Arias wires 15th annual NHC
Jose Arias of Bell Gardens in Los Angeles topped a field of
500 to win the $750,000 first-place prize and an Eclipse Award as Handicapper of
the Year at this weekend's 15th annual Daily Racing Form/NTRA National
Handicapping Championship (NHC). The NHC was held for the third straight year in the Treasure Island
Ballroom.
The 36-year-old environmental safety engineer amassed a
winning score of $338.20 over the three-day tournament from 45 mythical $2 Win
and Place bets -- 15 each on Friday and Saturday, 10 in Sunday morning's Final 50
contest and five in the climactic Final Table contest exclusive to the overall
top 10.
|
OFFICIAL TOP 10 | ||||||
| PLACE | PLAYER | FINAL BANKROLL | PRIZE | |||
| 1st | Jose Arias | $338.20 | $750,000 Eclipse Award for Handicapper of the Year | |||
| 2nd | Tony Brice | $337 | $200,000 | |||
| 3rd | Nick Alpino | $334.10 | $100,000 | |||
| 4th | Michael Piccola | $310.80 | $55,000 | |||
| 5th | Daniel Kovalesky | $310.70 | $30,000 | |||
| 6th | Paul Shurman | $302.60 | $17,000 | |||
| 7th | Christopher Skotz | $300.80 | $14,000 | |||
| 8th | Mike McIntyre | $299.80 | $12,900 | |||
| 9th | Ryan Flanders | $281.80 | $12,000 | |||
| 10th | Lynn McGuire | $273 | $11,600 | |||
Arias, who qualified for the NHC at Del Mar's Surfside Race
Place, assumed the lead on Day 1's final mandatory race and never looked back.
Going into the NHC's final race -- the 9TH at Santa Anita -- Arias held a slim
$4.10 lead. His pick in the contest finale, Tribal Smoke, hit the front entering
the stretch but was passed and finished third. The race winner, Fit to Rule, was
the choice of Tony Brice, who came into the last race in third-place, $26.60 behind.
|
"I didn't know because I thought that horse (Fit to Rule) was around 8-1," Arias said. "Someone in the crowd told me the horse got bet down to 6-1 so I was trying to do the math. "It was very hairy. I just made it. I'm still just walking on air. I can't believe it. There are so many great handicappers here and I just did what I always do and tried to get a winner. My horse didn't win this time but I'm so glad I just barely held on." Fit to Rule paid $15.60 and $9.80, leaving Brice just $1.20 behind in second with $337. Total winnings this weekend for Arias, including a $6,000 Day 1 bonus he received for registering the top score on Friday, were $756,000. The victory by Arias was a popular one with his fellow handicappers, who swarmed the Final Table with congratulatory hugs and handshakes. A laid-back California guy who rarely betrayed any hint of nerves this weekend, Arias employs a straightforward approach to picking winners. "I use race replays and I read the DRF, that's it," Arias said. "There's a lot of great information in the Form and that's where I get most of my information."
|
By virtue of his victory, Arias also automatically earns an
exemption into next year's NHC finals.
The NHC 15 finals paid out to the top 50 finishers from a total purse of
$1,470,000. An additional $75,000 went to the top 20 in Sunday's Consolation Tournament. Including $247,000 paid out to top finishers in the
year-long NHC Tour, plus $30,000 worth of Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge prizes
in the form of entry fees, bankrolls, airfare and hotel, the aggregate payouts
this weekend to NHC contestants totaled a record $1,862,000.
The highest finish among seven previous NHC winners at this
year's event was recorded by NHC II (2001) champion Judy Wagner, who checked in
12th with a $266 bankroll, good for a $10,800 prize. No one has ever won the NHC
more than once in the event's 15-year history.
Full official standings for this weekend's just completed
NHC, including the Consolation Tournament, may be found at
ntra.com and
More than 3,200 NHC Tour members participated in 2013
qualifiers, hoping to win a coveted spot in the NHC Finals.
In its 15th year, the NHC is the most important tournament of the year for
horseplayers. There are no "buy-in" entries at the NHC. It is the culmination of
a year-long series of NTRA-sanctioned local tournaments conducted by racetracks,
casino racebooks, off-track betting facilities and horse racing and handicapping
websites, each of which sends its top qualifiers to the national finals.
|
FINAL TABLE RACE RESULTS | ||||||||
| RACE | WINNER | $2 WIN, $2 PLACE | SECOND | $2 PLACE | ||||
| GP 10 | 4-Pompous
Miss | $10.60,
$5.60 |
3-Wonderfully | $7 | ||||
| GP 11 | 10-Banzai Charge | $7.20, $4.60 | 3-Sinatra | $9.40 | ||||
| FG 9 | 7-Oh Wise
One | $8.40,
$4.40 | 6-Fable | $6.40 | ||||
| SA 8 | 7-Lakerville | $19.60, $8.40 | 2-Sweet Swap | $7.60 | ||||
| SA 9 | 1-Fit to
Rule | $15.60,
$9.80 |
9-Warren's Tyler S. | $5.60 | ||||
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