At the conclusion of the Final Table on Sunday, total cash prizes offered over the three days come to $3,013,550. The top 77 are guaranteed money with that final finisher receiving $10,150.

The top five payouts are:
First Place–$800,000
Second Place–$250,000
Third Place–$200,000
Fourth Place–$150,000
Fifth Place–$125,000

Along with following the leaderboard action through At the Races with Steve Byk, new to the NHC will be a Final Table livestream, co-hosted by Byk and Rick Hammerle, that can be found on the NTRA's X handle, YouTube channel and on their website for the final seven races of the contest.

Click here for more information.

The post 2024 National Horseplayers Championship Official Prize Structure Released, Leaderboard Links Available appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Running from July 15 through Sept. 4, Byk will select the weekend stakes races that comprise that week's promotion and announce them his show and on his Twitter page. During the initial promotional period, there will be 17 chances to qualify to the Beat Byk NHC Online Qualifier on September 16. Listeners will be encouraged to either use Byk's selection to win the featured race or try to 'Beat Byk' by selecting another horse.

Those who correctly select the winning horse in each round will advance to a NHC “Beat Byk” online qualifier on September 16. Participants may qualify only once during the promotional period. The winner of the “Beat Byk” online qualifier will represent “At the Races” at the 2024 NHC where qualifiers will be celebrating the NHC's 25th anniversary at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.

NHC Tour membership is required to compete in the September NHC online qualifier. Complete rules for the Beat Byk Challenge can be found on the NTRA website.

The post Fifth Annual Beat Byk NHC Challenge Promotion To Return in July appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Last week, Byk asked for my opinion on the Gl Preakness. My choices, I told him, were Early Voting (Gun Runner) and Secret Oath. There were plenty of reasons and handicapping angles for which to like Early Voting, entering the Preakness on a similar path traveled by his connections' 2017 Preakness winner Cloud Computing, a first-crop Classic winner for Maclean's Music. But my primary reason for picking Early Voting, like Taiba in the Derby, was all about Gun Runner. “I just think, Steve, that Gun Runner is such a good stallion, and he's going to get a first-crop Classic winner,” I'd said.

Early Voting defeated race favorite Epicenter (Not This Time) to land the Classic, his first top-level win.

After the race, Steve Asmussen, who trains Preakness and Derby runner-up Epicenter and conditioned Gun Runner, told the Pimlico media team: “The silver lining on that is Gun Runner is probably the greatest sire of all time. He's incredible.”

That's hyperbole, of course, but Gun Runner is certainly on a special trajectory, and who knows? Before Early Voting, Gun Runner had already sired four Grade l winners from his first crop, and now he has an astonishing five, with plenty of racing yet to come for his 3-year-olds, who could become even better at four and five, as he did. Gun Runner didn't win his first top-level race until late in his 3-year-old season, and at four he was outstanding, winning four Grade l events. At five, he won the Gl Pegasus World Cup in January before entering stud at Three Chimneys, which campaigned the horse with Winchell Thoroughbreds, the owner of Epicenter.

Could Gun Runner end up with six or seven Grade l winners from his first crop? It's a jaw-dropping possibility, but having five already is heady enough. With the massive books stallions cover these days, it's unfair to compare horses from different eras purely by first-crop Grade I winners, but suffice to say Gun Runner has sired more of them than any other active sire in North America, which includes such outstanding stallions as Into Mischief, Tapit, War Front, Curlin, Uncle Mo, Quality Road, Speightstown, Medaglia d'Oro, and his own sire, Candy Ride (Arg), who got four in his first crop.

In a different era, Gainesway's Blushing Groom (Fr), a foal of 1974, sired five first-crop Grade/Group 1 winners, and in Europe, the iconic Sadler's Wells, a foal of 1981, got six. More recently, Sadler's Wells's son Montjeu (Ire), a foal of 1996, got five Northern Hemisphere-bred Group 1 winners from his first crop, and Frankel (GB), who was born in 2008 and is by Sadler's Wells's greatest sire son, Galileo (Ire), got six. This isn't necessarily a comprehensive list, but it paints the picture of the company that Gun Runner is rubbing shoulders with as his stud career unfolds, and it's safe to say he's sired his first five Grade l winners quicker than any of them. All of these named here with five or more also sired a first-crop Classic winner.

Sire Line
Most stallions tend to have their best results in their first crops. Three Chimneys is certainly aware of this, having stood Slew o' Gold, who got four Grade l winners in his first crop and nothing thereafter approaching that level of success. Exceptional stallions, however, will gut it out with their second, third, and fourth crops and rebound as they get better mares again.

Likewise, exceptional sires will sometimes appear from unlikely branches of major stallions. This was the case with California-bred Tiznow, the broodmare sire of Early Voting. Tiznow was sired by the stakes-placed California stallion Cee's Tizzy, a son of the In Reality horse Relaunch.

