Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem Mar. 16, 2026

Jason discusses Dylan Donnelly's win in the NHC and the event itself. 

A good Monday morning to you all! Lots to cover from the weekend, and I talked about as much of it as I could over on the Monday morning Podcast, which you can find at TwinSpires Edge online or wherever you find your podcasts – just search Jason Beem Horse Racing Podcast. And leave a nice review if you’d be willing to!  

While I did talk a lot about the Virginia Derby on the show, today in the column I wanted to write about the NHC from Las Vegas this past weekend. Dylan Donnelly took home the top honors by a tiny margin of just $0.84 to earn the top prize of $825,000. 

Dylan is one of the premier tournament players in the country and travels all across the States to play in live tournaments. We just saw him here in Tampa for our High Rollers Challenge just a couple of weeks ago. I’ve had the good fortune to talk with him on the podcast a few times, and he’s always very thoughtful in his answers and clearly a very talented horseplayer. I was very happy for him on his big win. 

It was fun following along the NHC all weekend long, as I do think it’s one of the more fun events in horse racing during the calendar year. This year we had America’s Best Racing and the NTRA providing live coverage along with Steve Byk hosting his show in the ballroom. Many content creators were there putting out videos and interviews for the weekend. 

Mike Mutnansky from Barstool Sports was there, and we had him on the podcast last week to talk about the content he was hoping to bring, which he did a great job of providing. It’s not always the easiest contest to follow when you’re off-site, let alone 2,500 miles away, but I felt like I had a good sense of the tournament from following along online. 

Horseplayers are some of the best people you’ll meet in horse racing. I was tickled to see a few friends make very deep runs in the tournament, including a couple who made the final table and had a shot at the big prize up top. It was fascinating to watch some of the final table coverage including the post tournament interview with eventual runner-up Frank Polk.

Frank and the host thought he may have won, but it was going to depend on the place payoff. Both the top two finishers were 10-1, but Dylan’s horse paid $3.00 more to place than did Frank’s horse, and that made the difference in the win. But Frank sat there in that interview just very excited to be there and have the success he did and just seemed like such a pleasant and decent guy. It’s such a huge jump from second to first in terms of prize money; you’d have never known he just took a $525,000 beat. I’d have been on the floor crying and would still be there. 

I wish our industry spent more time celebrating our customers, the horseplayers. It’s such a great game, and you will talk to and meet some of the most interesting people by interacting with the players. 

Over the years on the podcast, I’ve had the privilege to speak with so many smart and talented gamblers, and I know I’m a smarter and more well-rounded person because of learning from them and knowing them. They also generally love the game and the animals as much as anyone. A ton of gamblers go on to become owners because they love the horses and the game so much. 

Many of them may complain or gripe about things within the game, but I truly believe that a majority of those complaints come from a place of wanting it to be the best it can be. They love it. Truly. 

Have a great week everyone!