NHC 16 Day 1: Jarvie Takes the Lead Late

The first day of the 16^th National Handicapping Championship started with a bang and ended in a flourish. 606 of North America finest handicappers have converged at the Treasure Island in Las Vegas, NV to take their shot at the $800,000 first place prize in addition to an Eclipse Award recognizing the year’s top handicapper. The NHC is a 3-day handicapping marathon where every player picks a horse in 15 races each day, 8 of which are mandatory races selected by a 3 panel committee. Each player gets a mythical $2 win/place wager on their selection & in a nutshell, the highest combined score wins.

Early in the day Daniel Mandarino & Ty Alexander jumped out to a quick lead as they were the only 2 contestants to successfully tab Red Pom Pom at 57.30-1 in the 3^rd Race at Gulfstream Park. Though he paid $116.60 to win and $25.60 to place through the mutual windows, Mandarino and Alexander were credited with $64 under the contest format. Win and place payouts are capped at $42 and $22 respectively. 

The leaderboard reverberated following the 3^rd mandatory race (Oaklawn race 4) when Spring in the Air lit up the total board at 63.1-1. The second mind-puzzling outcome of the day vaulted Derek Lapikas to the top of the leader board with a total of $90.80. Lipakas’s time at the top of the mountain was short lived after Ed Reidy jumped from 4^th to claim the top spot with a total of $106.70 when correctly selecting Whatsupnotmuch ($16.00/$7.80) in the 8^th at Tampa Bay Downs.

The rest of the day was rather chalky, until the Fabulous Fit ($26.20/$12.80) took the last race at Santa Anita. This moved Joe Jarvie of Renton, WA to the top of the leaderboard with a Day 1 total of $115.80. Jarvie received $5,000 and a free entry ($10,000 value) into the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. The top 5 were rounded out by Ed Reidy ($113.70), Greg Knepper ($104.30), Daniel Mandarino ($102.20) and Jean Huttepain ($98.90).

As the NHC Tour winner, Eric Moomey is eligible for a $2 million bonus should he be standing at the mountaintop come Sunday night. Moomey has dug himself quite a hole as both his entries are in 520^th place with $7.00. Other well known players are struggling as well. 2014 NHC champion Juan Arias finds himself in 403^rd place ($19.80) just behind 2012 champ, Michael Beychok who sits in 369^th place ($23.80). ESPN reporter, Kenny Mayne, is in 435^th ($16.20), while Derby Wars co-founder, David Gutfreund’s 2 entries are both 339^th with $26.60.

Derby Wars sent 10 players to the NHC with one player, Ed Peters, earning 2 entries through the website. Here’s how Team Derby Wars fared through Day 1.

Brett Weiner-24^th, $82.80 

Yolanda Labordo-35^th, $77.30 

Brent Sumja-58^th, $69.20 

Mark Alyward-93^rd, $59.80

Josh Kamis-194^th, $41.80

Ed Peters #1-204^th, $41.00

Trey Stiles-321^st, $28.60

Robert Knowles-468^th, $12.80

Emily Gullickson-476^th, $12.00

Ed Peters #2-509^th, $9.20

Saturday's action will heat up starting with the first mandatory race (Gulfstream Park race 2), but only those in the top 50 after Saturday make the cut, and are eligible to win the grand prize. Here's hoping Team Derby Wars gets hot, and lands a few entrants in the final 50!