick their 10 races to play. The subsequent top 10 players advance to the Final Table, featuring seven mandatory races.

Mollicone finished 194th in last year's NHC out of 563 entries, his first time qualifying for the world's most prestigious handicapping competition.

“I had a horse that was 16-1 in the last race at Saratoga and got disqualified,” he said of the COVID-delayed 2021 NHC. “If he hadn't been taken down, I'd have been in the semifinals. I'm still sick about it. Watch the replay.”

Also qualifying for the NHC through Kentucky Downs, with hometowns are Marikate Carter (Saratoga Springs, NY), George Chute (Dedham, MA), Erin Doty-McQuaid (Nicholasville, KY), Gary Gristick (Lebanon, PA), Lawrence Kahlden (St. Petersburg, FL), Chris Larmey (Kennewick, WA), Nick Noce (Rochester, NY), Joseph Regan (Marlboro, MA), David Rink (Bannockburn, IL) and Gary Wright (Staten Island, NY). In addition to Moore, Ed Deicke (Lido Beach, NY) earned a Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge berth at Kentucky Downs after being double-qualified for the NHC.

With Kentucky Downs picking up a seventh racing day for 2022, the format for the King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge has not yet been set. Kentucky Downs will race Sept. 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11 and 14. Mollicone says he's participating however it's structured.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “I've got to defend myself. Have to go for another belt.”

The post Handicapping Heavyweight: Kenny Mollicone To Receive First King Of The Turf Championship Belt appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Pick 6 Carryover Of $29K Into Friday’s Card At Aqueduct

Friday's Pick 6 will be bolstered by a $29,994 carryover as the multi-race wager went unsolved on Thursday at Aqueduct.

The $1 Pick 6 returned $178.50 to bettors who selected 5-of-6 winners correctly.

Thursday's Pick 6 sequence kicked off in Race 4 when Jose Lezcano engineered a winning trip aboard the Mike Maker-trained Voliero [No. 9, $14.80], who came from last-to-first to earn a second victory in 14 starts for a $30,000 tag.

Robert Evans homebred New Ginya [No. 11, $24.40] made her career debut a winning one for trainer Christophe Clement in Race 5, covering 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf. Dylan Davis piloted the winning trip aboard the daughter of Tonalist.

The shortest price in the sequence took place in the middle leg in Race 6, when Saratoga Beauty [No. 7, $3.30] earned her fifth career win while running for a $20,000 tag for trainer Rob Atras.

Dancing Buck [No. 5, $7] narrowly secured a third career win in Race 7, holding off Phantom Smoke in the final strides for trainer Michelle Nevin against his New York-bred counterparts.

Thomas Coleman and Doheny Racing Stable's Grape Nuts Warrior [No. 8, $5.80] defeated winners in Race 8 for trainer Chad Brown. The New York-bred son of Vancouver was ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. in the 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claimer on the inner turf.

Closing out the sequence in Race 9 was Vision Board [No. 12, $12.20]. The Saffie Joseph, Jr.-trainee was one of seven horses uncovered in the seven-furlong maiden claiming tilt. Dylan Davis provided the winning trip to secure a riding double on the card.

Friday's Pick 6 kicks off in Race 5 at 1:45 p.m. Eastern. First post on the 10-race card is 11:50 a.m.

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Hialeah Park To Host Qualifying Tournament For National Horseplayers Championship

For only the second time in the long and storied history of this iconic South Florida landmark, Hialeah Park will host a qualifying tournament for the National Horseplayers Championship.

The qualifier will be held in the Champions Simulcast Center & Sports Bar on the second floor of the Hialeah Park clubhouse, located at 2200 East 4th Avenue, on Sunday, December 12, 2021.

Handicappers can purchase their entries for the qualifying tournament by visiting the Hialeah Park web site at www.hialeahpark.com.

Scheduled as a points event on the 2021 NHC docket, the grand prizes will be seats for the top two finishers in the National Horseplayers Championship finals at Bally's Las Vegas on January 28-30, 2022, including hotel and airfare.

Under rules established by the NHC, participants in the Hialeah Park tournament must be 2021 tour members to earn a seat in the 2022 finals.

The $500 entry fee for current NHC tour members will cover a $300 live bankroll for wagering on designated races at Gulfstream Park and Aqueduct, and $125 for cash prizes.

The remainder of the entry fee will cover a buffet lunch, programs for designated races, and Hialeah Park swag.

The prize money pool, determined by the total number of entries, will be awarded on site at the conclusion of the tournament, with 50% going to the winner, 30% to the runner-up, and 20% to the third-place finisher.

Only current National Horseplayers Championship tour members will be eligible to win the grand prizes. The event will also be open to non-members and they will be eligible to win the cash prizes.

As an incentive, the NHC will offer first-time tour members $25 off the regular $50 membership fee if they register for the Hialeah Park qualifier and submit a $525 entry fee.

The post Hialeah Park To Host Qualifying Tournament For National Horseplayers Championship appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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