2026 National Horseplayers Championship News and Notes

Lexington, Ky. (March 12, 2026) – The National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced today that the Final Table of the 27^th National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) presented by Caesars Sportsbook, Horseshoe Las Vegas, and Racetrack Television Network (RTN) will be live streamed on multiple platforms from Horseshoe Las Vegas on Sunday, March 15.

The Final Table livestream will be available on NTRA’s X account, YouTube, and NTRA.com for the final seven races of the Championship, as the starting contest field of more than 600 handicappers on Friday, March 13 will be reduced to 10 competitors vying for the more than $825,000 grand prize on Sunday afternoon.

The Final Table also will air on RTN and at www.SteveByk.com/listen-live-SiriusXM.

At the Races

Additionally, At the Races with Steve Byk will broadcast live on SiriusXM satellite radio (Sirius 219; XM 201) from Horseshoe Las Vegas and online at www.stevebyk.com daily, from 9-12 p.m. ET/6-9 a .m. PT on Thursday and Friday, with bonus NHC coverage at www.SteveByk.com/listen-live-SiriusXM slated for Saturday and Sunday 2:30-7:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. PT.

America’s Best Racing

America’s Best Racing presents full coverage of the NHC with four “LIVE from LAS VEGAS! National Horseplayers Championship” livestreams, starting on Last Chance/First Chance Thursday. These livestreams, presented by MorningLine.io, are produced with Daily Racing Form and NTRA and will be hosted by ABR’s Dan Tordjman, Rachel Miller, and Alexa Zepp plus DRF personalities and will feature numerous guests throughout the four days. The four NHC shows will be streamed on ABR’s Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram channels. Click here for the full livestream schedule and daily start times.

Thoroughbred Los Angeles

Jon Lindo, host of Thoroughbred Los Angeles, will broadcast live from 9-10 a.m. PT on Saturday, March 14, with co-host Bob Ike at www.thoroughbredla.com.

Little Red Feather Well Represented at NHC

Little Red Feather Racing (LRF), a prominent California-based Thoroughbred partnership, once again provided its members with exclusive opportunities to qualify for the NHC. The 15 individuals who won LFR feeders and went on to qualify through Horseplayers.com are: LFR partner Gary Fenton, LFR Tour winner Larry Goldman, Ben Posen, Joe Rosen, Basil DeVito, Alex DeVito, Gary Wright, Gregg Kigma, Cresencio Dacayanan, Jim Cuzzupe, Richard Pearson, Mark Sturza, Keith Byrne, Cliff Pardo and Aaron Bernstein.

LRF management, including Fenton and Billy Koch, have participated in or qualified for the NHC, highlighting a strong connection to the tournament. Fenton qualified for the Final Table in the 2023 NHC and finished third overall, pocketing $200,000.

New Zealand entrant Rob Earle

Earlier this week, Rob Earle, boarded a plane from his home in Christchurch, New Zealand, flew to Brisbane, Australia, then switched to 12-hour flight to Los Angeles, and followed up with a short jump to Las Vegas to play in this week’s NHC.

He is one of two players in this year’s tournament hailing from outside of the U.S. and Canada.

As the CEO of new ADW Racingworld.com, he had planned a trip to the U.S. to help organize parimutuel betting contests at American tracks, when on a whim he decided to try qualifying for this year’s NHC. Earle, 57, rejoined the NHC Tour in January and won a feeder contest, and then a week later finished third in a Horsplayers.com tournament to gain an automatic entry into this year’s NHC. This is Earle’s second time playing in the NHC, after entering his first event in 2016.

“We have punter’s challenges in New Zealand, but nothing like the NHC.” said Earle. “It’s the world’s greatest betting tournament.”

Earle, 57, has already had quite a life at home in Harness Racing, where he breeds and trains Standardbreds. In fact, Earle achieved a lifetime goal when he became one of the few individuals to breed, own, train and drive a Standardbred horse to victory. Her name is Maiden Rome, an eight-time winner who is being bred to New Zealand champion Lazarus.

Back behind the desk, Earle has been working for more than 40 years in technology as a qualified engineer for Microsoft and later in London for major banks. He has taken that experience to develop an algorithm that he’s going to use in this year’s NHC. “There are over 130 different combinations that are formulated to come up with final picks on the horses,” said Earle. “It will be a test for the new system.”

90-Year-Old Bill Alberg Still Going Strong

This year’s oldest NHC player this year is Bill Alberg, 90, from Denver, originally from Boston, who has also lived in California, and for a time in Las Vegas, as well.

Calm and understated, Alberg has seen many changes in the racing game over the years and has been especially energized by the online contests phenomenon that has swept the nation the past three decades. He qualified for this third NHC, winning a Horseplayers.com tournament in May 2025.

Alberg, whose wife’s name is Lesley, has played the races on and off for a number of years but took a greater interest once he sold his employment agency business in Boston, where as a youngster his father took him to the races at Suffolk Downs.

After living for a short time in Irvine, Calif., Alberg moved to Las Vegas in the late 1990s and was listening to Ralph Siraco’s “Raceday Las Vegas” radio show. “They talked about a betting contest at Arizona Charlie’s, just off the Strip with a $10 buy-in,” Alberg recalled. “I turned to my fiend and said, ‘Why not?’”

Turned out to be a profitable idea as Alberg wound up winning the contest on the nine-race card at Santa Anita and made a $2,000 score.

From there, Alberg continued to play contests in Las Vegas for the next 17 years, winning about two tournaments a month. (He credits former Arlington Park linemaker Marty Dermer with making him a better handicapper) Then, more casinos started offering contests, and through improved software came the age of the online tournaments, giving a nod to McKay Smith, operator of Horsetourneys.com and Horseplayers.com.

Alberg approaches tournament play by looking for value but making one or two price plays that are, hopefully, invisible to other players. “I won a contest last Saturday with a $77 winner at Aqueduct. One of those sets you a part or else you’re in the middle of the pack.”

Alberg has been playing the races for the last 70 years, but his biggest score came just three years ago in a Horsetourney.com “Surf and Turf” Del Mar/Saratoga contest, which netted him $93,000 for second place.

“Some of my friends call me a crazy fool at 90-years old, playing in tournaments and running off to Vegas,” said Alberg. “I play about five contests a week, and spend two to three hours a day handicapping each contest that makes the brain active and alive and has certainly helped my health overall.

“My mom passed away at 98 so the right genes are a help, but living the lifestyle I live now is certainly fun.”

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 recognized as the 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.

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