In case you missed the news yesterday, we now have a Tour tied to each weekend’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday featured cash tourneys. It begins this weekend.
You get points for each Top-10 finish, (10 for first down to 1 point for 10th), plus fractional points that reflect the entry fee for the event plus the number of entries in the tourney.
Full scoring and prize details are in yesterday’s blog announcement…but basically the points leader as of December 31st gets $10,000, and those who finish in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th gets seats to The BIG One, the Spa & Surf Showdown, the Players Championship and the Flo-Cal Faceoff, respectively. Finish in the top 50 and you get a free entry in a private tourney in January that will award $25,000 in site credit (and the Top 10 Tour finishers get TWO entries into that event.)
Also starting this weekend, if you win a second Friday featured cash tourney during the year (from July 23-December 31) or a second Saturday marquee cash game or a second such Sunday contest, you get a $500 bonus. Subsequent day-of-the-week-specific victories (e.g., 3rd, 4th, 5th) get tagged with a $1,000 bonus each time.
Right now, everyone is tied for first in the 2021 HorseTourneys Tour standings. (Congratulations!) That will change on Friday, however, since the first Tour event is part of the day’s featured schedule.
Win Friday $15,000 Guaranteed No-Limit Pick & Pray, and you’ll be the first leader in the Tour standings. (You’ll also be halfway to a $500 bonus.) You can be the first on your block to be an HT Tour participant for an entry fee of $190.
This coming Monday is the Colonial Downs Handicapping Challenge (to be played online at Xpressbet). Since the time is drawing close, we will have $59, 1-per-10 Pick & Pray qualifiers to the event each day of the upcoming weekend. Winners get a $500 entry for Monday.
Another daily qualifier this weekend is that for the $300,000 Guaranteed Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier, now just three weeks away. Friday’s play-in is a $147 Pick & Prays with a winning ratio of 1-in-20. Winners earn a $2,500 entry into the third and final leg of the 2021 Tourney Triple series, which, as a bonus, offers important tournament seats to the top performers across the three events (Flo-Cal Faceoff, Players Championship, Spa & Surf Showdown). If you finished in the top 100 in the first two legs, it means you earned points that could mean a seat to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, the Pegasus or The BIG One—depending on how you do in the Showdown on August 14-15.
You can also take a shot each day of the weekend to win a $500 seat to the NHC First Chance/Last Chance tournament at Bally’s on August 26. On Friday, one of every 10 entrants—at $59 per entry—will get a $500 place in the annual NHC Eve appetizer. At stake on the 26th of next month at Bally’s will be cash plus a 2021 NHC seat for the following day…or, if you’re already double-qualified for 2021, a berth for 2022 instead.
The NHC and the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge again share the Friday stage at HorsePlayers.
Friday’s $75 NHC Pick & Pray offers two guaranteed seats to the 2022 event plus NHC Tour Points if you finish in the top 10 percent of the field. The winning ratio is 1-per-143. Remember—you must be a 2021 NHC Tour member, prior to the start of the contest, in order to be eligible for an NHC package in this or any other NHC qualifier. If you’re not a member, you can become one quickly and easily at NTRA.com for a $50 membership fee.
The companion Friday feature at HorsePlayers is a $500 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray. At least one $10,000 BCBC entry is certain to be awarded.
Contest races for the Friday featured events are the 6th through 10th from Saratoga; the 6th and 7th at Ellis Park; and the 5th, 8th and 9th from Gulfstream—10 races in all.
It’s a Pick & Pray weekend at HorseTourneys, so most of the tourneys on Saturday (and Sunday) will adhere to that format—including the next HT Tour event.
Recently increased for Saratoga/Del Mar season, the guarantee for Saturday’s featured cash tourney (now an HT Tour event) is $30,000. The buy-in, also increased a bit, is $350, and there’s no limit as to how high the purse could grow, though obviously it won’t be less than $30,000 no matter what.
For the highest of HT high rollers, there’s our “up-to-$20,000” Big Bucks game. (The Saturday version of this is always run as a Pick & Pray.) The purse here is guaranteed to be at least $10,000. Entries—at $1,150 each—are limited to 20 (unless we get a late arrival or two from last-minute Saturday feeders…in which case the pot will exceed $20,000). Payouts go just to the top three finishers with the winner collecting 70 percent of the net pool, the runner up getting 20 percent, and the third-place finisher picking up the remaining 10 percent.
The other featured cash game on Saturday is our $15 Pick 4 Jackpot tourney, which has a carryover of $763. In our Pick 4 Jackpot games (always run as Pick & Prays), going four-for-four means you win or share the Jackpot. (You don’t have to have the only perfect ticket.) Meanwhile, 70% of the daily net pool gets paid out to players via the traditional $2.00 win/place scoring system. The other 30% goes to the Jackpot pool. Entries in these Jackpot Pick 4 tourneys are limited to three per person.
Saturday’s Pick 4 Jackpot races are the 2nd and 4th from Del Mar and races 9 and 10 from Saratoga.
