Some may think that the coming weekend represents a calm before next weekend’s storm—what with the Belmont Stakes and our $75,000 Guaranteed tournament slated for June 10. But there is plenty of action to be had this Friday, Saturday and Sunday—including your first shots at some old favorites.
Our biggest tournament of the entire weekend just might be Friday’s NHC-BCBC Combo qualifier at HorsePlayers. Win one and you win ‘em both (NHC and BCBC entries). It’s $344 to enter and at least one prize will be awarded regardless of participation.
Or, if you prefer straight-cash transactions, there’s Friday’s $7,500 Guaranteed Pick & Pray here at HorseTourneys with prizes down to fifth place and $3,750 to the winner.
The entry fee is $190, and contest races are the 6th through 9th at Churchill Downs; the 5th through 8th at Woodbine; and the 1st and 2nd from Arlington—10 races in all. ,
There are four select featured tourneys on Saturday.
Cash-game aficionados will find their trusty $15,000 Guaranteed Saturday tourney on the docket with $7,000 up top and prizes down to 5th place. (Entry is $195).
If you weren’t fortunate enough to win Friday’s Combo qualifier, you can try for both the NHC and BCBC today as well. At HorsePlayers, it’s a guaranteed BCBC qualifier for $179 (live format), and at HorseTourneys, there’s a 2-seat-guaranteed NHC qualifier for $165 (Pick & Pray format for this one).
At a lower Saturday pricepoint is a qualifier for the Gold Coast Summer Classic in Las Vegas. One entrant in 20 will win a $1,000 package that includes the $500 entry fee and $500 for travel. This Pick & Pray costs just $58 to Pick & Play.
Sunday is by far the meatiest day of the weekend.
HorsePlayers, of course, comes in hot with a 2-seat-guaranteed NHC qualifier (live format) for $165. And your Sunday at HorseTourneys will be replete with first chances and last chances.
From the standpoint of urgency, let’s start with our Belmont Stakes Handicapping Challenge. Since the Belmont Stakes is next week, this is obviously your last opportunity to win a $10,500 package to NYRA’s lucrative Triple Crown-day competition. One in 35 entrants (at $410 each) will move on with a paid-up berth at Belmont.
It’s said that when one window closes, another one opens. This weekend at HorseTourneys, when one closes, two open!
That’s because Sunday is your first chance to qualify for both Surfside (July 14-16) and Hawthorne (August 11-12). A win here at HorseTourneys gets you entries for all three of Surfside’s weekend tourneys (plus $500 travel). Similarly, you’ll be good to go for both days of Hawthorne’s popular “no entry fees” tourneys if you win an HT qualifier.
Not to worry, though. These new tournaments have not crowded out such Sunday stalwarts as the The BIG One ($390 entry fee), Wynn ($116) and Arlington ($118) qualifiers. Those three will all take place on Sunday and will all be Pick & Prays—so if you want to be daring, you could set up your own personal “combo qualifier”.
High-stakes cash gamers will enjoy Sunday’s $10,000 Guaranteed event with $5,000 to the winner and prizes down to 5th place.
Meanwhile our more exotically-inclined players will likely lean to our $1,500 Guaranteed exacta game—won each of the last two Sundays by Les Instone. Can he get a turkey?
This and other seminal questions will all be answered this weekend. We hope you can join us. Good luck!