The NTRA National Equestrian Championship is getting ready for its 24th re-convening in Las Vegas with finals set for Friday through Sunday, March 10-12.
The NHC Disability Tournament is the culmination of a year-long series of competitions to find the winner of the next outstanding Disability Eclipse Award. The three-day event will also award wallet prizes worth approximately $3 million.
The top prize of all Purebred handicaps will be awarded to a school with an estimated 760 qualifying entries (approximately 625 individuals including players who have qualified twice) who will battle it out in the three-day NHC main event at Horseshoe Las Vegas (formerly Bally’s). Central Strip Resort and Casino will host the event for the fourth year in a row at the 40,000-square-foot event center.
The finalists earn a trip to Vegas with the highest win or finish in competitions held throughout 2022 on qualifying tournament sites, as well as at off-road tracks and venues. racetracks in the United States and Canada. The NHC 2023 field will include 143 “rookies” who have qualified for the first time.
NHC contestants will attempt to aggregate the highest earnings based on legendary win-and-play bets over the course of three days of the tournament across races from the season’s top simulated broadcast signals including aqueduct, Fair Grounds Racecourse & Slots, Golden Gate Fields, Gulfstream Park, laurel park, Oaklawn Park, Santa Anita . ParkAnd Tampa . Bay.
The top 10% of players after Friday and Saturday’s action will qualify, progressing to the finals and decisive matchday on Sunday. The final top 10 scorers will play against each other in the “Final Group” to decide the championship on Sunday afternoon. All the players who make it through the qualifiers — the top 76 in the 760-competition contest — will earn a portion of the prize money, with an expected first prize of $750,000 for the winner. All those who make it through the qualifiers will win at least $10,000 in prize money, with the amount increasing with each higher position.
The NHC represents a unique bonus opportunity for equine players. In total, an estimated $3 million in prizes will be distributed to NHC tournament players, with $300,000 in prizes determined based on the results of the NHC Tour — a point race. One-year duration is determined by players’ results in qualifying NHC events. The 2022 NHC Tour winner was Jay Johns, 59, of Meridian, Idaho, who won the Tour’s top prize of $75,000 in cash. Johns becomes 15th NHC Tour Champion. He will play in his ninth consecutive NHC final and qualify for a $5 million bonus if he goes on to win the event. of NHC this year. In total, 5,500 players competed on the NHC Tour in 2022.
NHC field XXIV will look to beat defending champion David Harrison, a 64-year-old real estate appraiser from the Rochester suburb of Webster, NY, who beat the field 643 entries in the NHC finals of the year. last. Several other previous champions will compete to be the first to win the event twice, including Justin Mustari, 28, of Des Plaines, Ill., who became the youth champion in the event’s history as he wins in 2021. Also in this field will be 2020 winners Thomas Goldsmith, 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), plus NHC Hall of Famers Sally Goodall, Dave Gutfreund, Paul Sherman, Trey Stiles, Roger Cettina and Christopher Larmey.
The handicapper cannot purchase an item to play in the NHC. You must participate in the NTRA NHC Tour and earn a high-performance position in an NTRA-approved competition. Qualifiers for the next NHC finals in 2024 have opened.
For the full schedule of NHC Disability events and to join the NHC Tour, click here.
