Noel Michaels is proud to be the primary contributor to Horseplayerdaily.com’s online tournament section, and chairman of The Horseplayer Magazine’s 10-member polling panel. Michaels has become horse racing’s foremost expert covering the handicapping contest after a 12-year career at Daily Racing Form where he held many positions including handicapper, sports betting analyst, and Internet editor of DRF.com.  Michaels, a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Racetrack Industry Program, currently works as the director of player development and house handicapper for the Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation in Long Island New York, operators of The Race Palace Teletheater, which is widely regarded as one of the premier off-track facilities in the country. Michaels is a Chicago-area native. His family’s homebred colt, Volponi, was the upset winner of the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Arlington Park.

ED DE’ATH

Born and raised in Toronto Canada, De’Ath was introduced to racing in 1964 when Northern Dancer won the Kentucky Derby. Since then he has visited more than 100 racetracks in North America, including Churchill Downs, where he attended 25 consecutive Derbies from 1965 until he retired to Las Vegas in 1989 (also attended 12 Triple Crowns including those of Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed). De’Ath has competed in 500+ handicapping contests/tournaments since 1972. His accomplishments include two wins and over 20 finals appearances in the Penn National World Series of Handicapping, one win and fout top 10 finishes at the Club Cal Neva, and two DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship qualifying appearances.

De’Ath’s contest handicapping style is based on the style of his daily play – focusing on picking winners, betting only into value situations, and not targeting huge-priced horses. In the early 1970's, De’Ath created his Daily Length Variant as the precursor to what is now known as Impact Values. The success of this tool resulted in a 1975 book called “The Turf Consistency Formula”. As he became exposed to more tracks and more information, he created multiple track tables, formulas, algorithms, and adjustment factors, and can currently accurately adjust and compare race fractions and final time across the broad base of North American tracks. De’Ath is currently beta-testing the Maximum-Impact racing program, which includes all adjustment factors. Free reports, along with explanations, will be posted on the site www.maximum-inpact.net in the near future.

RICHARD ENG

Richard Eng is the turf editor and handicapper for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and a Las Vegas gaming columnist for the Daily Racing Form. In 2005, he authored the book "Betting on Horse Racing for Dummies," which is part of the “Dummies” series of "how-to" books for newcomers. Eng has been the public relations director at Santa Anita Park, Turfway Park, and Arlington Park racetracks. For seven years, he was a researcher and writer for ABC Sports during their coverage of horse racing and the Triple Crown. In April 2003, he won the $400,000 Championship at The Orleans horse handicapping tournament.

ROSS GALLO

Ross Gallo has been a professional handicapper for over 20 years. He started playing tournaments in 1998, and has since won several events including The Championship at the Orleans in 1999 ($114,000 first prize), the inaugural Calder tournament in 2005 (which qualified him for the CDI million-dollar bonus at NTRA/DRF NHC VII), the Connecticut OTB On-the-Wire tournament in 2003, the Fair Grounds tournament in 1999 (as a partner with his brother, J. Randy Gallo, who was also his partner at the Orleans), and the meet-long Del Mar online tournament in 2002 when he defeated over 5,000 participants while playing as a partner with his wife Candace.  In all, Gallo has qualified for the NTRA four times, finishing as high as 17th in 2004. At least one member of the Gallo family has qualified for each of the first seven National Handicapping Championships. Ross was a featured speaker on the tournament panel at the 2004 DRF Horseplayer Expo in Las Vegas, and also has been a regular handicapper on radio shows like 'Talkin’ Horses" with JJ Gracie on Sirius Satellite Radio, and "At The Post" with the "Paulie Man" Paul Messell at Gulfstream Park. Gallo is proud to be the creator of the Ultimate Handicappers Invitational, a real-money tournament held on Breeders Cup Day the last three years. This year, the UHI will continue branching out to other big racing days with a DRF/NTRA qualifying tournament scheduled at Canterbury Park on Claiming Crown Day joining his regularly scheduled Breeders’ Cup Day event hosted by Canterbury Park. This year’s Claiming Crown Day at Canterbury will be held on July 15th, and the top three finishers in that day’s Ultimate Tournament will qualify for the next NHC.  For more information on any Ultimate Handicappers event, you can contact Ross Gallo at 561-310-1691 or Canterbury Park’s Jeff Maday at 952-496-6437.

