LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 23, 2020) – As part of the ongoing process to evolve with circumstances brought on the coronavirus pandemic, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced it has adjusted the NHC Tour rules to allow for a greater number of Tour members to qualify for the 2021 National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) by accumulating Tour points throughout the 2020 NHC season.
The rule change, which went into effect last week, increases by 50% the number of individual points leaders on the overall year-end leaderboard who will automatically qualify into the 2021 NHC. Where the previous rule stated the top 50 NHC Tour point earners who have not already qualified for the NHC would earn a berth into the championship in Las Vegas, the new rule will now allow for the top 75 NHC Tour point earners who have not already qualified for the 2021 NHC to participate in the tournament which crowns the Horseplayer of the Year.
Also, with virtually all on-track contests postponed or canceled for the indefinite future, the requirement of at least one top 10% on-track contest score to maximize Tour points has been eliminated for the first-half and overall Tour leaderboard prizes.
A participant’s top seven scores, accumulated from January 25, 2020 through January 23, 2021, will count toward the NHC Tour overall leaderboard point total. An individual’s top seven scores may come from either an online or on-track contest. For example, if an individual registers seven online scores and zero on-track scores, the top seven online scores will be recorded on the overall leaderboard.
Link to the 2020 NHC Tour rules – https://mk0ntrauj6jy9vera.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020_NHC_Tour_Rules_FINAL_6.pdf
A prime opportunity to win an NHC seat and earn Tour points takes place April 24-25 in the form of a free contest being held on Horseplayers.com exclusively for NHC Tour members. One NHC Seat will be awarded to the top finisher in Round 1, a pick & pray format. The Top 10% of Round 1 finishers will be eligible to compete in Round 2 on April 25 where five NHC Seats will be awarded to the top finishers. Tour points will be awarded based on the number of entries in Round 1 (capped at 1,000 entries). To sign up for the contest and contest details, go to https://horseplayers.com/contest/633920. You must be a current NHC Tour member to participate in this two-day event. There will be three additional NHC Tour member free contests available in 2020.
To sign up for the NHC Tour, go 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. For more information on the NHC, visit NTRA.com/nhc.
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 and Integrity Alliance; NTRA.com; the Eclipse Awards; the National Horseplayers 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).