Dylan Donnelly Claims $825,000 NHC Title in Thrilling Photo-Finish Finale

Four going into the final mandatory race of the 27th NTRA National Horseplayers Championship, Dylan Donnelly of Rancho Cucamonga, California, needed a miracle on the Santa Anita turf. He got one. When Crazy Cavalier won Santa Anita's fifth race by a length over None Above the Law, Donnelly's mythical bankroll climbed to $342.84, clearing runner-up Frank Polk of Oklahoma City by exactly 84 cents and delivering Donnelly an $825,000 first-place prize at the Horseshoe Events Center in Las Vegas on March 15.

The margin was almost unfathomably thin for a three-day tournament that began Friday with 828 qualifiers. Polk, who briefly led the final-table standings when Jayhawk won Gulfstream's 10th race with two races remaining, cashed a place ticket on None Above the Law, the runner-up to Crazy Cavalier, for $12. It wasn't enough. His final bankroll of $342.00 left him $300,000 richer and exactly one horse length short of the title.

Tommy Lenberg, who had looked like the man to beat entering the final race after cashing $13.20 on Chupapi Munyao winning Oaklawn's ninth race, finished third with a bankroll of $334.94 and a $200,000 prize. Richard Sugimoto ($150,000), Tammy Johns ($125,000), and Dan Piazza ($100,000) rounded out the top six, with GT Nixon ($90,000), Kenneth Jordan ($85,000), and Roger McDow ($80,000) completing the top nine.

Speaking on FanDuel Racing TV moments after the win, Donnelly didn't pretend to have had a calm afternoon. "I was just sweating those payouts," he said. "Damn, 84 cents. Doesn't matter how small (the margin) is."

The victory had a personal dimension that the scoreboard alone couldn't capture. A former Alta Loma High School athlete, Donnelly was left in a wheelchair after a 2016 highway accident and turned to handicapping tournaments in the years that followed. He finished fifth at the 2025 NHC, and before this year's event he told an interviewer without apology: "I don't mean to sound cocky or something, (but) I'm confident I'll win the NHC one of these years. At least one of them."

Along with the $825,000 check, Donnelly earned an Eclipse Award as Horseplayer of the Year and a return trip to next year's NHC, both of which he confirmed he'd be thinking about considerably less than those final-race payouts.

NTRA president and CEO Tom Rooney framed the finish in the broadest possible terms. "Congratulations to Dylan Donnelly on winning the 27th NHC in a photo finish," Rooney said. "He proved why our sport is one of the most dramatic in the country, and that consistency and hard work pay off. Congratulations also to all of our Final Table contestants and all of the NHC participants. Qualifying to the NHC is a testament to their handicapping skill."

The event was presented by Caesars Race & Sportsbook, Horseshoe Las Vegas, and Racetrack Television Network. Donnelly, who ranked fourth on the NHC Tour standings with 23,670 points entering the championship, will now write a different kind of leaderboard entry: the one that ends with $825,000 won by less than a dollar.