Mike Gillum topped the field of 765 entries at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's 25th National Horseplayers Championship to take home the $800,000 grand prize and earn the Eclipse Award as the Horseplayer of the Year Sunday evening in Las Vegas.
After finishing day one in fifth place, Gillum found himself in the 81st spot with two races to go on day two. He jumped over a few people to qualify into the semi-final round in 64th place, barely inside the 10% cut line set at 77 entries.
When asked about his strategy going into Sunday's final day of the competition, Gillum said, “My picks did not change since 6 a.m. this morning, I played exactly what I would have played regardless of which place I was in. I got lucky, it was just my day today.”
Congrats Mike. I was on with Emily and Jim doing some final table analysis and didn’t think Mike was playing to win. He showed me by picking 5 winners and a 2nd at the final table to win the darn thing. Fantastic handicapping.
