National Thoroughbred League adds news owners, plans expansion

The
National
Thoroughbred League added several key investors to join its roster of team owners, including NBA legend and basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving for the Philadelphia Stallions and Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Tanya Tucker for the Nashville Dreams.

The new investors come as the league expands from six franchises to 10 ahead of its second season, which will offer almost $3 million in prize purses, up from less than $1 million last year. Erving and Tucker join NTL’s
stacked list of partners, including Nelly, Rick Ross, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Moira Forbes, as well as numerous veteran investors.

During the season, the NTL will host a Cup Series, a competition structure that involves 10 teams, with two horses and their jockeys per team. The Cup Series follows a league table format, with points accumulated throughout the season. Teams compete in a series of races, each contributing to their overall standing in the league. Points are awarded based on the finishing position of each horse in a race. The team with the highest total points at the end of the season is crowned the NTL champion.

“I’ve been fortunate to have experienced first-hand the passion that Philadelphia fans bring in support of their athletes and teams. The unique model that National Thoroughbred League has created – not only bringing team-based and civic rooting interests into the sport of horse racing, but also truly letting the sports’ best athletes ‘enter their stride’ as competitive performers – inserts such an interesting dynamic into one of society’s most popular and storied sports,” said NBA legend and basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving. “Philadelphia and horse racing both hold a special place in my heart, and I am proud to help the Stallions build another fan favorite in the Philadelphia market.”

Tickets for the 2024 season went on sale Thursday. Tucker and Erving will host the first two league events. Here is the full race schedule.

The Nashville Cup, Sept. 1 at Kentucky Downs. This event will feature a $1 million kickoff race and will revolve around celebrating horses and music,
hosted by Tanya Tucker and including performances from 10 up-and-coming Nashville stars.

The Philadelphia Cup, Oct. 19 at Parx Racing. This event will consist of five NTL races totaling $1.2 million in purses, an Oktoberfest celebration of beer and
music, as well as the NTL’s first Dr. J Invitational golf tournament.

The Phoenix Cup, Dec. 30 at Turf Paradise. This weekend will feature six-figure purses to decide this season’s winner, a concert from California Shamrocks owner Nelly, plus golf and food celebrations.

After a successful inaugural season, NTL will expand from six to 10 teams. The four new will come from a finalist pool of Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, San Francisco and Tampa.

The final decision will be made this summer, and those four new teams with join the original six franchises: the New York Knights, the California Shamrocks, the Philadelphia Stallions, the Nashville Dreams, the New Jersey Degens and the Seattle Gems.

Thoroughbred owners will be able to nominate their horses to be drafted by one of the 10 NTL teams onto their roster. Those drafted horses, who will represent the teams during the races, will be eligible to run in these NTL races for the $3 million purse pool.

“Today is an exciting day for the National Thoroughbred League that shows the excitement behind what we’ve accomplished with our inaugural season and the momentum that we’re bringing into this next year of operations,” said Randall Lane, co-Founder of the NTL.
“From the very beginning, our mission has been to create an innovative new format that can generate compelling and competitive races between some of this generation’s most exceptional horses.

“We’re providing expanded opportunities for fans who aren’t as fluent in the sport to fall in love with the experience and all the associated happenings that events of this magnitude can bring to an area on race weekends,” said Bob Daugherty, co-founder of
the NTL.

More information on the league is available at www.NTL.Racing.