The National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) is the richest and most prestigious annual handicapping tournament of all. It is the culmination of the NHC Tour, a year-long series of NTRA-sanctioned contests and tournaments held across the United States and Canada at racetracks, racebooks, ADW websites, and tournament qualifying websites that send their top finishers to the national finals in Las Vegas where they compete for a prize money and awards valued in excess of $4 million. The NHC winner is also honored with an Eclipse Award as Handicapper of the Year.

Here are some facts things every handicapper should know about the National Horseplayers Championship and the NHC Tour.

1) Where and When

The Event Center at Horseshoe Las Vegas (NTRA photo)

The 27th annual NTRA National Horseplayers Championship will take place on March 13-15, 2026, at the Horseshoe Las Vegas in the center of the Strip. The venue is the Horseshoe’s 40,000 square-foot Events Center, which serves as host for the seventh straight year dating back to when the property was known as Bally’s. Previously the NHC has been held at several other Las Vegas locations in its history, including MGM Grand, the Red Rock, and Treasure Island.

2) How to qualify

You cannot buy an entry into the NHC. You must earn a qualifying berth with a win or high finish in a contest or contests on the NHC Tour, or accumulate enough points on the NHC Tour to earn a spot. The first step is to become a member of the NHC Tour by going to www.NTRA.com/NHC and signing up. The cost of an annual membership is $50 and that entitles you to participate in as many qualifying contests as you like throughout the year. Many racetracks host handicapping tournaments, but the majority of qualifying now takes place online on tournament websites such as HorsePlayers.com and HorseTourneys.com.

3) What happens when you qualify?

NHC Tour members can earn up to two seats in the NHC Finals. The number of NHC Tour members is in the thousands but only approximately 600 individual players accounting for over 800 entries will comprise the field for the NHC finals in Las Vegas. The NHC finals is an in-person-only event and players cannot participate remotely, so all of those 600 finalists need to make their way to Las Vegas each year. As a perk to all qualifiers, every player receives a complementary hotel room at the host property for the duration of the tournament and qualifying locations and websites provide their winners with travel allowances to pay for flights. The NHC hotel and travel awards part of the prize pool currently exceeds $1 million.

4) Is it too late to participate in the 2026 NHC?

The next finals of the NHC are fast approaching on March 13-15, but it’s still not too late to qualify. NHC Tour memberships can be purchased year-round and tournaments are continually being hosted online that can get you qualified for the upcoming NHC until March 6. Racetracks including Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park, Santa Anita Park, Laurel Park, Lone Star Park, Sam Houston Race Park, Oaklawn Park, and Tampa Bay Downs will host last-chance tournaments. Tournament entry fees can go as high as $1,000 or more, but more economical opportunities still exist to play for a qualifying spot for as little as $75.

If you still haven’t made it into the field when the NHC rolls around, you still will have one final mega chance to get into the finals by playing in the NHC Last Chance/First Chance Contest on the eve of the NHC, live at Horseshoe Las Vegas. The NHC Last Chance/First Chance on March 12 costs $600 to enter and will be one of the biggest handicapping tournaments of the year in its own right with as many as 1,000 entries expected to compete for cash prizes as well as an estimated 45 final available qualifying berths into either the 2026 or 2027 finals of the NHC.

5) NHC purse and prize structure

More than $4 million will be awarded (NTRA photo)

The NHC is renowned for its huge purse structure and big payouts to a large number of players each year. The purse of the 2026 NHC again will exceed $4 million, including prize money paid to the top finishers on the NHC Tour. With prize money like that being offered at a handicapping tournament, plus an Eclipse Award, it’s no wonder why so many horseplayers assign so much priority to qualifying into the NHC year after year after year.

The NHC is a three-day event held from Friday through Sunday. The top 10% of players in the NHC finals after the first two days of the tournament will make the cut and advance to play in the Sunday morning round that cuts the field down again to the final 10. Every player still playing on Sunday is guaranteed at least a $10,000 cash prize that increases on a sliding scale with more money paid out for each higher placing all the way up to $50,000 for 11th place.

At last year’s 2025 finals of the NHC, the total field was slightly more than 800 entries, so the top 80 scorers all made the cut and earned at least $10,000 apiece. The top 10 scorers advance to the Final Table to battle it out for the really big bucks. First place in 2025 paid $825,000, with $250,000 for second, $200,000 for third, $150,000 for fourth, $125,000 for fifth, $90,000 for sixth, $85,000 for seventh, $80,000 for eighth, $75,000 for ninth, and $65,000 for 10th. All players that don’t make the cut advance to a separate Sunday start-over tournament with a $100,000 purse.

6) The rules of the game

The NHC is a traditional mythical money-style handicapping tournament. Entrants attempt to accumulate the highest pari-mutuel winnings by making a mixture of 15-18 daily optional and mandatory $2 win-and-place bets a day on the races from several of the season’s top racetracks such as Aqueduct, Fair Grounds, Gulfstream Park, Oaklawn Park, Santa Anita, and more. It’s not unusual for NHC players to find themselves handicapping 70 or 80 races a day to find their plays. Many of the most successful players in the history of the NHC employ a strategy of picking mainly longshots.

7) The NHC scene

The National Horseplayers Championship is a high-stakes event (NTRA photo)

The National Horseplayers Championship is more than just a handicapping tournament. It is an annual event that brings together serious horseplayers from all over North America for a weekend of enjoying our favorite pastime. It is a chance for horseplayers to immerse themselves in an electric environment surrounded by people who share their passion for horse racing and gambling, where handicappers renew friendships and acquaintances and enjoy the camaraderie of people who share the same hobby. The tournament room is a hive of kinetic activity surrounded by giant screens dedicated exclusively to horse racing from tracks all over the country.

The tournament itself is the centerpiece of an event that encompasses much more than just playing the races. Finalists are treated to a welcome cocktail party on Thursday night and the whole event wraps up with an awards banquet dinner on Sunday. In between, players enjoy complimentary breakfasts and lunches Friday through Sunday, free Daily Racing Forms and other handicapping materials, and assorted swag from the NTRA as a part of their welcome packet. Players can browse the latest offerings of several exhibitors and sponsors of the event, including Racetrack Television Network (TRN), Equibase Race Lens, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, and more. National horse racing media is also on hand including live feeds and taped segments from Steve Byk At the Races and the team at America’s Best Racing.

The National Horseplayers Championship is one of the great showpieces involved in the sport of horse racing. Whether you put it on your annual calendar or on your bucket list, you’ve got to be in it in order to win it. If you are a horseplayer and you are not at the NHC, you are missing out on a truly special annual event.