It’s one of those weekends on the racing calendar that marks time in our heads even if we don’t know the precise dates. It’s the weekend that Belmont Park (Friday) and Churchill Downs (Saturday evening) open. And we have a bevy of important tournaments to properly commemorate the “weekend-before-Derby-weekend”.
Apologies if we jumped the gun a little bit on Churchill Downs—because on Friday, Keeneland is still open. Their closing-day card will join Belmont’s lidlifter (it’s a very nice program there!) and a couple of races from Woodbine to make up our featured $7,500 Guaranteed Pick & Pray competition.
There are prizes down to fifth place and $3,750 to the victor with an entry fee of $190. Precise contest races for this Live-Format competition are the 5th and 9th from Woodbine, the 4th through 8th at Belmont, and the 6th through 8th at Keeneland.
On Saturday, the cash fun continues with a $15,000 live-format event with $7,000 to the winner and prizes down to 7th. Entry is $195 and contest races are the 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th at Tampa; the 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th from Belmont; the 7th and 10th from Woodbine; and the first two from opening day (night?) at Churchill Downs—12 races in all.
There are also four nice qualifiers on Saturday for the Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament (entry fee: $116), the Wynn Handicapping Challenge (also $116), the Treasure Island Wager to Win tournaments (yup, $116) and the Gold Coast Summer Classic (half price–$58!). Contest races for these are the 1st and 4th at Santa Anita; the 6th, 8th and 9th from Belmont; the 7th through 11th from Gulfstream; and the first two from Churchill Downs—12 races total.
We’ll also host a $1,500 Guaranteed Saturday Night Live tourney with five races each from Evangeline Downs (5-9) and Churchill Downs (6-10).
Meanwhile, over at HorsePlayers, Saturday is again topped by a 2-seat-guaranteed NHC qualifier. It costs $165 to play and is also a live-format contest, using the same races as the Monmouth/Wynn/Treasure Island/Gold Coast qualifiers. Here’s are some visuals for the featured Saturday games:
HorsePlayers will lead on Sunday with a live-format, 2-seat-guaranteed Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier (races TBA) with an entry fee of $179.
Here at HorseTourneys, you can take another shot at qualifying for the NHC in a 2-seat-guaranteed live-format tourney. Same entry fee as Saturday: $165. But that’s just the tip of our Sunday iceberg.
Our new addition this week to the HorseTourneys qualifier lineup will also share center stage on Sunday. It’s our first qualifier to the 2017 Belmont Stakes Handicapping Challenge. This is a lucrative, live-money event on Friday and Saturday (June 9-10) of Belmont Stakes weekend with a buy-in of $10,000. You can qualify on Sunday, though, for an entry fee of $410 with one in 30 emerging victorious. (There will be a minimum of 23 entries required for this qualifier to “go”.)
We also have a Sunday, one-seat-guaranteed qualifier to The BIG One for $390. The winner receives an all-inclusive package to Laurel in late September and becomes eligible for our The BIG One -NHC $500,000 lump-sum bonus.
Sunday also marks the return of Del Mar to our qualifying lineup. This game has one seat ($7,000 entry plus $500 travel) guaranteed. As most of you likely know by now, any HorseTourneys Del Mar qualifier who goes on to win the 2017 Del Mar Handicapping Challenge will earn an additional bonus of $10,000 in HorseTourneys site credit, payable over a six-month period. (The site-credit bonus must be played.) And all throughout the weekend—and beyond—we will offer low-cost feeders to the Del Mar qualifiers with 4% rebates built in. We hope you take advantage of this aggressive, player-friendly offer. Note that Sunday’s Del Mar qualifier is a Pick & Pray tourney.
Sunday’s Santa Anita Preakness Challenge qualifier is also a Pick & Pray (since it was a live-format game the last time we hosted one). This has a $220 entry fee and one in 25 entries will earn a $5,000 package to Arcadia.
On the Sunday cash front, we have a $10,000 Guaranteed game (back to live format for this one) with entries (capped at 57) available for $195. And we, of course, will be offering our Sunday $1,500 Guaranteed Exacta game with $600 to the winner. Remember that there are no price caps in these exacta games. Pick a bomb (bombs?) and get full contest credit!
Here’s an overall look at some of the top Sunday action:
As always, don’t forget to keep an eye out for feeders that can send you to our rich final games and qualifiers at a fraction of the outlay.
Good luck this weekend and may it serve as a harbinger of good things to come on Derby weekend.