“I went from chasing Angel Cordero for his autograph, to standing alongside him as an agent, and from sneaking into the track as a kid; to being filmed for the show at the track as an adult…it’s been a wild ride.”
Saratoga resident and handicapper Kevin Cox – a former NYC Police Officer and NYRA jockey agent – will play a featured role in the new reality series ‘Horseplayers,’ which will premiere on the Esquire Network on January 21. Cox is set to make his debut in the series’ third episode, airing February 2 at 10 p.m., and will be featured in each subsequent episode during the show’s first season.
Horseplayers, a new ‘docu-series’ for the Esquire Network, will feature successful handicappers on their quest to reach the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship (NHC) in January 2014 in Las Vegas. The series is being produced for the newly-launched Esquire Network by Go Go Luckey, who also produced the popular reality series ‘Jockeys.’
Production for the show began this past summer at the Belmont Park Handicapping Challenge at Belmont Park, in which Cox took the $40,000 cash first-place prize. Horseplayers travels the country as the handicappers crisscross North America betting on thoroughbreds at some of the world’s most iconic racetracks, before concluding at the aforementioned NHC in Las Vegas.
Cox, a former member of the elite NYPD Mounted Unit retired from the force in 2011, and picked up his agents’ condition book shortly thereafter. Having done well betting on the horses through the years, he decided to go at it full time – both betting, and as a member of the National Handicappers Tour, where he currently ranks third. In his first full year as a professional horseplayer, he has won five Pick 6s and three tournaments, and has used some of his winnings to purchase a second home in Saratoga Springs, where he visited with his parents as a child.
“I used to go to the track with my father as a child; he would have me sneak under the turnstile so we could save the two bucks! Eventually, I got taller than the old man and the gig was up,” lamented Cox. “I went from chasing Angel Cordero for his autograph, to standing alongside him as an agent, and from sneaking into the track as a kid; to being filmed for the show at the track as an adult…it’s been a wild ride.”
Also residing in Oceanside, NY, Cox’s character on the show is entitled the ‘Brooklyn Cowboy’, his namesake due in large part to his trademark cowboy hat.
Cox’s direct approach to handicapping, along with his outspoken demeanor have brought him to new heights in the thoroughbred racing industry leading into 2014.
(With files from SaratogaBets)
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