If in case you have ever participated within the Nationwide Horseplayers Championship (NHC) or the NHC Tour, two of the folks you’ve undoubtedly, and unforgettably, are available in contact with are Michele Ravencraft and Holly Brief. Collectively, they’re the highest two operational directors of the NTRA’s signature handicapping match chargeable for yearly awarding match gamers greater than $3 million in purse cash and the Eclipse Award for Handicapper of the 12 months.
The twenty seventh annual NHC is able to kick off on March 13-15, 2026, at Horseshoe Las Vegas. Most match gamers already understand that the occasion couldn’t go off with no hitch the best way it does if it weren’t for the efforts and professionalism of “Michele and Holly,” as they’re affectionately identified. Underneath the management of NTRA Chief Working Officer Keith Chamblin, Ravencraft and Brief and the remainder of the NTRA employees handle the monumental operational and administrative endeavor of placing on the present annually on the NHC – and annually, with out fail, they earn exceptionally excessive marks.
The NHC principal occasion in Las Vegas really is simply the tip of the iceberg for Michele and Holly. The dynamic duo runs the NHC qualifying course of and the NHC Tour as a year-round endeavor.
Ravencraft is the senior vice chairman of occasions for the NTRA and is charged with overseeing each the NHC and NHC Tour. Michele updates the NHC Tour Leaderboard year-round and works with NHC handicappers every day. Ravencraft has greater than 20 years of expertise working on the NHC.
Brief is the NTRA director of selling and occasions who is commonly often called the “e-mail woman,” in control of a lot of the communication between the NTRA and NHC individuals. She has been with the NTRA since 2017 and works tirelessly to make annually’s NHC larger and higher than the 12 months earlier than.
America’s Finest Racing caught up with Michele and Holly within the days main as much as the beginning of the 2026 NHC to get their ideas on the annual match, and the roles they play in it.
Describe the pleasure you are taking within the NHC. What does the occasion imply to you?
Michele: I’d say serving to the NHC develop from 200 entries to over 800 entries through the years is my greatest accomplishment. I’ve been working on the NTRA and with the NHC since 2003, and I’ve seen it develop during the last 20 years and am very pleased with what it has turn into.
I really like working with the match administrators from throughout the nation. They deserve a variety of the credit score. Working contests and the customer support part isn’t simple. All of them do an incredible job and are enthusiastic about what they do. I admire their assist of the NHC.
Holly: Every time somebody asks me what I do, I say, ‘I get to assist create an ecosystem that celebrates lots of of horseplayers yearly. I get to make them really feel like an important particular person within the room and hopefully present a significant expertise they are going to always remember and yearn to expertise once more.’
We all know the time dedication that contests require and know that the time of the members and qualifiers of the NHC could be very treasured. Individuals have jobs, households, and duties, and understanding that that is one thing value spending their time on isn’t one thing I take frivolously. I need to work each day to honor that.
I’m proud in regards to the neighborhood that the gamers have created for themselves. It’s actually particular, and it’s so laborious to elucidate to somebody who hasn’t skilled it. I at all times say I need everybody to be a fly on the wall on the NHC since you simply don’t get it till you see it for your self.
What are your favourite issues in regards to the NHC and your job administering the competition?
Michele: I’ve been working with the NHC for greater than 20 years, and I can inform you it’s my favourite a part of my job on the NTRA. Horseplayers are extraordinary folks. I’ve been fortunate to know hundreds of them all through my time working with the NHC and NHC Tour through the years. It’s given me a variety of pleasure. It’s a job that I really feel proud to be a part of. As I inform everybody I do know, NHC weekend is my favourite weekend of the 12 months!