DAVID GUTFREUND

Dave Gutfreund is a tournament veteran who qualified for the NTRA/DRF National Handicapping Championships for four straight years from 2002 to 2005. Gutfreund’s presence at the 2006 NHC finals changed significantly when he went from being a player to being a television journalist for ESPN2’s broadcast coverage of the event. Known around the U.S. as “The Maven,” Gutfreund has recently moved to England to become a TV host on the Racing World network, which covers American racing for English audiences. Gutfreund has written about racing and the handicapping contest scene for more than seven years with Youbet.com, and has been a frequent contributor to The Horseplayer Magazine.

TIM HOLLAND

Tim Holland finished third in DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship IV in one of his four appearances so far in the DRF/NTRA finals. He has qualified for the NHC with top finishes at Turfway (twice) and Keeneland (twice), and was a member of the Keeneland NHC championship-winning teams at the national finals in 2002 and 2003. He has spent his life working in the Thoroughbred industry in various capacities. Presently, Holland is working for BRIS, where his duties include writing a weekly column for the Handicapper's Edge.

ERIC ISAACSON

Isaacson hails from Indianapolis, and has been an avid handicapper for eight years, with more than three-quarters of that time devoted to tournament play. He joined the ranks of four-time National Handicapping Championship qualifiers at NHC VII on the strength of his runaway win in the Hoosier Park Handicapping Tournament in July, 2005. Isaacson also has recorded multiple top 10 finishes in a total of six different NHC qualifying contests. He is proud to have been invited to every edition of Ross Gallo’s Ultimate Handicappers Invitational, and recorded his best finish in 2005 when he finished fifth. Isaacson is currently working on moving into the public handicapping sector for the first time thanks to the launch of his first tip sheet, which is expected this year.

MIKE LABRIOLA

Mike Labriola is a long-time tournament pro who has lost (and won) more tournaments than anyone else on the planet. He's also an occasional contributor to The Horseplayer Magazine, and a charismatic public speaker at seminars, panels, and events such as the Daily Racing Form Handicapping EXPO.  His current projects include trying to qualify for a 5th appearance at the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship. Labriola is also excited about contributing to the creation of a soon-to-be announced major handicapping tournament. He looks forward to using any future tournament earnings to help pay for his son Gerard's new set of braces.

JEFF SOTMAN

Sotman is the general manager of The HorsePlayer Magazine, which he considers to be the tourney players Bible. He has been the national tournament director for the NTRA since the start of the National Handicapping Championship in 1999. As a player, Sotman has won or placed highly in several prestigious tournaments alone or as a partner with The Horseplayer Magazine publisher Tom Quigley. Those contests include the Sports Haven Handicapping Challenge in its heyday, and Gulfstream Park’s Turf-Vivor, where he has finished in the money in three of the past four years.

DENNIS SUDUL

Sudul has been winning major handicapping tournaments longer than anyone in tournament history (21 years). He won his first major tournament in Reno in 1984 at the World Cup of Horse Race Handicapping, which was the largest tournament in the country at the time. Since then he has won six other major tournaments and qualified for three DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championships, including in 2005, when he became a “dual qualifier” for both the NHC and the Horseplayer World Series based on a win at Autotote and a second-place finish at Nassau OTB in New York. In all, Sudul counts over 35 top-10 tournament finishes and over $300,000 in career tournament earnings. His accomplishments over the past 20 years have earned him inclusion into BRISnet's $100K Hall of Fame.