Horsemen's Park in Omaha, Neb., home to the first DRF/NTRA Handicapper of the Year, Steven Walker of Lincoln, Neb. who qualified for the national finals in this contest in 1999 en route to a win at NHC I in Jan. 2000, conducted three extremely popular National Handicapping Championship qualifying contests at its state-of-the-art simulcast pavilion during 2004. The winner of each event advanced to the national finals in Las Vegas. All three contests drew in excess of 500 players.

Horsemen's Park contest entrants had to pick the winners of races run at two simulcast tracks. Payers received five points for every winning selection, and two points for picks that placed. Claire Watson of Council Bluffs, Iowa was the winner of the spring contest on May 8, Margo Moline of Omaha won Horsemen's Park's summer contest on Aug. 28, and Jim Bresel of Omaha won the track's final contest on Oct. 9.