Tough field. The contestants that is.
ABOUT THE 2024 NHC FIELD
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Katelynn Andaur (League City, TX, Horseplayers.com) is the youngest qualifier at 22 years old.
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Dave Basler (Grove City, OH, Xpressbet) is the Executive Director of the Ohio Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA).
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Michael Beychok (Baton Rouge, LA, HorsePlayers.com) and
Christian Helmers (Del Mar, CA, Xpressbet) were co-stars in the 2014 Esquire reality TV show, Horseplayers.
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Karl Broberg (Arlington, TX, Hawthorne, Lone Star Park) is annually one of the nation’s leading trainers by races won.
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Dale Day (Yukon, OK, Horseplayers.com) is the Track Announcer at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.
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Ed DeRosa (Goshen, KY, Hawthorne Race Course) is a writer for Horse Racing Nation.
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Basil DeVito (Akron, OH, HorsePlayers.com, HorseTourneys.com) has worked for Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight, WWE co-founder Vince McMahon, and was the first Commissioner of the XFL.
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Chris Fallica (Farmington, CT, HorsePlayers.com) was a longtime regular on ESPN College GameDay who now works for FOX.
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Gary Fenton (Sherman Oaks, CA, NTRA) is the Chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) and a Managing Partner of Little Red Feather Racing Stable.
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Marshall Gramm (Memphis, TN, Keeneland) is an economics professor at Rhodes College who teaches a course on handicapping and is a founder and Managing Partner of Ten Strike Racing stable.
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Bob Hansan (McLean, VA, Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge) owns Bobby McKeys Dueling Piano Bar in National Harbor, MD.
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Dick Jerardi (Yardley, PA, Xpressbet, Keeneland) is one of the most respected and decorated sports writers in America and won an Eclipse Award 2006 for his coverage of Barbaro.
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Jay Johns (Meridian, ID, HorseTourneys.com), winner of the 2022 NHC Tour, is the President of IHOP (formerly International House of Pancakes).
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Three generations of the Matties family are represented at the 2024 NHC: patriarch
Chick, NHC Hall of Fame brothers
Paul and
Duke, and Duke’s son,
Carson.
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Eddie Olczyk (Long Grove, IL, Hawthorne) played 16 seasons and in more than 1,000 games during an illustrious career in the National Hockey League (NHC) that included a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers in 1994.
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Tom Quinones (La Grange, IL, HorsePlayers.com) is a first time qualifier and the director of digital marketing at the Daily Racing Form.
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Eric Roth (Malibu, CA, Horseplayers.com) is an Academy Award-winning screenwriter (Forrest Gump, 1995) who co-wrote the screenplay for Killers of the Flower Moon with Martin Scorsese.
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John Sheeran (Jersey City, NJ, Horseplayers.com) is the senior commercial director at Fan Duel.
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Ellis Starr (Lexington, KY, HorsePlayers.com) is the National Racing Analyst for Equibase.
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Dave Tuley (Las Vegas, NV, NTRA) is a longtime writer for Daily Racing Form.
And obviously many many more. Gonna be some pretty sharp and successful cats in that room.
