The NHC #Fourgate Championship

It’s highly unlikely that anyone reading this isn’t already familiar with the Fourgate crew and how they came to be front and center in the NHC world back in March. But in case you have been living under a rock or just have a bad memory, I’ll recap.

On March 2nd, Horseplayers.com hosted a free NHC qualifier. There were 1898 entries for the five NHC seats up for grabs, and in the end, seven entrants registered the exact same score, using the exact same picks:

Yes, all seven contestants used the #4 horse in every contest race. Long story not quite so long, I came up with the name Fourgate to describe the incident because I am clever AF, and then a tie-breaker was held so the five NHC seats could be awarded. People complained for a week or so because no one wants to admit how random betting on horses can be sometimes, and then eventually just about everyone forgot about it.

Well, LoneSpeed is bringing it back, baby. Front and center.

At the NHC in Las Vegas, the five Fourgate qualifiers will compete for not only the title of Handicapper of the Year and the $800k that comes with it, but the highest NHC finisher from among the Fourgate crew will take home an award of a different sort.

That’s right. The saddle cloth you see above, which was NOT created by me, will be PRESENTED by me on Sunday at the NHC in an unofficial ceremony sponsored by LoneSpeed. I made up the name of the crew. I told everyone to calm down when they were freaking out about how they won their seats. So I get to hand out the saddle cloth. That’s the way the world works.

The Fourgate Five at the NHC are Jerry Stone, Jerald Segall, Kenneth McMahan, Michael Lamorte, and Kevin Kilroy. Best of luck to all of them.