Defending champion Stanley Bavlish of Virginia Beach, Va., heads a field of 275 horseplayers who will gather at Red Rock Resort and Casion on January 25-26 to vie for horse racing’s official title of "Handicapper of the Year" and a first-place prize of $500,000 in the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship (NHC).
This year’s National Handicapping Championship will be the richest in the event’s nine-year history, offering estimated total prize money of $1,000,000--$150,000 more than last year. The winner’s share of $500,000 is also an NHC record, eclipsing last year’s mark of $400,000. By way of comparison, the first NHC in January 2000 carried a total prize pool of $200,000 and a winner’s share of $100,000.
"We are delighted to be hosting our first ever million-dollar DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship," said Keith Chamblin, senior vice president of communications and industry relations for the NTRA. “The purse money for the NHC has grown tremendously in recent years, which speaks to the tournament’s immense popularity among both horseplayers and qualifying sites."
As the 2007 DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship winner, Stanley Bavlish received a special exemption into the tournament to defend the title he won last January when he bested 254 other horseplayers in the two-day competition. The 55-year-old Bavlish, an owner of three Subway restaurants, won by amassing a mythical bankroll of $189.20 from a total of 30 $2 win-and-place wagers pared from a mind-numbing menu of more than 120 races run at six different tracks.
In just its ninth year, the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship 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 racebooks, off-track betting facilities and horse racing and handicapping Web sites, each of which sends its top qualifiers to the national finals. This year’s finalists advanced from one of 87 local tournaments held at more than 50 different sites across North America from February through December 2007.
So far, more than 100,000 people have participated in these local tournaments. In addition, a "last chance" tournament will be held at Red Rock on January 23 in order to fill the remaining three starting berths in the field of 275.
The tournament format for the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship is meant to be the best possible test of overall handicapping ability. Players attempt to earn the highest possible bankroll based on 15 mythical $2 win-and-place wagers on each day of the two-day tournament. Eight of those wagers will be on mandatory races as selected by a panel comprised of Daily Racing Form National Handicapper Mike Watchmaker, NTRA Senior Director of Media Relations Eric Wing and Red Rock Casino Director of Race and Sports Jason McCormick.
The remaining seven races each day are optional plays to be made on races at one of seven designated NHC tournament tracks: Aqueduct, Fair Grounds, Golden Gate Fields, Gulfstream Park, Oaklawn Park, Santa Anita Park and Tampa Bay Downs.
There is also an additional $46,500 in prize money to be awarded incrementally to the five best finishers on each day.
Regular Championship updates will be posted on the Internet throughout the two-day contest at both www.ntra.com and www.drf.com.
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Morgan Gaspard
Public Relations Manager
Station Casinos, Inc.
(702) 495-4261
morgan.gaspard@stationcasinos.com