Contact: Jim Mulvihill, NTRA Communications, (859) 422-2663, jmulvihill@NTRA.com

$3 MILLION NHC TOUR BONUS WILL BE A

‘ROLLING’ DOUBLE FOR BCBC, NHC WINNERS

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Monday, December 5, 2016) – The $3 million NHC Tour Bonus – the largest prize ever offered in the handicapping contest world – added a new twist when the National Thoroughbred Racing Association today announced that the winner of January’s Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship (NHC) in Las Vegas will be eligible for a $3 million bonus if he or she goes on to win the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge at Del Mar.

This year’s BCBC winner, Joe Appelbaum, is already eligible for the bonus should he win NHC 17. Today’s announcement makes the NHC Tour Bonus a “rolling” double, as every BCBC and NHC winner will be eligible as long as they win each major contest successively, but in either order.

NHC 18 is set for January 27-29 at Treasure Island Las Vegas. The 2017 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge will be held Nov. 3-4 and based at the Breeders’ Cup host site, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club near San Diego.

Appelbaum earned $364,000 at this year’s BCBC and first prize at the NHC is $800,000, meaning that successful completion of the NHC Tour Double would be worth more than $4.164 million. Players must be current members of the NHC Tour ($50) to be eligible to win the lucrative bonus.

Qualifying for the NHC continues through January in scores of contests held on-site and exclusively online at NHCqualify.com. In its 18th year, the 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. There are no bye-ins to the NHC. Each year, the NHC winner joins other human and equine champions as an honoree at the Eclipse Awards. In addition to the founding title sponsor, Daily Racing Form, the NHC is presented by Racetrack Television Network and Treasure Island Las Vegas.

For more information on the NHC Tour and a complete contest schedule, visit NTRA.com/nhc.

Now entering its ninth year, the $1 million-estimated BCBC has become one of the most sought after prizes on the tournament calendar. The BCBC, which offers 15 seats to the NHC in addition to cash prizes, is a highly lucrative and exclusive live bankroll handicapping contest with a $10,000 buy-in required to participate. Players enjoy first class access to the two best days of racing in the world with VIP seats that include buffet lunch each day and other amenities. Online and on-site qualifying tournaments, offering $10,000 berths into the BCBC as prizes, continue throughout the summer and fall leading to the November Breeders’ Cup. For more on the BCBC, visit www.breederscup.com/bcbc.

About the NTRA

The NTRA, based in Lexington, Ky., is a broad-based coalition of more than 100 horse racing interests and thousands of individual stakeholders consisting of horseplayers, racetrack operators, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with increasing the popularity, welfare and integrity of Thoroughbred racing through consensus-based leadership, legislative advocacy, safety and integrity initiatives, fan engagement and corporate partner development. The NTRA owns and manages the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance, NTRA.com, the Eclipse Awards, the National Handicapping Championship, NTRA Advantage, a corporate partner sales and sponsorship program, and Horse PAC, a federal political action committee. NTRA press releases appear on NTRA.com, Twitter (@ntra) and Facebook (facebook.com/1NTRA).

About Breeders’ Cup

The Breeders’ Cup administers the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing’s year-end Championships. The Breeders’ Cup also administers the Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying series, which provides automatic starting positions into the Championships races. The 2016 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, consisting of 13 grade I races and purses and awards totaling $28 million, will be held November 4-5 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., and will be televised live by the NBC Sports Group. Breeders’ Cup press releases appear on the Breeders’ Cup Web site, www.breederscup.com. You can also follow the Breeders’ Cup on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube

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