Night School’s fourth season begins March 4

Night School, the racing industry’s national online fan education program
since 2011, rings the bell on its fourth season March 4 with a fresh, multimedia
curriculum. The free program is offered online each Tuesday, beginning at 8:30
p.m. (ET) and runs 40 consecutive weeks through December 2. More than 40
websites in the Thoroughbred, American Quarter Horse and Standardbred industries
simultaneously offer the Night School lessons.

With more than 780,000 views of the previous three full seasons of Night
School, the program’s officials expect it to surpass the 1 million-view mark
sometime in 2014. Free archives of all lessons, current and past, remain
available for views by racing fans and horseplayers at any time. All previous
radio simulcasts, video lessons and live chats continue to be accessible to
horseplayers.

Program creator Jeremy Plonk of Horse Player NOW returns to host Season 4 of
Night School and will be joined by Caton Bredar and “The Dean” Jerry Shottenkirk.
Each has been with the program since its inception, and will team this year with
renowned radio host Steve Byk.

Whereas most previous seasons’ lessons were taught in a live chat format,
Night School sampled the radio/live audio streaming airwaves last year with much
success and student appreciation. That has led to more than half of the 40
lessons this year scheduled to be simulcast on SiriusXM satellite radio, joining
“At the Races with Steve Byk” from 8:30-10 p.m. during Night School’s
traditional timeslot. The radio stream is linked within the Night School
lesson’s chat box, or can be found on the dial at Sirius 93, XM209. Casey Ghee
will engineer the audio streaming portion of the program and world-class
handicappers, horsemen and racing officials are expected as first-class guest
instructors once again.

Title sponsors for 2014 include charter members the National Thoroughbred
Racing Association and the American Quarter Horse Association, as well as
Keeneland Select, The Stronach Group, Twinspires, BRIS, Bet America and
Mountaineer Park. Supporting sponsors include charter member West Point
Thoroughbreds as well as Trakus, with additional announcements to come.

The 2014 Night School season will be broken into three semesters. The Spring
Semester runs 14 weeks, from March 4 until Belmont Stakes Week on June 3. A
corresponding Fall Semester will be offered September 27 through December 2.
Both the Spring and Fall semesters will feature a minimum of 11 SiriusXM
simulcasts, in addition to select, major racing event live handicapping chats
between the fans and experts.

The schedule’s other notable change this year is a Summer Live Racing
Semester that spans 12 weeks, June 10 through August 26, in which live simulcast
video and racing action will be featured in a hands-on learning forum. Experts
will approach real races in real time with fans, equipped with free BRIS past
performances and streaming video, and teach with a specific theme in mind for
each of the Summer Live Racing Semester lessons. Those teachings will include
the action from Mountaineer Park and spotlight the races during Night School’s
normal timeslot, beginning at 8:30 p.m.

Night School is free and voluntary with no registration necessary. Simply
visit any of the Night School syndicate websites weekly at 8:30 p.m. to take in
the live lesson, or access the archives at any of those same sites at your
leisure. The program does offer a voluntary registration both live or in the
archives. Attendees who register in at least half (20) of the season’s lessons
are eligible to win prizes that include merchandise, NHC Tour memberships,
handicapping contests, free handicapping products, etc.

Fans who enjoy playing the races can participate alongside the Night School
experts in two additional ways. The After Night School Special from Mountaineer
Park features the final races on the program each Tuesday night once the Night
School lesson has completed at 10 p.m. And, Night School Friday Night Live at
Remington Park is a weekly Friday live chat during the full card from Oklahoma
City. Both offerings present free live video streaming, real-time expert advice
and fan camaraderie.

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