LAS VEGAS – The field of 482 for the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship Presented by Sovereign Stables was completed Wednesday as the final five contestants having earned their berths in the Last Chance Qualifier at Treasure Island Hotel & Casino.
There were 113 entries at $500 apiece in the Last Chance to try to make the $1.5 million NHC XIII finals, which offers a $1 million first-place prize and the title of 2011 Handicapper of the Year.
You can call Paul Shurman the reluctant bonus baby. Or the accidental treasure hunter.
When the 13th annual Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship takes place at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino on Jan. 27-28, Shurman will be one of 484 horseplayers shooting for the record $1 million first-place prize and the title of 2011 Handicapper of the Year.
As winner of the season-long NHC Tour points title, however, he will be the only player eligible for a $2 million bonus, which he will win if he can pull off the double at the NHC finals.
Paul Shurman, a 57-year-old attorney from Dix Hills, N.Y., will go into the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship finals Jan. 27-28 in Las Vegas as the 2011 Daily Racing Form NHC Tour champion. Shurman won a $75,000 first-place prize for accumulating the most points among tour participants and is eligible for a $2 million bonus in addition to the NHC’s estimated first-place prize of $1 million.
After devoting much of his life to gambling on horses and poker, Sheldon Finkelstein is accustomed to dealing with the vicissitudes of fortune. He understands that bad breaks are part of life. But nothing could have prepared him for the jolt he received in May.
Super Size. Supermarket. Superman. Super Bowl. Super Qualifiers.
We all know that when something is named “super” that it means bigger and better.
This weekend begins a series of Super Qualifiers for the Daily Racing Form /NTRA National Handicapping Championship, the year-long program that will culminate with the finals at the Treasure Island in January 2012, when an expected 500 horseplayers will shoot for a record $1 million first-place prize out of a record $2 million purse.
LAS VEGAS – With the Triple Crown wrapping up, this is the time of year when the race books here turn their attention to hosting handicapping tournaments.
There are some notable exceptions such as the Fall Classic at the Orleans, the Pick the Ponies tourneys at the Hilton in the spring and fall, etc., but they love to run tournaments of all sizes here in the summer to fill the books before football season does (or at least we hope that’s the case with the NFL labor dispute, but that’s a topic for another day).
LAS VEGAS – Treasure Island, the hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip owned by billionaire Phil Ruffin, has reached an agreement to host the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship for at least the next two years, the NTRA announced Tuesday.
Daily Racing Form will conduct a series of three monthly handicapping contests called DRF Bets Tournament League starting in April, with the three winners earning a seat at the 2012 Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship as well as a free trip to Las Vegas.
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LAS VEGAS – John Doyle made the right career choice.
Doyle, a 49-year-old former IBM account executive from Scottsdale, Ariz., who retired to become a professional horseplayer, topped 300 other contestants to win the $500,000 first-place prize and title of 2010 Handicapper of the Year at the 12th annual Daily Racing Form /NTRA National Handicapping Championship at the Red Rock Resort last Saturday afternoon.
