The Nationwide Horseplayers Championship (NHC) is the richest and most prestigious of all handicap tournaments held annually. It’s the end result of the NHC Tour, a year-long sequence of NTRA-sanctioned contests and tournaments held at racetracks, racebooks, ADW web sites and event qualifying web sites throughout the U.S. and Canada, with prime finishers despatched to the Nationwide Finals in Las Vegas to compete for money prizes and greater than $4 million in prizes. The NHC winner can even obtain the Eclipse Award as Handicapper of the 12 months.
Listed below are some details that handicappers ought to know concerning the Nationwide Horseplayers Championship and the NHC Tour.
1) when and the place
The twenty seventh Annual NTRA Nationwide Horseplayers Championship can be held March 13-15, 2026 at Horseshoe Las Vegas, positioned within the coronary heart of the Strip. The venue is the Horseshoe’s 40,000-square-foot occasion heart, which has hosted the occasion for seven consecutive years for the reason that facility was generally known as Bally’s. Prior to now, NHC has been held at different places in Las Vegas, together with the MGM Grand, Purple Rock, and Treasure Island.
2) The way to receive {qualifications}
Admission to the NHC can’t be bought. You should both win or end nicely in NHC Tour contests to earn a spot, or accumulate sufficient factors on the NHC Tour to earn a spot. Step one is to go to www.NTRA.com/NHC to enroll and turn into a member of the NHC Tour. Annual membership prices $50 and permits you to enter as many qualifying contests as you want all year long. Though many racetracks host handicap tournaments, the vast majority of qualifying is now finished on-line at event web sites corresponding to HorsePlayers.com and HorseTourneys.com.
3) What occurs as soon as I qualify?
NHC Tour members can earn as much as two seats on the NHC Finals. Though the NHC Tour has 1000’s of members, solely about 600 of the greater than 800 entries qualify for the NHC Finals in Las Vegas. The NHC Finals is an in-person solely occasion and gamers can not take part remotely, requiring all 600 finalists to journey to Las Vegas annually. As a profit to all qualifiers, all gamers will obtain a complimentary resort room on the host facility at some point of the event. The qualifying places and web sites can even present the winner with journey funds to pay for his or her flight ticket. NHC’s resort and journey prize pool at the moment exceeds $1 million.
4) Is it too late to affix NHC in 2026?
The NHC’s subsequent finals are March 13-15, nevertheless it’s not too late to qualify. NHC Tour memberships can be found for buy year-round, and tournaments to qualify for the following NHC are being held on-line constantly till March sixth. Final Likelihood tournaments are held at racetracks corresponding to Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park, Santa Anita Park, Laurel Park, Lone Star Park, Sam Houston Race Park, Oaklawn Park, and Tampa Bay Downs. Whereas event entry charges might be over $1,000, there are nonetheless extra economical alternatives to qualify for as little as $75.
If you have not made it but when the NHC takes place, you possibly can nonetheless get your final massive probability to make it to the finals by collaborating within the NHC Final Likelihood/First Likelihood Contest, which can be held stay on the Horseshoe Las Vegas the night time earlier than the NHC. The entry payment for the NHC Final Likelihood/First Likelihood on March 12 is $600, which in itself can be one of many largest handicap tournaments of the 12 months, with as many as 1,000 entries anticipated to compete for prize cash, and an estimated 45 ultimate spots for the 2026 or 2027 NHC Finals.
5) NHC pockets and prize construction
The NHC is legendary for its large purse construction and the big payouts it makes to quite a few gamers annually. The 2026 NHC prize pool will as soon as once more exceed $4 million, together with prize cash paid to the highest finishers on the NHC Tour. When handicapping tournaments supply prize cash like this, together with the Eclipse Prize, it is no marvel why so many jockeys make it a precedence to qualify for the NHC 12 months after 12 months.
NHC is a three-day occasion from Friday to Sunday. After the primary two days of the event, the highest 10% of gamers within the NHC Finals will qualify and advance to Sunday morning’s spherical, the place they are going to be narrowed right down to the ultimate 10 once more. All gamers nonetheless taking part in on Sunday are assured no less than $10,000 in prize cash, with every place rising on a sliding scale to $50,000 for eleventh place.
For final 12 months’s 2025 NHC Finals, the overall variety of entries was simply over 800, so the highest 80 scorers all competed and every gained no less than $10,000. The highest 10 scorers advance to the ultimate desk to compete for large cash. In 2025, first place will obtain $825,000, second place will obtain $250,000, third place will obtain $200,000, fourth place will obtain $150,000, fifth place will obtain $125,000, sixth place will obtain $90,000, seventh place will obtain $85,000, eighth place will obtain $80,000, ninth place will obtain $75,000, and second place will obtain $65,000. tenth place. All gamers who don’t qualify will advance to a different Startover event on Sunday for a $100,000 prize.
6) Sport guidelines
The NHC is a standard legendary money-style handicap event. Members will try and accumulate the best pari-mutuel prize cash by combining 15 to 18 non-obligatory and necessary $2 win and place bets per day in races at a few of the season’s prime racetracks, together with Aqueduct, Honest Grounds, Gulfstream Park, Oaklawn Park and Santa Anita. It is not unusual for NHC gamers to handicap 70 or 80 races a day to seek out their play. Most of the most profitable gamers in NHC historical past have employed a technique of primarily choosing lengthy photographs.
7) NHC scene
The Nationwide Horseplayers Championship is greater than only a handicap event. That is an annual occasion that brings collectively critical horse racing fanatics from throughout North America for a weekend of their favourite pastime. It is an opportunity for horse racers to immerse themselves in a stimulating setting surrounded by individuals who share their ardour for horse racing and playing, whereas handicappers can renew friendships and acquaintances and benefit from the camaraderie of people that share the identical passion. The Match Room is a hive of exercise surrounded by big screens devoted to horse racing from racetracks throughout the nation.
The event itself is the center of the occasion, which is way more than simply taking part in races. Finalists can be handled to a welcome cocktail get together on Thursday night time, and the whole occasion will conclude with an awards banquet dinner on Sunday. In the meantime, gamers can take pleasure in free breakfast and lunch from Friday via Sunday. each day racing type and different handicapping supplies, in addition to varied memorabilia from NTRA as a part of your welcome packet. Gamers will be capable of browse the most recent choices from a number of exhibitors and sponsors of the occasion, together with Racetrack Tv Community (TRN), Equibase Race Lens, and Shurbred Aftercare Alliance. Nationwide horse racing media additionally supplies stay feeds and recorded segments from the Steve Bikes on the Races and America’s Greatest Racing groups.
The Nationwide Horseplayers Championship is likely one of the nice exhibits within the sport of horse racing. Whether or not you place it in your annual calendar or your bucket checklist, you need to be part of it to win it. Should you’re a horse racing fan and are not attending the NHC, you are lacking out on a very particular annual occasion.