On the qualifying side of things, Saturday is the second consecutive day in which you can try to win a spot in the Spa & Surf Showdown, the Colonial Downs Handicapping Challenge and the Bally’s NHC First Chance/Last Chance tournament. All three play-ins are Pick & Prays. The qualifier to the $300,000 Guaranteed Spa & Surf Showdown costs $147 and carries a 1-per-20 winning ratio, while the Colonial Downs and Bally’s tourneys are both $59, 1-per-10 games.
We’ll try again this Saturday to award a $500 entry to the brand new Exacta Extravaganza ($50,000 Guaranteed) here on September 11-12. This qualifier will be run in Live, Exacta Box format—just like the Exacta Extravaganza, itself. Winners of this three-horse-box, 1-per-10 play-in, will move on to make exacta box picks on the full cards from Kentucky Downs and Woodbine on the second weekend of September. If you haven’t played an Exacta Box game here before…they’re fun! And they don’t have price caps, so you’re never out of contention.
A Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier is the featured tourney on Saturday at HorsePlayers.
It’s a $179 Live-format play-in. At least one $10,000 BCBC entry is assured to be headed out the door, and the winning ratio is 1-per-65.
The 12 contest races for Saturday are the 7th through 11th from Saratoga; the 11th through 13th at Monmouth Park; and the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th from Del Mar.
As for Sunday, it may be a “day of rest” some places…but not around here, as we have 14 featured events that day.
The featured cash game—and HT Tour event—of the day is our $20,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray. You can play for $195.
Running in Live format (as per usual on Sunday) is our Big Bucks game. It’s an up-to-$20,000 tourney with $7,500 Guaranteed and an entry fee of $1,150. Entries are limited to 20, and payouts go just to the first three finishers.
Our other Sunday featured cash tourney is the $15 Pick 4 Jackpot tourney (always a Pick & Pray). The jackpot amount will depend on how many took part in the Saturday Pick 4 Jackpot tourney—and whether anyone hit it. Check our website or our Twitter feed on Saturday night for updates.
As far as qualifiers go, Sunday is your last chance to punch your ticket to the following day’s Colonial Downs Handicapping Challenge. Winners get a $500 seat to the Challenge, which can be played online at Xpressbet.
The Sunday NHC qualifier takes place right here this week. It’s a “regular,” $165 Pick & Pray with at least two seats to the 2022 NHC guaranteed to be won.
An entry fee of $236 will get you a place in the starting gate for Sunday’s Del Mar Summer Challenge Pick & Pray play-in. Winners earn a $4,000 entry for the live-bankroll, on-track tournament, which takes place next weekend.
If you like “three-for-one” deals, then consider our Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge qualifier. The prize is $2,600 in entry fees—enough to cover you for all three of the two-day contests that Western Kentucky track will be hosting during its 2021 meet. Projections call for $100,000 in cash plus 13 2022 NHC seats and three BCBC entries to be at stake over the three contests/six racing days. All three events will be contested at Xpressbet and TVG. Our Sunday qualifier, costs $204 to enter, and one in every 15 will advance.
Also on tap is a Pick & Pray qualifier to the October 16th Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge. This one carries an entry fee of $206 qualifier and a winning ratio of 1-per-20. Winners get a $3,500 entry to the fall contest, which can be played on track or at Xpressbet.
A spot in the September 16th Canterbury Big 10 BCBC Handicapping Contest can be won on Sunday for a $177 entry fee. Your chances are 1-per-20 in this Pick & Pray. The Canterbury/Xpressbet final will offer cash, 10 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entries and two NHC spots.
Two Spa & Surf Showdown qualifiers are once again on the Sunday bill of fare. One is a “regular” $147 Pick & Pray with a winning ratio of 1-in-20. The other is a 1-per-8, $368 Low Ratio Pick & Pray. The grand prize in each case is a $2,500 entry into the $300,000 Guaranteed Showdown here on August 14-15.
Sunday’s weekly guaranteed qualifier to The BIG One (to be contested here on September 18-19) is also a Pick & Pray. The field for The BIG One will be no more than 57 (each playing just one entry), and there will be plenty of cash at stake plus 10 seats to the winners’ choice of the BCBC, NHC or Pegasus World Cup. Sunday’s qualifier guarantees one winner (who also gets a $500 bonus), and it carries an entry fee of $395. Also, the runner up gets a $395 consolation prize/refund. No more than 27 entries will be accepted in this qualifier.
It should come as a surprise to no one that there will be another $59 qualifier on Sunday to the NHC First Chance/Last Chance tournament at Bally’s. It’s a 1-per-10 Pick & Pray with the winner(s) earning $500 entries.
The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge will be the tournament of focus on Sunday at HorsePlayers on Sunday.
Those who win our Live-format, 1-per-23, Low Ratio qualifier receive a $10,000 entry to the world’s most prestigious live-bankroll handicapping contest. The entry fee for the Sunday play-in is $500., and the winning ratio is 1-per-23. At least one winner is guaranteed regardless of how many sign up.
Good luck to everyone this weekend—and especially to our brand-new…”tourists”.