More recently, Uncle Mo is such an example. His California-bred sire Indian Charlie was by California-based In Excess (Ire), a son of the Caro (Ire) stallion Siberian Express.

Both Caro and In Reality were outstanding sires who had a number of top sons at stud, but the existence of their lines in North America now runs through obscure branches that resuscitated them after the bigger names failed to carry on the lines. The same paradigm is true for Gun Runner, who traces to Fappiano through the sequence Candy Ride/Ride the Rails/Cryptoclearance/Fappiano.

Fappiano is mainly represented in North America through Unbridled's sire sons Empire Maker and Unbridled's Song, both of whom are now dead. Empire Maker's son Pioneerof the Nile, also dead, is the sire of American Pharoah, while Unbridled's Song's son Arrogate, also dead, is the sire of Secret Oath. Candy Ride, who entered stud for only $10,000, improbably brought his branch of Fappiano to the fore to compete with the established lines of Fappiano, and now his son Gun Runner is blowing it up to a level that may surpass the tail-male influences of Empire Maker and Unbridled's Song. And Gun Runner isn't the only one; Candy Ride is also the sire of the excellent Twirling Candy–responsible for last year's Preakness winner Rombauer– plus a bunch of other young stallions with runners on the way.

Here's something else that makes this story even more interesting: Bred by Haras Abolengo, Candy Ride, who isn't a particularly eye-catching or sizable individual, had several veterinary issues and twice failed examinations before selling to Gumercindo Alonzo for the equivalent of $12,000 as a yearling. Nonetheless, he was an exceptional if brittle racehorse, undefeated in three starts in Argentina and three starts in North America.

At stud, Candy Ride had a great affinity for mares with Storm Cat in their pedigrees, and Gun Runner, who's from a Giant's Causeway mare, is one such example.

This same affinity for Storm Cat is evident in Gun Runner's early success as well. Early Voting's second dam is by Storm Cat, who's also in the pedigrees of two other Grade l winners by the stallion. In fact, five of Gun Runner's Graded winners have Storm Cat in their pedigrees, and altogether six of his 11 black-type winners do.

After Gun Runner was first retired to Three Chimneys, I had the opportunity to inspect him and was struck by how balanced he was, so much so that he didn't appear to the eye to be as tall as the 16.2 hands he is. At the time, he was five and had furnished significantly from his days as a somewhat immature-looking 3-year-old, but nonetheless he carried some refinement to him that seemed as if it would complement more muscular physiques, like the ones provided by Storm Cat. It made sense then, and judging by results, it makes sense now.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

The post Taking Stock: Gun Runner in Heady Company appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Inaugurated in 2012, the Handleman Award honors outstanding media coverage of the Grade 1 Haskell, Monmouth Park's premier race. It is presented annually prior to the Haskell.

“Steve's dedication to the sport, his passion for it and his ability to popularize Thoroughbred racing on a national platform were reflected in his broadcasts of the 2019 Haskell,” said John. F. Heims, Monmouth Park's Director of Racing and Racing Secretary. “Racing fans have learned that he is a 'must-listen' for any big race on the calendar.”

The first recipient of the Handleman Award was Tom Luicci of The Star-Ledger, followed by Steve Edelson of The Asbury Park Press in 2013, Dave Johnson of Sirius XM in 2014, Ed McNamara of Newsday in 2015, Bob Ehalt of ESPN.com and Bloodhorse in 2016, Tom Cassidy of TVG.com in 2017, Jim Dunleavy of Daily Racing Form in 2018 and Mike Farrell of The Associated Press last year.

In 2003, Byk also launched the still-active DerbyTrial.com, which features his writing, editorials and race previews. He has been a contributor to Bloodhorse since 2004 and began hosting “At The Races With Steve Byk” on Sirius Satellite Radio in 2007.

The post Steve Byk Wins 2020 Bill Handleman Memorial Award For Haskell Coverage appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Inaugurated in 2012, the Handleman Award honors outstanding media coverage of the Haskell.

“Steve’s dedication to the sport, his passion for it and his ability to popularize Thoroughbred racing on a national platform were reflected in his broadcasts of the 2019 Haskell,” said John. F. Heims, Monmouth Park’s Director of Racing and Racing Secretary. “Racing fans have learned that he is a ‘must-listen’ for any big race on the calendar.”

The award honors the late Bill Handleman, one of New Jersey’s top sportswriters for nearly three decades for the Asbury Park Press.

Monmouth Park also announced that it has been authorized to put an additional 500 general admission tickets on sale for Saturday’s TVG.com Haskell Stakes, with the release of those tickets starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at www.monmouthpark.com.

The post Steve Byk Wins Handleman Memorial Award from Monmouth Park appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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