The NTRA’s National Horseplayers Championship [NHC] is ready to reconvene in Las Vegas for the 26^th time with the finals set for Friday through Sunday, March 14-16. The NHC handicapping tournament is the culmination of a year-long series of contests that crowns the next Eclipse Award winner for Horseplayer of the Year. The three-day event will award purse money of roughly $3 million plus travel awards, $345,000 in prize money for the NHC Tour, and other payouts that bring the total purse of the event up to over $4 million.

The top prize in all of Thoroughbred handicapping will be up for grabs amongst an estimated field of roughly 800 qualifying entries from all across North America (approximately 625 individuals including players that have qualified twice). They will battle it out in the three-day NHC main event at the Horseshoe Las Vegas, which will host for the fifth year in its massive 40,000-square-foot Events Center.

The finalists earned their trips to the NHC with wins or top finishes in hundreds of contests held throughout 2024 and early 2025 at 33 different tournament partners including racetracks, race books, online tournament qualifying websites, advance deposit wagering platforms (ADWs), and other racing organizations and media outlets. The complete NHC field will be rounded out by the top finishers in Thursday’s on-site NHC Last Chance/First Chance Contest where a record field of roughly 1,000 entries is expected.

NHC contestants will compete to compile the highest earnings based on mythical win-and-place wagers throughout the three days of the tournament on races from top simulcast signals like Aqueduct, Colonial Downs, Fair Grounds, Gulfstream Park, Oaklawn Park, Santa Anita Park, Tampa Bay Downs, and Turfway Park. The top 10 percent of the players in the standings after betting on a total of 36 mandatory and optional races during Friday and Saturday’s action will make the cut, advancing to Sunday morning’s final and deciding round of play. The top 10 scorers as of Sunday afternoon will then square-off at the “Final Table” to decide the championship on Sunday afternoon.

All players who make the cut – the top 80 in an 800-entry contest – will earn a share of the prize money, with $800,000 expected to go to the winner. Everyone who makes the cut will win at least $10,000, with the amounts gradually increasing with every higher placing. If the prize structure mirrors last year, the second- through fifth-place finishers will take home $250,000 for second, $200,000 for third, $150,000 for fourth, and $125,000 for fifth.

The NHC field will include handicappers from 47 states and Canada who will be seeking to unseat reigning champion Mike Gillum from Fishers, Ind., who topped a field of 776 entries to win $800,000 in the March 2024 NHC finals. Gillum will defend his title against a field containing 13 past NHC champions attempting to become the first ever two-time winner of the event. They are Paul Calia (2023), David Harrison (2022), Justin Mustari (2021), Scott Coles (2019), Chris Littlemore (2018), Ray Arsenault (2017), Paul Matties Jr. (2016), Jim Benes (2013), Michael Beychok (2012), Stanley Bavlish (2007), Steve Wolfson Jr. (2003), and Judy Wagner (2001).

Also in the field will be NHC Hall of Famers Sally Goodall, Dave Gutfreund, Paul Sherman, Bill Shurman, Trey Stiles, Roger Cettina, Kevin “Duke” Matties, Jim Meeks, Dennis Decauwer, Brett Wiener, and also new NHC Hall of Famers – Jim Benes of La Grange, Ill. and Cheryl McIntyre of Massillon, Ohio.

Many players in the NHC are multiple-year qualifiers including a sizable contingent of players that have qualified 10 years or more, however, the story of the NHC is not all about veterans. The recently concluded NHC Tour included 410 rookie players, 20 of whom qualified for the NHC. In total, the NHC will include 97 first-time finalists including the 20 rookie qualifiers led by Michael Abernathy of Port Charlotte, Fla., who was the winner of the 2024 Jim Nace NHC Tour Rookie of the Year award as the top-scoring first-year player on the NHC Tour.

The youngest competitor in the field is 24-year-old Carson Matties, 24, of Laguna Beach, Calif., and the oldest player in the field will be George Meachem, 85, of Greeley, Colo. The most experienced players in the field will be Sally Goodall, Paul Shurman, and Trey Stiles, hall of famers that have now qualified for the NHC 23 times.

Brett Wiener of Clearwater, Fla., who won the 2024 NHC Tour, will be competing for a $5 million bonus if he goes on to win the unprecedented NHC Tour/ NHC finals double in the same season.

Handicappers cannot buy an entry to play in the NHC. Players must join the NTRA’s NHC Tour and win a spot with a high finish in an NTRA-sanctioned contest. Qualifying for next year’s NHC finals is already open. For more information and to join the NHC Tour, go to www.ntra.com/nhc.