December 21, 2024

In Search of a Cap Horse at the National Handicapping Championship

64 points can go a long way toward cashing and even winning the National Handicapping Championship, which is why finding those “CAP” horses is so important.

The maximum number of points a horse can score is 64 based on a $42 win mutuel and $22 place price. So for starters, a horse has to be a minimum of 20-to-1 to have any chance at being a cap horse.

Since December 26, 2017 (when Santa Anita Park opened), only three trainers have saddled more than 1 winner at odds of better than 20-to-1 at any one of the 8 contest tracks (Aqueduct, Fair Grounds, Golden Gate, Gulfstream, Laurel, Oaklawn, Santa Anita, and Tampa): Jerry Hollendorfer, Ed Moger, and Gary Contessa.

On the jockey side of things, C.J. McMahon leads the way at contest tracks with 3 winners at odds of at least 20-to-1. Five other jockeys have two such winners with Eric Cancel being the most impressive of that quintet by virtue of doing it from only 8 starters.

Below is a list of all horses that would have been cap horses at contest tracks since Santa Anita opened on the aforementioned Dec. 26, 2017, date:

To visit the page in Google Sheets, CLICK HERE.