NTRA | Horse Racing Free Tips

National Horseplayers’ Championship Crowns A Winner

Edited Press Release

Paul Calia, a retired disability advisor for Social Security from Kansas City, Missouri, toppled a field of 779 entries to take home the grand prize of $800,000, in addition to finishing in fourth place with his second entry–good for another $150,000– to earn an Eclipse Award and Horseplayer of the Year honors during the NTRA National Horseplayers' Championship which concluded Sunday in Las Vegas. This is the first contest that Calia has ever won.

Calia amassed winnings of $362.50 on his first entry, and $305.50 on his second entry, over the three-day tournament from 53 mythical $2 win and place bets–18 each on Friday and Saturday, 10 in Sunday morning's semifinal round, and seven at the exciting Final Table which ultimately yielded his victory. He is the first winner to also finish in the top 10 with a second entry.

“I started a little slow on Friday, thought I handicapped okay with some seconds and thirds,” said Calia. “But Saturday I was pretty hot, and pretty much hit every longshot. It's hard to put into words how many winners I picked on Saturday.”

When asked his approach to playing two cards in the final table he said, “I don't know how to describe it. I didn't switch a lot of picks, I don't let the odds affect me. I only switched about 10-15% of my picks between cards, one or two a day that's it.”

With this victory, Calia also earns an exemption into next year's NHC and a berth to the 2023 Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge worth $10,000. In lieu of winning a second BCBC entry, which he won from finishing first on day two (Saturday), he will instead take home $10,000 cash. That makes his full earnings from the weekend a whopping $960,000 and a 2024 BCBC seat valued at $10,000.

“There are three pillars to the sport of Thoroughbred racing–you have the horse and its connections, the racetracks and the horseplayer,” said NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney. “So, if horse racing is a three-legged stool, we aren't anything without the horseplayer. My family's relationship with this sport and with football all traces back to playing horses. The excitement at the NHC is vital to everything we do as an industry. This year's NHC is bigger than ever before and I'm proud that the NTRA has this unique opportunity to showcase the best of the best in handicapping and celebrate what it means to be a horseplayer.”

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Horseplayers Championship’s HOF Inductees Announced

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced 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 handicappers represent the ninth class of NHC Hall of Fame inductees and will be recognized during the NHC Champions Dinner Sunday, Mar. 12, 2023 at the conclusion of the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.

For more information on the latest inductees, click here.

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Ralph Waldrop Sr., Father of Alex, Dies at 100

Ralph Thomas Waldrop, Sr., a life-long resident of Mayfield, Kentucky and the father of former longtime head of the NTRA Alex Waldrop, passed away Friday, Feb. 24, surrounded by family at his home. He was 100 years old.

Waldrop was born June 7, 1922, near Mayfield. As a young boy growing up during the Great Depression, he worked many jobs including as a newspaper boy for the Louisville Courier-Journal where he was recognized as a statewide top-seller and as a caddy at Mayfield Golf and Country, where he was a member for most of his adult life. In 1941, at the age of 19 after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. Waldrop enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was called up for officer training in April, 1943. He was sent to Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama for qualifying tests to become a pilot and in May of 1944 he was stationed with the 340th Bomb Group 444th Squadron on the island of Sardinia off the coast of Italy as the pilot of a B-26 Martin Marauder bomber. During his service, Mr. Waldrop flew 64 bombing missions over Italy, France and Germany and volunteered to fly a C- 47 Cargo plane for 52 supply missions to General Patton's 3rd Army on the front lines of the Battle of the Bulge. He flew one of the first planes into Germany after the end of WWII to assist in the liberation of multiple Nazi concentration camps and witnessed first-hand the atrocities suffered by those imprisoned there. He eventually achieved the rank of Captain. The 340th Bomb Group was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation and the French awarded his Bombing Group the Croix de Guerre, the first such citation made to an American unit in WWII. His personal awards were: Air Medal with 8 Oak Clusters; Campaign Medals, Northern Apennines; Po Valley; Southern France; Ardennes-Alsace; Rhineland; Central Europe; the Victory Medal, and he was inducted into France's National Order of the Legion of Honor as a Chevalier for his service in WWII.

Waldrop attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C. before the war and was a proud member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. After the war, he attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, VA, and graduated from Murray State University where he met and in 1950 married the love of his life and the mother of his five children, Mary Julia Moore Waldrop, a fellow graduate of Murray State University.

With his father, H.C. Waldrop, he founded Waldrop & Waldrop Real Estate, where for more than 60 years Mr. Waldrop was a successful realtor and MAI Appraiser. He served as president of the Kentucky Association of Realtors in 1967, was named Kentucky Realtor of the Year in 1968, and then in 1988, he was elected president of the Kentucky Chapter of the Appraisal Institute. Waldrop was a life-long member of the First United Methodist Church in Mayfield where he was active as a Sunday school teacher and a beloved song leader for many years. Waldrop loved the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and attended the Run for the Roses many times over the last 80 years.

Waldrop is survived by five children: H. Gregory (Nancy) Waldrop of Cadiz, KY, R. Thomas Waldrop, Jr. of Mayfield, Alex Waldrop (Jayne) of Lexington, KY, Julie Waldrop Muscarella (Michael) of Paducah, KY and Jim Waldrop (Charlotte Reynolds) of Jackson, WY; seven grandchildren: one great-grandchild, Penelope Press, Palo Alto, CA; his sister, Ruth Helen Williams, Paducah; and many beloved nieces and nephews.

Mr. Waldrop was preceded in death by his wife of 45 years, Mary Julia, who died in 1995.

The family wishes to thank the many caregivers who helped Mr. Waldrop so wonderfully in the last years of his life as well as the staff at the Veterans Administration in Mayfield including his primary care physician, Lynn Bushor, DNP, APRN.

Funeral arrangements are pending. In lieu of flowers or other gifts, the family asks that any gifts be made to the Murray State University Foundation, Waldrop Scholarship, at 200 Heritage Hall, Murray, KY 42071 or First United Methodist Church, Mayfield, KY, P.O. Box 766, Mayfield, KY 42066.

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TAA Official Charity Partner of Horseplayers Championship

The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) will be on-site to promote aftercare awareness at the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) March 10-12 at Horseshoe Las Vegas., the group has announced. Horseplayers are invited to connect with TAA representatives, learn more about accredited Thoroughbred aftercare, donate to TAA to win tickets to the Florida Derby or for a tour of Old Friends, and take home racing memorabilia.

TAA will also be on site for the Last Chance First Chance NHC Qualifier to which NTRA donated a VIP opportunity through TAA's Off to the Races online auction of VIP race experiences. The winning bidder will compete for their spot to remain at Horseshoe Las Vegas and enter the NHC in the following days.

“The NTRA is proud to recognize the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance as an official charity of the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC),” said NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney. “The competition and camaraderie among the participants, along with their universal love of the Thoroughbred, are a big part of what makes the NHC such a great event.”

“Thank you to NTRA for once again recognizing and supporting accredited Thoroughbred aftercare on the national stage of the NHC event,” said TAA Office Manager Catherine Flowers. “TAA is proud to be supported by the racing industry, which includes these talented horseplayers, and it is so exciting to celebrate horseplayers giving back to the Thoroughbreds that have given all of us so much.”

Of the eight #NHC2023 eligible racetracks, Aqueduct, Golden Gate Fields, Gulfstream, Laurel Park, Oaklawn Park, Santa Anita Park, and Tampa Bay Downs are supporters of the TAA.

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