Short odds help Gillum win national horseplayers contest
Las Vegas
The National Horseplayers Championship is not by design a pick-and-pray contest for players who do not fear chalk. Mike Gillum turned it into that this weekend.
“I didn’t change one single pick since Friday when we started,” he said. “I got here on Friday. There were 16 races. I bet all 16 at like 7:30 in the morning. I bet all 16 out, and I had like one scratch, so I had to go back and change it. And then on day 2, I bet all 20 races. I bet them completely out, and if I have to go back and change something, I’ll go back and change it.”
Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Win.
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After yo-yoing between fifth and 81st place early in the three-day event, Gillum got on a hot streak just in time to get him to the 10-person final table. From there he vaulted from eighth place to the lead with one race left on his way to winning the $800,000 first prize Sunday at Horseshoe Las Vegas.
It could have been even more if Gillum had remembered to take advantage of a new rule for the consolation tournament. It used to be for the 90 percent of the field who failed to get to the Sunday semifinals. This year the silver Sunday contest was open to all 765 entries. Well, almost all of them.
“Since I qualified (for the semifinals), I forgot to put all my mandatories in for the silver. I would have won the silver contest, and I missed out on a seat to next year.”
Gillum, 54, who runs a produce company near his home in Indianapolis, could have had another $25,000. Instead, he settled for the 800 grand, one entry to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, another for next year’s NHC and the Eclipse Award as champion horseplayer.
“Absolutely incredible,” he said. “It’s like way tops after the kids being born and getting married and all that good stuff. You know, a grandbaby. This is just a great day. I’ll probably never get here again or do this. Well, I’ll get here again. I don’t know about winning.”
Protecting his lead in the contest that is built on three days of mythical $2 win-place wagers, Gillum led second-place Seth Morris, the day 2 leader, by only $1.22. It came down to the contest finale, the fifth race at Santa Anita. Gillum backed 8-5 favorite Sharp Aza Tack in the six-furlong turf allowance. Morris, a bloodstock agent from Long Island, N.Y., was on 8-1 Lincoln Hawk.
Sharp Aza Tack stalked the early lead before Flavien Prat took the lead going two wide in mid-stretch and ran on to a 1 1/4-length victory. Lincoln Hawk came in fourth. Gillum had his victory.
“I had the glory yesterday,” Morris said. “My friends were like, ‘Oh, my God. Look at you. You’re jumping all around. Get a new shirt for tomorrow.’ This was perfect. I got some good publicity. I got to talk to people about my business and walk away with 250 grand and a shot at the Breeders’ Cup challenge. I mean I couldn’t be happier.”
Where Morris found himself following the conventional wisdom of looking for value among long shots, Gillum was not afraid to eat chalk.
“There were 36 picks the first two days, and I played like three horses or four horses who were double digits (in their odds). Maybe five horses who were double digits,” said Gillum, who qualified for the NHC through a tournament at Horseshoe Indianapolis. “The rest of them were 3-1, 7-1. I played some 4-5 and even a 3-5, and I played some 6-5. There’s so many opportunities just to collect, when you let one go, you kind of feel like you’re getting behind.”
With his rally from 81st to first, Gillum became the 25th different winner in the 25 years of the NHC. He finished with $320.10 in mythical winnings. Morris was next with $310.28. Matthew Blanchet with $289.22, Lawrence Kahlden $284.56, Daniel Kaplan $278.48, Rob Henie $269.34, Nicholas Shirilla $267.20, day 1 leader T.J. Sonde $263.30, G.T. Nixon $257.36 and Scott Cavalieri $256.72 completed the top 10.
David Harrison, who won the 2022 title, finished first in the revamped consolation tournament with $128.50 and collected $25,000.
Accommodations for Horse Racing Nation coverage of the National Horseplayers Championship were provided and paid for by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.