FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jim Mulvihill, NTRA Communications, (859) 422-2663, jmulvihill@ntra.com
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Wednesday, November 1, 2017) – As the winner of January’s 18th National Horseplayers Championship (NHC), Ray Arsenault of Thornhill, Ontario, Canada, near Toronto, will play for the largest cash prize ever offered in the handicapping contest world – the $3 million NHC Tour Bonus – at this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC). Add in the estimated $300,000 BCBC grand prize also on the line, as well as the $50,000+ profit from a $10,000 live bankroll that it typically takes to win the BCBC, and Arsenault will be playing for more than $3.3 million in cash.
Arsenault, 65, already took down $800,000 for his NHC triumph, meaning he is now in a position to push his 2017 handicapping contest earnings over the $4 million mark.
“It’s pretty thrilling,” Arsenault said. “I’m going to take some pops at it. I’ve been looking at the races and I’m going to get back to studying here in a bit.”
The NHC Tour Bonus ties together the two most prestigious handicapping contests – the $1 million BCBC and the $2.7 million (estimated) NHC, set for February 9-11, at Treasure Island Las Vegas. The NHC Tour Bonus is a “rolling double” available to every BCBC and NHC winner as long as they win each contest successively, in either order.
Arsenault earned his first entry to the BCBC at the NHC for being the Day 2 scoring leader.
“I already had the one entry and when I heard I was playing for $3 million I went ahead and bought a second one that I figured I could play my normal way.”
Arsenault will play the BCBC from Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., near the Canadian’s winter home in Delray Beach, Fla. BCBC entrants can play from the Breeders’ Cup host racetrack or at satellite venues like Churchill Downs and Gulfstream.
Qualifying for the next NHC continues through January in contests held on-site and online. For more information on the NHC Tour and a complete contest schedule, visit NTRA.com/nhc.
For more on the BCBC, visit www.breederscup.com/bcbc.
About the National Horseplayers Championship
In its 19th year, the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (formerly known as the NTRA National Handicapping Championship) is presented by Racetrack Television Network, STATS Race Lens and Treasure Island Las Vegas. Equibase is the official data provider of the NHC and NHC Tour. The NHC is world’s richest and most prestigious handicapping 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. Each year, the NHC winner joins other human and equine champions as an honoree at the Eclipse Awards. The most recent NHC offered record prize money and awards totaling more than $2.9 million. NHC 19 will be held February 9-11, 2018, at Treasure Island Las Vegas.
About the NTRA
The NTRA, based in Lexington, Ky., 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. The NTRA owns and manages the NTRA Safety & Integrity Alliance; NTRA.com; the Eclipse Awards; the National Handicapping Championship; NTRA Advantage, a corporate partner sales and sponsorship program; and Horse PAC®, a federal political action committee. NTRA press releases appear on NTRA.com, Twitter (@ntra) and Facebook (facebook.com/1NTRA).
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