It has been about two months since I started handicapping horse races as a new hobby, and I am encouraged by the results so far. This past weekend I took part in round one of the National Handicapping Championship Qualifying tournament. The winners of round one contests face off in round two, where the winner will head to the national tournament in Las Vegas. In this year’s tournament, the winner won $400,000. Next year’s prize money should be a lot higher.
In this tournament, players must pick one horse to win each race. There are 10 races and you have a mythical bank role of $40. When a player chooses a horse, it is actually a Win/Place wager, meaning $2 to win and $2 to place. If your selected horse wins the race, you receive the fictional winnings for both win and place bets. If the horse comes in second (place), you only win the place bet, which is less what the win bet paid. But you still win something, which adds to your fake profit. Higher the profit, the higher your ranking. All things considered, I did pretty well (see image).
To advance, I needed to place in the top 20. I finished in 68th place.
I am certain I would have advanced if the horse I picked to win the last race did so, but ended up losing by a nose instead (see image). A win would have paid out over $50 dollars total, pushing me to over $80, enough to make it to round 2.
There is another tournament I am playing at Public Handicapper. This tournament has a different format, you only have to pick the winner of 4 races. If you are incorrect, you lose a mythical $2. The goal is to get the highest profit after 60 races. At Public Handicapper I am currently placed #661 out of about 4,130 participants. This tournament and ends in October.
I’m ready to try again this weekend in the other first round contest with NHC. I am encouraged enough to believe can improve on this past weekend’s results. While 68th place out of 200 entries and #661 out of 4,130 might not sound encouraging, I think it is very much. Remember that I have only been handicapping races about once a week for 2 months. As well as competing against other that have a lot more experience and they have most likely been handicapping this for years, if not decades. I missed advancing closer the national tournament by just a nose. And I’m still learning.