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    SoCal’s Dylan Donnelly wins National Horseplayers Championship
    • March 16, 2026

    Dylan Donnelly of Rancho Cucamonga backed up a confident prediction by winning the National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas on Sunday in the tournament equivalent of a photo finish.

    Donnelly prevailed over second-place Frank Polk of Oklahoma City by a margin of 84 cents in total payoffs — $342.84 to $342 — when he picked $22.80 winner Crazy Cavalier in Sunday’s fifth race at Santa Anita, the final mandatory race in the tournament.

    First prize was $825,000 in the contest that started Friday with 828 qualifiers.

    A 34-year-old former Alta Loma High School athlete who turned to handicapping tournaments after a 2016 highway accident left him in a wheelchair, Donnelly finished fifth in the 2025 NHC. He said in an interview last week: “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.”

    After winning Sunday, Donnelly credited “a lot of prep work,” telling an interviewer on FanDuel Racing TV: “I was just sweating those payouts, Damn, 84 cents. Doesn’t matter how small (the margin) is.”

    UPSET AT SANTA ANITA

    The British-bred 4-year-old filly Take A Breath ($15.60) won for the first time in six starts since coming to Mark Glatt’s barn in California, rallying from mid-pack with jockey Emisael Jaramillo to win the Grade III Santa Ana Stakes by a nose over 12-1 Resolve and a length over 2-1 favorite Mrs. Astor.

    ​ Orange County Register 

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