Friday is opening day for the Fall Meet at Del Mar. So without further ado, we want to send our best wishes to Travis Pearson, Sean Nolan, Steven Turner, Pete Acocella, Brett Wiener, Kevin Willett, Trey Stiles, Tom Michalczewski, Louis Constan, Douglas Draper and Mike Lynn. These 11 will be representing HorseTournes at this weekend’s lucrative ($4,000 entry fee) Del Mar Fall Classic. Good luck, all!
For those of us not fortunate enough to be at Del Mar, there is still plenty to do at HorseTourneys.
The weekend kicks off in earnest tomorrow with our $5,000 Guaranteed tourney that will pay pay down to 4th place, including $2,500 to the winner. It, like almost all of this weekend’s featured tourneys, will be run in Pick & Pray format. Contest races are the 7th, 8th and 9th at Aqueduct; the 4th, 5th and 6th at Del Mar; the 7th and 8th at Laurel; and the 6th and 7th at Woodbine — 10 races in all. There are also some nice, smaller guaranteed games on tap Friday.
We’ve got three key games of note on Saturday:
Regular cash tourney players won’t be surprised to see our $12,500 Guaranteed game on the schedule. It pays to 6th with $6,250 up top. Entry is $195 and full prizes will, of course, be paid regardless of participation since it is a guaranteed tourney. Contest races for this and other Saturday featured games are the 7th, 8th and 9th at Aqueduct; the 9th, 10th and 11th at Churchill Downs; the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th at Del Mar; the 7th and 8th at Woodbine; and the 9th and 10th at Gulfstream Park West — 13 races in all.
Saturday also marks the first of what will be weekly Full-Package Horse Player World Series qualifiers. Entry fee is $116 with one winner per 25 entries. Winners will receive $500 plus a four-night hotel stay at The Orleans in addition to the $1,500 entry fee. It’s a really nice package that we’ll be offering for the next several Saturdays.
We’ll also be hosting a qualifier for the Twin Spires Online Championships (to be held on Nov. 26). There will be one winner per 15 entries at $58 each and they will receive $250 cash in addition to the $500 TSOC entry.
On to Sunday…
November is the final month that you can qualify for the NHC at HorseTourneys and on Sunday we’ll host another 2-seat-Guaranteed NHC qualifier (a Pick & Pray) for just $160. Winners receive the NHC berth, $1,000 travel and their hotel stay at Treasure Island. If participation suffices, we will award up to four packages but we will award at least two no matter how many play. Sunday contest races are still TBD.
Also slated for Sunday is an entry-only qualifier to the Horse Player World Series. We’ll continue to offer these each Sunday (with the full-package HPWS qualifiers running on Saturdays). Entry is $87 with one winner per 20.
There’s also a direct qualifier to the Hawthorne Fall NHC Super Qualifier to be held Nov. 25-26. Winners (one per 15 entries) get their $700 entry covering both days, plus $500 for travel. You can play in our qualifier for just $93.
Cash game players, fear not. We’ll host our usual $7,500 Guaranteed game with $3,750 to the winner and prizes down to 5th. $190 gets you into that one. And our $1,500 Guaranteed exacta box game on Sunday ($600 to the winner) will be one of the only featured tourneys this weekend run in a Live format (that format always seems to work better in exacta box games…what with odds fluctuations and the like).
It goes without saying that you can play your way into any of the above games via low-cost feeders between now and the big day. And there are plenty more games (including single-track tourneys) that you can choose from as well. So always be sure to review our schedule with a fine-toothed comb. There’s bound to be ones, not mentioned in this space, that hit you between the eyes.
Wherever you are, whichever games you choose, all of us at HorseTourneys wish you fun and good luck this weekend.