The 25th National Horseplayers Championship will feature 765 entries held by 622 individuals

Las Vegas, NV (March 15, 2024) – The official prize structure of the 25th National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) was announced this morning. The winner, who will be named on Sunday at the conclusion of the Final Table, will take home a whopping $800,000 grand prize and an Eclipse Award as the Horseplayer of the Year. Total cash prizes to be offered over the three days are $3,013,550.

The top 10 finishers will receive the following payouts:

  1. $ 800,000
  2. $ 250,000
  3. $ 200,000
  4. $ 150,000
  5. $ 125,000
  6. $ 85,000
  7. $ 80,000
  8. $ 75,000
  9. $ 70,000
  10. $ 65,000

The top 77 finishers are guaranteed cash prizes with the 77th finisher receiving $10,150. The full prize structure can be found online.

The 25th NHC is presented by Caesars Entertainment, Horseshoe Las Vegas, and RTN and is supported by official partners Daily Racing Form, EquinEdge, Crown’s Way Racing, and Race Lens.

New to the 25th NHC will be a Final Table livestream, co-hosted by Steve Byk and Rick Hammerle, that will be streamed on NTRA’s X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Website for the final seven races of the Championship on Sunday March 17. Interested spectators will have the ability to watch and listen to the action unfurling all weekend long at the NHC. Rachel McLaughlin, Racing Analyst at Horseshoe Indianapolis, will be providing coverage throughout the weekend on all NTRA social media platforms.

Additionally, At the Races with Steve Byk will broadcast live on SiriusXM satellite radio (Sirius 219; XM 201) from the Horseshoe Las Vegas and online at www.stevebyk.com daily, from 9-12 p.m. ET/6-9 a .m. PT on Friday and Monday, with bonus NHC coverage at www.SteveByk.com/listen-live-SiriusXM slated for 2-8 p.m. ET/11 a.m.-5 p.m. PT) next Friday-Sunday. America’s Best Racing and Hawthorne Race Course will also be streaming live from the event.

The tournament format for the NHC is meant to be the best possible test of picking winners. Players attempt to earn the highest possible bankroll based on mythical $2 Win/Place wagers. Assigned “mandatory” races – six per day on Day 1, eight per day on Day 2, and seven at the Final Table – are announced at least 24 hours prior to each contest day via direct e-mail to players and publicly on Twitter (@NTRA) and NTRA.com.

The NHC field will be reduced to the top 10 percent of players after the first two days. The highest 10 cumulative scores after the Semifinal round on Sunday morning will fill out the Final Table. Bankrolls amassed during Day 1, Day 2 and the Semifinals round will roll over to the Final Table, with the 10 finalists settling the NHC score in seven “mandatory” assigned races.

Also new to the 25th NHC program will be the Silver Sunday Contest, available to all individuals competing in the tournament with no entry fee. Every individual will receive a maximum of one entry and will have to place mythical Win/Place bets throughout Sunday, March 17 on ten optional and seven mandatory races (the seven mandatory races will coincide with the NHC Final Table). The top 25 highest bankrolls, including ties, will receive a share of $100,000 in prize money. The top five highest finishers will win an entry into the 2025 NHC and the top 10 percent will receive on track 2024 NHC Tour points. A “First Five” free-to-play online contest will be available to non-NHC participants and will offer five berths to the 2025 NHC. Full contest rules can be found on ntra.com.

All information on the 25th NHC can be found at www.ntra.com/nhc including the 2024 full schedule of events, the 2024 Official Rules, and more. To sign up for the 2024 NHC Tour and win your way to next year’s NHC visit to www.ntra.com/membership.

About the NHC

The NHC is the most important tournament of the year for horseplayers and is the culmination of a year-long series of NTRA-sanctioned local tournaments conducted by racetracks, casino race books, off-track betting facilities, and horse racing and handicapping websites, each of which sends its top qualifiers to the national finals. There are no bye-ins to the NHC. Each year, the NHC winner joins other human and equine champions as an honoree at the Eclipse Awards and is named Horseplayer of the Year. For more information on the NHC, visit NTRA.com/nhc.

About the NTRA

The NTRA, based in Lexington, Ky. and Washington, D.C., is a broad-based coalition of more than 100 horse racing interests and thousands of individual stakeholders consisting of horseplayers, racetrack operators, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with increasing the popularity, welfare and integrity of Thoroughbred racing.