NHC purse to be guaranteed minimum of $1.5 million

by Brisnet.com

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced Friday that the

purse for January's 14th annual Daily Racing Form/NTRA National

Handicapping Championship (NHC) at Treasure Island Las Vegas has been guaranteed

at a minimum of $1.5 million.

The first-place prize at NHC 14 will be approximately 50 percent of the total

purse, but no lower than $750,000. Should sales of NHC 14 seats to qualifying

sites exceed current projections, the NTRA will revise the total and first-place

prize amounts upward.

As previously announced, the total purse for the 2012 DRF NHC Tour has

been raised to $250,000 -- double the total value of the 2011 NHC Tour.

Therefore, cash prizes paid out via NHC 14 and the 2012 NHC Tour will total at

least $1.75 million -- an increase of $117,997, or 7.2 percent, over last

season's combined total of $1,632,003.

Combined with approximately $160,000 in travel and hotel accommodations

provided to NHC qualifiers, the current overall cash and prizes outlay for the

upcoming contest season totals $1.91 million.

"This is the first of what will be several timely updates to our loyal NHC

players on the status of NHC 14," said Keith Chamblin, senior vice president of

the NTRA. "Right now, we want to give players a solid idea of what they will be

playing for next January so they can budget accordingly. We also wanted to

address concerns raised last January that our NHC prize structure was too

top-heavy. We feel that by allocating 50 percent of the overall NHC purse to the

winner rather than 65 percent or so, we will be generously rewarding the winner

while increasing prize levels for those who turn in a strong NHC performance

without quite reaching the top."

In just its 14th year, the DRF/NTRA 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. Each year, the

NHC winner joins other human and equine champions as an honoree at the Eclipse

Awards.

Membership in the 2012 DRF NHC Tour is open to adults 21 years of age

or older and requires a one-time membership fee of $50. Membership in the NHC

Tour is mandatory in order for top finishers of sanctioned NHC qualifying events

to be eligible to compete in the January 2013 NHC Finals in Las Vegas. The NHC

Tour membership must be in place prior to the start of any given qualifying

tournament in order for one to qualify for the NHC Finals at that qualifying

tournament.