Scotty McKeever, the founder of the EquinEdge horse-racing handicapping platform, will be vying for a $1 million bonus later this month when the National Thoroughbred Racing Association hosts the world’s richest handicapping tournament at Bally’s Las Vegas.
EquinEdge’s handicapping platform received national attention in January when McKeever won the Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge and had a second entry that earned sixth place. He won nearly $200,000.
Handicapper Brady Klotz, who co-hosts the EquinEdge Action Hour on YouTube, finished second in the Pegasus contest and is also a contender in the prestigious Racing Association handicapping tournament that runs from August 27 to 29. EquinEdge is gaining even more public traction by recently inking a sponsorship deal with the NTRA.
“For horse players and professional gamblers of any kind, data is king,” said Fritz Widaman, vice president NTRA Advantage & Business Development. “The more data they can wrap their hands around, the better for our industry. Data drives handle.”
More than 500 contestants are participating in the National Horseplayers Championship and competing for an estimated $3 million in prize money, including $800,000 to the winner. Only McKeever is eligible for the $1 million bonus, which no player has ever won.
The contest features players making mythical $2 bets for win and place positions over 18 different races on each of the first two days of the championship. Eight races are required for all players to participate and 10 are optional for each day.
From there, the leading 10% in accumulated bankroll move on to a semi-final round of 10 optional bets. That will further winnow the field to 10 who make mythical bets on seven mandatory races at the final table.
The EquinEdge platform, while used by professional cappers, is known for helping even novices formulate their wagers and cash tickets at the window. Its artificial intelligence uses objective information to make subjective decisions by applying handicapping data to prepare a bet. It’s a web app accessible by smartphone, computer, iPad, or tablet and considers itself the Daily Racing Form of the 21st century.
Klotz said his entry to the finals came after the Pegasus competition at Gulfstream Park where he met McKeever.
“The NHC is the Super Bowl for horse players,” Klotz said. “What makes it so special is people can’t buy their way into it; they can get in only by qualifying. People spend thousands of dollars a year to try and qualify for this event. It will be my first NHC. Three years ago when I started getting serious about playing horses, I had no idea what it was or meant. Over the last year or two, I started getting caught onto tournament play. This one means a lot.”
Klotz said he’s been focusing heavily on the tournament since his showing in the Pegasus. It’s a different format from the live-money bankroll used at Gulfstream Park with its $6,000 entry and $5,000 bankroll. Bettors needed to place at least five $500 wagers to qualify and a variety of bet types were allowed.
“We’ll see who can catch the most longshots and get by the mandatory races,” Klotz said. “I prefer the live-money tournaments, but I’ve been practicing a lot and figuring out how to use EquinEdge as a tool to make some noise in the NHC. The goal is to make the final table on Sunday.”
There’s a cap on how high the horse can be odds-wise for the win and place, so a contestant can’t pick a 100-to-1 bomb and leap from last to first, Klotz said.
“The guys who pick the chalk tend to struggle in these kinds of tournaments,” Klotz said. “The more 8-1 to 12-1 shots you can tally up, even if they’re finishing second and paying eight to 10 bucks to place, you’re making a lot more headway than the guy betting the even-money shot.”
Klotz said he’s excited at his chance and joked with McKeever that he’s not “just going to let him win. I told him it would be cool to finish one-two like we did in the Pegasus. It would put us on the map in the tournament world.”
Racetracks used in the NTRA handicapping contest include Del Mar, Saratoga, Gulfstream, Golden Gate, Ellis Park, Monmouth Park, and Woodbine.
Klotz said he’s been watching those tracks and toying with win-place contests to educate himself on strategy. He said he realized that those opportunities can come from maiden and other races to find prices.
“I’m looking at passing on some races that look chalky to find wide-open races where I can get that 10-1 shot. If you get a 10-to-1 shot and it pays $22 on the win, it will pay at least 10 bucks on the place. If you get a 10-to-1 shot home, you’re looking at a 30-point increase in one race.”
With a live-money bankroll tourney, there’s a limited number of races over one track to play, Klotz said. It’s easier to have a more critical look with the option to select among many tracks, he said.
“It’s a totally different philosophy. If there’s a 12-1 shot I like, I’m not going to hammer it with a live-money bankroll. I would try to get to that with a daily double or exotics. In a win-place contest, that horse is absolutely huge.”
EquinEdge is great at separating contenders from pretenders in a race and that should carry over to the contest, said Chris Province, Director of Player Acquisition for EquinEdge.
A freshly inked multi-year sponsorship with the National Horseplayers Championship presented by NTRA in hand, EquinEdge is looking forward to connecting with players at the event.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity to partner on such an amazing event. During the tournament, we will have meaningful conversations with future EquinEdge players and get to spend time with players who have already brought so much to our community,” Province said.
“We’re excited and hopefully one of our players will bring home a big check,” Province said.
