On the heels of last weekend’s richest National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) ever – worth $2,974,700 in cash and awards – players are already working diligently to secure a spot in next year’s renewal. The 2018 NHC Tour gets into full swing this weekend with three contests on HorsePlayers.com, the official online qualifying site of the NHC and the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC), led by the year’s first of free online qualifier open to all active NHC Tour members. A minimum of eight guaranteed spots for Las Vegas in February 2019, including five in the free contest, will be on the line Saturday and Sunday.
The stakes for the NHC Tour will be higher than ever this year, as the winner of the 2018 NHC Tour will compete for a $5 Million NHC Tour Bonus at #NHC19, awarded should he or she go on to win the world’s richest and most prestigious handicapping contest at Treasure Island Las Vegas. That’s up from the $2 million bonus that 2017 NHC Tour winner Mike Ferrozzo competed for at #NHC2018 last weekend (he finished 248th and 430th out of 702 entries).
Dates for future free NHC Tour online qualifiers will be announced in coming weeks. NHC Tour officials have said they expect the number of those qualifiers to increase above the typical five per year.
Details on this weekend’s NHC qualifiers are as follows:
SATURDAY
HorsePlayers.com
Prizes: Two guaranteed NHC berths
Format: $2 Win and Place mythical wagers, Live (selections may be made in real time until starting gate is half-loaded)
Entry: $165
More: https://horseplayers.com/contest/289820
SUNDAY
NHC Tour Free Contest
Prizes: Five guaranteed NHC berths
Format: $2 Win and Place mythical wagers, Pick and Pray (selections must be entered prior to first contest race)
Entry: FREE for 2018 NHC Tour members
More: https://horseplayers.com/contest/288429
HorsePlayers.com
Prizes: One guaranteed NHC berth (21 entries maximum)
Format: $2 Win and Place mythical wagers, Pick and Pray (selections must be entered prior to first contest race)
Entry: $500
More: https://horseplayers.com/contest/289821
Each NHC prize package includes NHC entry, four nights at Treasure Island, and airfare reimbursement up to $400. Last weekend’s 19th NHC offered a record prize pool worth more than $2.9 million, including an $800,000 first-place prize.
One must be a current NHC Tour member to be eligible to win NHC entries. To sign up for the NHC Tour, go to www.ntra.com/membership.
For more information on the NHC and NHC Tour, visit www.ntra.com/nhc.
About the NHC
In its 20th year, the National Horseplayers Championship 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 buy-ins to the NHC. Each year, the NHC winner joins other human and equine champions as an honoree at the Eclipse Awards. For more information on the NHC, visit NTRA.com/nhc.