LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 2, 2024) – Back by popular demand for the sixth consecutive year, the “Beat Byk NHC Challenge” will return this summer as the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) and Steve Byk, host of the Thoroughbred radio news magazine “At the Races” on Sirius XM, once again partner to send one NHC Tour member to Las Vegas to compete in the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) in March 14-16, 2025. The “Beat Byk NHC Challenge” will be conducted over eight weeks beginning July 11 and concluding September 2 with the winner punching their ticket to the 2025 NHC.
“Beat Byk is my favorite highlight of the summer season,” Steve Byk said. “It’s important for there to be ways to get to Vegas for free and I’m delighted that so many players tell me Beat Byk has been a gateway to NHC and contest play in general.”
The popular promotion drew more than 12,000 entries in the summer of 2023, averaging more than 700 players each week and ultimately crowning George Smith from Chicago, IL the winner.
Each Thursday throughout the promotion, Byk will select the weekend stakes races to comprise that week’s promotion and announce them on “At the Races” and on his twitter page, @Steve_Byk. Byk’s selections will be announced no later than each Friday. There will be 17 chances to qualify to the Beat Byk NHC Online Qualifier on September 14 during the promotional period. Listeners will be encouraged to log into https://www.ntra.com/beatbyk/ where they will either use Byk’s selection to win the featured race or try to ‘beat Byk’ by selecting another horse.
All who correctly select the winning horse in each round will advance to a NHC “Beat Byk” online qualifier on September 14. Participants may qualify only once during the promotional period and last year’s final qualifier had nearly 1,000 participants. Winner of the “Beat Byk” online qualifier will represent “At the Races” at the 2025 NHC March 14-16, 2025 at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.
NHC Tour membership is required to compete in the September NHC online qualifier. Complete rules for the Beat Byk Challenge can be found at https://www.ntra.com/beatbyk/. “At the Races with Steve Byk” is Thoroughbred racing’s only national daily news and talk show. The show also streams live on www.stevebyk.com.
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 through consensus-based leadership, legislative advocacy, safety and integrity initiatives, fan engagement and corporate partner development. For more information visit NTRA.com.
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