The calendar reaches the end of its unofficial first half this weekend. But before the calendar flips from July to August, HorseTourneys will be coming in hot this weekend with a wide variety of cash and qualifying tournaments.
The Friday feature is a very nice $5,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray tournament, with $2,500 to the winner and payments down to 4th place. Contest races are Saratoga 6th through 10th, Gulfstream 7th, 8th and 10th, and Laurel 5th and 6th. It carries an entry fee of $185, but so far, as of about 8:00 pm, Eastern time, on Thursday, there are only eight entries, so mark this down as a possible overlay event prior to its closing on Friday at 3:48 pm ET.
On Saturday, our headline event is the Last Chance to qualify for the $200,000 Guaranteed Wynn Handicapping Challenge on August 5-6. Entries are $116 each, and we’ll be awarding one $2,000 entry per every 20 players participating. Of course, you can try to win your way into the Saturday qualifier in a Wynn feeder prior to Saturday. The 12 contest races for this — and most of our top Saturday tourneys — are Saratoga 6th through 10th, Gulfstream 10th through 12th, and Del Mar 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th
We’re also hosting a pair of very worthwhile guaranteed cash games on Saturday. One is our $15,000 Guaranteed game and the other is our $2,000 Guaranteed exacta box games where you pick a three-horse exacta box for each race play. Both of these contests ran as nice overlays (especially the exacta box game) last week, so value hawks should definitely want to mark these down on their Saturday to-do lists.
Also on Saturday is our Round 2 feeder for the next day’s The BIG One tournament. For $107, you can take part in a game that will award a $478 entry to Sunday’s The BIG One direct qualifier per every five players. So your chances of success here are pretty good!
This provides a nice segue for Sunday’s action which is topped by, you guessed it, our The BIG One full-package direct qualifier. We’ll be awarding two packages — including travel, hotel, buffets and open bar — guaranteed, regardless of the number of entrants. So in case you are walking around lucky and don’t know it, be sure to enter this tournament on Sunday if you haven’t already qualified for it.
A $7,500 guaranteed game with $3,750 going to the winner is also on tap for Sunday. As is a trio of direct qualifying tournaments that can send you on your way to Saratoga, Hawthorne and/or Indiana Grand during the month of August. The Saratoga and Hawthorne qualifiers include a travel stipend, while the Indiana Grand qualifier just covers your entry fee, but you will arrive with not one, but TWO entries in that first-ever NHC qualifier at Indy Grand, where three NHC seats will be up for grabs.
Here is an at-a-glance look at some of our best guaranteed tourneys this weekend:
Good luck in all your tournaments on these final two days in July!