How to Qualify for the NHC

The National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) is the ultimate prize for contest players. Each year, horseplayers compete for seats in Las Vegas, and one of the most popular paths is the Friday feeder contest.

Unlike live contests where you can adjust your picks race by race, Friday’s format is unique: you submit all ten picks before the first race and you cannot change them. This format is also more commonly known as Pick & Pray!

You make your picks and hope for the best.

This Pick & Pray format has a massive impact on strategy, and it means your success comes down to how you build your card ahead of time.

Understanding the Friday Format

The contest costs $75 to enter and features ten mandatory races. You choose one horse in each race, and your score is based on mythical $2 win/place payouts with caps: $42 for a win, $22 for a place.

If your horse wins, you collect both the win and place payoffs; if it runs second, you earn only the place payout. The caps are designed to prevent bomb-hunting alone, but they still reward players who can identify live longshots with a real chance to win.

Just head over to horseplayers.com and you will be able to buy your Friday entry. Sometimes, qualifying for the NHC will take place on horsetourneys.com, but every Friday NHC contest is held at horseplayers.com.

You also have to be a member of the NHC Tour in order to be eligible to win a seat to the NHC. So if you want to play on a Friday and try to win your seat, don't forget to become a member of the tour first. You can find out more at www.ntra.com.

On Fridays, you can buy as many as 3 entries, but you can only win one entry to the NHC at a time.

Sometimes I see people play the same horses for two different entries, but as said before it is a waste of money since you can only win one seat at a time for the NHC.

Other contests you can play the same horses on two different tickets and win multiple seats, but the NHC has different rules and allows for winning only one seat at a time.

What Score Usually Wins?

In large Friday fields (350–500 players), the typical winning score falls in the $120 to $135 range. On a lower-scoring day, $80 to $100 might be enough, while on a high-scoring day the winner may post $140 to $170.

With fixed picks, you cannot react during the contest, so you must design your card to give yourself a realistic path to land in that $120–$135 sweet spot, while still having upside into the $150+ range.

Building Your Ten-Race Card Because you must lock in all picks before the first race, balance is key.

The most effective mix is:

• 2–3 live overlays in the 8-1 to 15-1 range (your seat equity)

• 6–7 mid-priced horses in the 3-1 to 6-1 range (your scoring glue)

• 0–1 heavy favorite (only if it’s a true free square)

Why this works: two capped winners ($64 each) = $128, already in the winning zone. One capped winner plus two mid-priced wins (~$64 + $18 + $18) = ~$100, which is competitive. Add another place or mid-priced win, and you’re right in the $120–$135 range.

That’s the profile of most winning totals.

Fixed Picks vs. Live Contests

In a live contest, you can adjust as the day unfolds—chasing prices if you fall behind or playing safer if you’re ahead. Friday feeders don’t allow that luxury. You must build your volatility into the ticket from the start.

That means:

• Don’t play it too safe with all mid-prices—you’ll rarely hit the top.

• Don’t go all-in on longshots either—too many zeroes kills your score.

• Structure your picks so you have multiple paths to land in the $120–$135 zone, with some upside if your overlays pop.

Finding the Right Horses

The key to Friday success is identifying 8-1 to 15-1 types that are “live” rather than hopeless.

Here are angles to look for:

• Pace leverage (lone speed or a perfect trip setup)

• Trip upgrades (troubled last time, better draw today)

• Surface/condition switches (first-time turf, off-track pedigree)

• Barn patterns (second off layoff, sharp work, rider upgrade)

These are the horses that produce capped scores without relying on luck alone.

Friday’s fixed-pick contest is a different animal than live play. You must design your card before the first race and live with it, which means your lineup construction is everything.

Aim for a realistic path to $120–$135, with two or three longshot stabs balanced by logical mid-priced contenders. On any given Friday, that formula gives you multiple ways to get to Vegas—and that’s the goal.