NHC Las Vegas. (Photo courtesy of NHC)
Record Prize Money and Entries Following Record Last Chance/First Chance Contest
NTRA Charity Challenge Tournament on Saturday and the Silver Sunday Contest
Gillum Returns to Challenge for Second NHC
NTRA Release
LAS VEGAS, Nev.─This year’s NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC), which kicks off Friday, March 14 at Horseshoe Las Vegas, will have a record 800 entries and record cash and prizes totaling $4,878,415, including more than $3 million in cash prizes.
The NHC field and purse were finalized following Thursday’s Last Chance/First Chance qualifier that attracted a record 1,002 entries, a more than 13% increase above last year’s previous record of 884. Thursday’s Last Chance/First Chance Contest yielded 32 coveted berths into this weekend’s NHC and another 14 berths into the 2026 NHC for those who already had two entries into the 2025 NHC.
Kerry Bassore of Albuquerque, New Mexico, won his second seat into the 26th NHC and took home the grand prize of $27,054 in the Last Chance/First Change Contest. Bassore, who put together a mythical bankroll of $154.84, edged Louis Masry of Solana Beach, California, who totaled $154.50. Bassore, who will be playing in his eighth NHC, made his major scores at Fair Grounds, gaining $36.20 in the fifth race and amassing $54.20 on the seventh race on win/place bets at the New Orleans track. He hit a place ticket for $8.04 on Retail Therapy on Turfway Park’s second race, the last race in the contest, which put him over the top.
Thursday’s Last Chance/First Chance Contest required participants to make 11 win-pace wagers from a menu of 28 races from Colonial Downs, Fair Grounds, Gulfstream Park and Turfway Park.
The official prize structure for the NHC Final Table is as follows:
- $ 825,000
- $ 250,000
- $ 200,000
- $ 150,000
- $ 125,000
- $ 90,000
- $ 85,000
- $ 80,000
- $ 75,000
- $ 65,000
The NHC is the world’s richest and most prestigious handicapping contest. NHC participants must qualify into the NHC through an NTRA-sanctioned contest held throughout the year. There are no buy-ins. The tournament format for the NHC is meant to be the best possible test of picking winners. Players attempt to earn the highest possible bankroll based on mythical $2 Win/Place wagers on races from eight racetracks.
The NHC field will be reduced to the top 10% of players after the first two days. The highest 10 cumulative scores after the Semifinal round on Sunday morning will fill out the Final Table. Bankrolls amassed during Day 1, Day 2 and the Semifinals round will roll over to the Final Table, with the 10 finalists settling the NHC score in seven “mandatory” assigned races.
The 26th NHC is presented by Caesars Sportsbook, Horseshoe Las Vegas, and RTN and is supported by official partners Brisnet, Daily Racing Form, EquinEdge, Race Lens and Twinspires. The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) and the Permanent Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF) are the official charities of the NHC.
America’s Best Racing (ABR) kicks off three days of live-streaming coverage from the 2025 NHC tournament floor on Friday beginning at 9am PT/Noon ET. Coverage will continue on Saturday at about 2:30pm PT/5:30 ET, hours before the cutoff for Sunday’s final day. The NHC Final Table coverage will stream live on Sunday beginning at approximately Noon PT/3:00pm ET. The shows can be watched on both NTRA and ABR YouTube, Facebook and X channels. Link to Friday’s stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzjBxnhlUwQ
At the Races with Steve Byk will broadcast live on SiriusXM satellite radio (Sirius 219; XM 201) from the Horseshoe Las Vegas and online at www.stevebyk.com daily, from 9-12 p.m. ET/6-9 a .m. PT on Friday and Monday, with bonus NHC coverage at www.SteveByk.com/listen-live-SiriusXM slated for 2-8 p.m. ET/11 a.m.-5 p.m. PT next Friday-Sunday. America’s Best Racing and Hawthorne Race Course will also be streaming live from the event.
NTRA Charity Challenge Tournament on Saturday and the Silver Sunday Contest
Also a part of the 26th NHC program will be Saturday’s 11th annual $10,000 NHC Charity Challenge presented by NTRA Charities. This invitational contest will benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF) and the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), plus the winner’s own charity of choice. Approximately 100 individuals will be invited to play in the contest, which will encompass eight mandatory races from the NHC tracks on the Saturday program. Contributions of $2,500 will be made to both the PDJF and the TAA in the name of the winner and the winner will select a charity to receive $5,000.
Jamie Haydon, president of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, won last year’s Charity Challenge. Haydon is expected to face these past winners: Jude Feld (2023), Michael Canale (2022), Jimmy McNerney (2021), Jude Feld (2020), Dawn Lupul (2019), Ed DeRosa (2018), and Matt Bernier (2016). Inaugural winner Bob Neumeier passed away in October 2021. Ellis Starr, National Racing Analyst for Equibase and the 2017 Charity Challenge winner, won’t be playing as he is double qualified and participating in the 26th NHC.
All information on the 26th NHC can be found here. To sign up for the 2025 NHC Tour and win your way to next year’s NHC visit towww.ntra.com/membership.
Gillum Returns to Challenge for Second NHC
This year’s NHC is sizing up to be its biggest tournament yet with some 800 entries from an estimated field of more than 600 players representing 43 states and Canada. Among those entered are 13 former champions. Gillum will attempt to become the first-ever two-time winner of the NHC.
Gillum’s journey to his NHC title began in a horse racing family. He grew up in Southport, Indiana, about two hours north of Louisville. His father, a bookmaker, “would drag me to River Downs and Churchill Downs, and would go often. I started picking up tickets off the ground when I was about five or six-years-old. I had a paper route and earned money so I could bet it at the races when I was about 12,” Gillum recalled.
Gillum’s uncle on his mom’s side, also named Mike, owned horses with Norman Casse, Sr., and were trained by Mark Casse. Gillum recalled getting into some Winner’s Circle photos with his family at Churchill. Gillum started playing in handicapping contests in 2010, “Once the tournament scene started to get really big, I got into it,” he said.
He qualified for his first NHC in 2019 and finished in the bottom third of the competition. He qualified again in 2023 and finished 31st. Last year, he built his way to the top with steady winners going into Sunday’s Final Table as he faced off against Day 2 leader Seth Morris. Gillum and Morris were virtually tied going into the last race of the tournament when Gillum picked Sharp Aza Tack, who won Santa Anita Park’s fifth race. Sharp Aza Tack’s $5.20 win and $3.40 place payoffs were enough to make the difference, giving Gillum a $320.10 final total that was good for nearly a $10 margin of victory over Morris, who finished with $310.28.
Gillum reflected on his victory and the overall excitement and intensity of playing in last year’s NHC. He described the atmosphere among horseplayers in the Horseshoe Las Vegas ballroom as starting out quietly with low-key conversations as players were finalizing their selections. “But once those mandatories (required races for all players to play) get going and you hear the whole room cheering and rooting on their horse it’s just so electrifying. To be in the same room with everybody having the same passion for horse racing as I do was just unbelievable. You meet so many friends and once you get there one time you just want to get back there every single year.
“To me it is so special to even qualify for the tournament and be in the same room with the best handicappers in the world and then to actually top them all was just an unbelievable feeling and an accomplishment and memory of a lifetime.”
Gillum and his wife, Amy, have two daughters: Sofia, a doctor, and Olivia, a schoolteacher.
All information on the 26th NHC can be found here including the 2025 Full Schedule of Events, the 2025 Official Rules and more. To sign up for the 2025 NHC Tour and win your way to next year’s NHC visit to www.ntra.com/membership.
