Sixty-six of HorseTourneys’ most skillful players are headed to Las Vegas to compete in the $200,000 Wynn Handicapping Challenge. We’ll be on hand with live coverage. But even out there, we’re expecting cell phones and laptops to be very prominent as another big weekend unfolds at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers.
Friday’s headliner is a $50 NHC Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers with two seats guaranteed.
These $50 qualifiers have been very popular for both NHC and BCBC qualifying. Players seem to enjoy the opportunity to find out if it is “their day” for just $50. Contest races are the 5th through 8th at Ellis Park; the 7th through 9th at Saratoga and the 3rd through 5th at Woodbine.
The same races will serve as the race menu for our Friday $7,500 Guaranteed Pick & Pray that offers $3,750 to the winner and payouts down to fifth place.
This, too, is a Pick & Pray game, though most of the remaining featured games this weekend will be of the live-format variety.
HorseTourneys hosts a six-pack of live-format featured events on Saturday.
The richest of the six is a $25,000 Guaranteed game with $12,500 to the winner and payoffs down to 8th place. Entry is $260 with a limit of 107 entries.
Saturday also brings the second of three NHC qualifiers on the weekend. This one is a traditional 2-seat-guaranteed affair for $165.
Then there’s our Last Chance tourney for the August 9-10 Saratoga Challenge. This will be an entry-only contest with one in 10 entries winning $2,000 in entry fees to cover you for each of the one-day Challenges at the Spa.
Or you can try to qualify to one of three onsite contests where a total of 13 NHC seats will be awarded. On August 19, Indiana Grand will be offering a pair of NHC berths. The next day, Ellis Park has four up for grabs in its Bluegrass Tournament. And on August 26, players at Monmouth will be competing for seven NHC spots—and two BCBC entries as well—in the 2017 Monmouth Super Qualifier.
HorsePlayers has a pair of special games on Saturday. (Note that these two are both Pick & Prays.)
First up is our first ever “BCBC Low Ratio” tourney. One $10,000 entry is guaranteed in this $500 event in which one in 26 entries will win.
Contest races for this tourney—and the six featured contests at HorseTourneys—are the 6th through 8th at Mountaineer (West Virginia Derby Day); the 1st through 5th at Del Mar; and the 8th through 11th on the Whitney Day program at Saratoga—12 races in all.
The Whitney will be on national TV and it serves as the first race in a separate, $179 BCBC Pick & Pray with one $10,000 winner guaranteed regardless of participation.
This tourney carries a 10-race, two-track contest menu consisting of the last three heats from Saratoga (races 9-11) and the 3rd through 9th at Del Mar.
On Sunday, HorsePlayers hosts the third and final NHC qualifier of the weekend.
This one is a Pick & Pray for an entry fee of $165 and two berths guaranteed.
The six Sunday featured games at HorseTourneys will all be contested in live-format mode.
Of special note is the return of the Pegasus World Cup qualifier. Win this, and you’ll be the proud bearer of a $12,000 entry to Gulfstream’s no-takeout extravaganza on January 26-27.
Also of special note is that—yet again—the purse for our Sunday Exacta tourney has been increased. It’s now up to $3,500 Guaranteed with the best three-horse-exacta-box picker earning $1,400. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th best pickers will also win a cash prize. It seems like just yesterday that this game was worth $1,500 total.
If you prefer bigger stakes, then Sunday’s $10,000 Guaranteed tourney is for you. The winner of this $195 contest will receive $5,000.
Sunday wouldn’t be Sunday if we weren’t offering two guaranteed, all-inclusive packages to The BIG One. Thirty-six of the 50 available online spots are already spoken for. Sunday is your chance to speak up for slots 37 and 38. Remember that a $500,000 lump sum bonus is in play for anyone who wins both The BIG One and the NHC.
Woodbine’s live contests have been drawing rave reviews in 2017, and you can qualify on Sunday to their biggest of the year: the September 16 Woodbine Mile Handicapping Tournament. Two NHC spots and two BCBC entries will be at stake (along with a lot of cash) in this north-of-the-border get-together.
Sunday also serves as your last chance to qualify for the Hawthorne Summer NHC Qualifier on August 11-12. One entry in 15 will earn $800 in entry fees—enough for both days of this live-bankroll, no-entry-fees event.
You can also try—all weekend long—one of our brand new Pool-Style cash games where the prize pool grows with each successive entry.
Whether you’re spending the weekend in Saratoga or Del Mar; in Las Vegas or in Chester, West Virginia (home of both Mountaineer Park and also the world’s largest teapot); or in your favorite chair at home; all you need is the internet to take part in some exciting tourneys that will bring you a little bit of everything on this important summer weekend of racing. Good luck!