Holly: I really like the NHC. It has launched me to so many fascinating those who I might by no means have been uncovered to in any other case. How many individuals get to say their job is to speak to horseplayers each day and award tens of millions of {dollars}? That’s a lot extra enjoyable than sitting in a cubicle. We at all times speak with folks over e-mail and telephone, however to get to shake somebody’s hand and put the faces with the names in particular person is nice. That is my tenth NHC and I like seeing folks 12 months after 12 months and getting glimpses of the folks’s lives. I can actually really feel the vitality that’s within the room on the NHC in my bones. It’s an adrenaline rush that sustains me by the occasion till the flight residence. It’s laborious for me to search out one other program in our trade that has the expansion and the longevity of the NHC (27 years).
What are your least favourite issues?
Michele: I’ve needed to spend a while away from my daughter touring prior to now when the NHC and Eclipse Awards had been in January. Generally we didn’t have a Christmas tree. However now my daughter understands, and I’m glad to say she is a fairly good handicapper.
Additionally, I’ve heard hundreds of dangerous beats in these contests. I actually root for everybody to make it to the NHC. In my view, It’s an unforgettable expertise for a horseplayer.
Holly: I’m in Vegas for 12 days and with the time distinction and the way busy we’re, it’s laborious being away from my household and it’s laborious to attach as soon as the occasion begins. The worst half is when one thing goes incorrect. We plan and plan and plan, however typically, issues occur. We by no means need anybody to be upset or have a foul contest expertise. It stays with us. I’ll dream in regards to the NHC for weeks earlier than and after the occasion. It’s often simply lists and faces, however man, it’s exhausting!
How a lot effort and time goes into the preparation for the Championship in Las Vegas. Does it ever get outdated?
Michele: Managing the NHC and NHC Tour is the principle a part of my job. There may be not a time off. However is it actually a job? I like it. I’ve an incredible workforce on the NTRA. Everybody contributes to its success annually. It takes the entire workforce. Keith Chamblin has been with the NTRA because the inception of the NTRA and NHC. It wouldn’t be the place it’s now with out him. Additionally, I couldn’t do that with out Holly. She retains me and the NHC qualifiers organized and ready for the Championship.
Holly: You really can’t do that job with out liking the folks you’re employed with day in and day trip. The NTRA has an incredible workforce that every one comes collectively for this occasion to make it what it’s. Individuals know and see Michele, Keith, and Holly, however it might not be what it’s with out your complete employees. I’m lifeless severe – we start making ready for the subsequent NHC the day after the final NHC begins. We’re human, our brains are fried, however it actually doesn’t get outdated.
Whenever you’re not laborious at work with the NTRA, what do you most get pleasure from doing in your down time?
Michele: The NHC is certainly one of my “infants” together with my 28-year-old daughter, Schuler, who simply received engaged. I really like taking part in tennis, touring, and hate to sit down nonetheless. I’m an avid tennis participant, and captaining a girls’s USTA workforce could also be simply as laborious as working with over 5,000 horseplayers!
Holly: I spend time with my husband and 11-year-old son and I’m doing a variety of chauffeuring round. I can spend wet afternoon watching How It’s Made and This Outdated Home. I spend my evenings stress-free to homicide podcasts and love period-based British drama collection. I hearken to audio books principally as a result of I really feel very unproductive if I sit. I prefer to learn and study World Struggle II. My canine Daisy and I attempt to go on three-mile walks each day. I get pleasure from organizing and cleansing my home – I’m going to Goodwill so usually. I play Mahjong with a gaggle of girlfriends, and I speak to my mother each day! I prefer to tailgate for school soccer as a result of anytime I can stand in a parking zone throughout the day ingesting a beer, I’m fairly glad. I prefer to journey and spend a while overseas and expertise some actually cool locations. I’m in mattress at 9 p.m. and up at 4:50 a.m. so I can have an hour of silence with my espresso earlier than my day begins.
When the NHC reconvenes in Las Vegas for the twenty seventh time on March 13, horseplayers can by no means depend on successful, however they’ll at all times depend on a well-run occasion and one heckuva good time thanks largely to the efforts of Michele Ravencraft and Holly Brief. Collectively they’re the engine that drives the Nationwide Horseplayers Championship.
