Over the last few years, a number of active and retired military men have made their mark in the contest world. Add another name to the list in Robert Gilbert. A 65-year-old from Yardley, Pa., Gilbert is retired from careers in both the U.S. Air Force and as a high school teacher. Last Saturday, he qualified for the National Handicapping Championship for the third straight year in an NHCQualify event on DRF Tournaments.

Daily Racing Form announced this week that it will be rolling out upgrades to the new DRF Tournaments site as early as next week, responding to player input and suggestions during its first month of operation.

Overall reaction to the site, a one-stop shop for tournament players, has been positive, with features allowing players to navigate the site more easily, play across multiple devices, and manage their own accounts.

Every once in a while in horse racing and life in general, someone comes up with an idea so good that others hear it and say, “Why didn’t we think of that sooner?” Such is the case with the new Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge million-dollar bonus at Santa Anita.

“It’s a game changer,” said live-bankroll veteran Kevin McFarland. “I think it’s exactly what we need to take contests to the next level.”

This year hasn’t gone according to plan for Eric Moomey, who developed a health issue early in the year. He spent 11 hours at an urgent-care facility in Las Vegas while at a tournament in March and was hospitalized while attempting to play in a National Handicapping Championship qualifier at Del Mar’s Surfside shortly thereafter.

“The doctors told me I had two choices,” said the 43-year-old lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force. “You can have emergency surgery, or you can die. I decided to take the first option.”

Garett Skiba, who even at age 37 can be considered a tournament veteran, is in elite company as a contest player. He’s not the only player to have three six-figure hits.

Christian Hellmers beat him to the punch with seconds in the 2011 and 2012 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and his win at the 2014 Horse Player World Series. But Skiba, with a third at the 2013 BCBC, a second at the inaugural Kentucky Derby Betting Challenge, and now a win in the inaugural Belmont Betting Challenge, shares the honor with the man they call “the Guru.”

There are two contests on DRF Tournaments on Sunday. The headline event is a qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, and there’s also a no-takeout credit-builder event. Both contests are utilizing the all-in format, where all selections must be in before the scheduled post time of the first race.

There are four contests on DRFTournaments on Thursday. All contests will utilize the all-in format where all picks must be in be before the scheduled post time of the first contest event.

For an entry fee of $21, players can compete for a $190 entry into the Saturday, June 18 National Handicapping Championship one-day qualifier. The top 10 percent of finishers advance.

Robin Burns is headed to the National Handicapping Championship for the first time after a last-minute decision to play in the Canterbury Park contest two weeks ago.

“My partner, Pete Milinkovich, was talking about how great it was that Canterbury had a NHC qualifier, and he suggested I give it a try,” she said.

An interesting question appeared in my Twitter direct messages the other day. It came from Dan Hubacher, who was playing in a mythical online contest on Belmont Day. I’ll let him take it from here:

Garett Skiba has won the inaugural Belmont Betting Challenge. Skiba is believed to be the first handicapping-contest participant to win six figures on three separate occasions, having finished third at the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and second five weeks ago at the inaugural Kentucky Derby Betting Challenge.

“It’s nice, I’m not complaining,” he said. “I woke up this morning, and thought I had some good opinions and that another six-figure score was within reach.”

Skiba wins $65,000 and a $10,000 BCBC seat and keeps his $40,655 bankroll.