A HorseTourneys first is on tap for Saturday: a $100,000 Guaranteed tourney with $40,000 to first place. We couldn’t be more excited about it. And yet it’s just one of 17 featured tournaments on what is annually one of the biggest weekends of the U.S. racing calendar.
A HorseTourneys “second” gets things started on Friday. It’s our second-ever—and second consecutive–$6,000 Guaranteed Friday Pick & Pray with pool-style payoffs that could allow the pot to go as high as $10,000 depending on how many people sign up. The more that play, the more we pay.
Last week’s first pool-style Friday game guaranteed $6,000 but wound up with a purse $7,566. Contest races for this special Friday game are the 7th, 8th, 9th and 11th from Saratoga; the 6th and 8th from Woodbine; and the first four from Del Mar—10 races in all.
Using the same contest races, HorsePlayers will host a BCBC qualifier (a Pick & Pray) with an entry fee of just $50.
There is one guaranteed winner of a $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entry. Win this, and you can go 0-fo-13 on the Travers Day card and still not mind.
On to the big day and the big event.
Saturday’s $100,000 Guaranteed game is a live-format game kicking off at 2:59 pm ET with the Grade I Ketel One Ballerina Stakes from Saratoga. As mentioned earlier, the winner gets $40,000 and prizes are paid down to 14th place with entries (at $695 each) capped at 161. We pored over the day’s race cards from coast to coast and put together a three-track, 14-race contest menu that we think offers both excellent betting races plus top quality (including five Grade I races plus a Grade II from Saratoga). The races are: the 7th through 13th from Saratoga; the 9th through 12th from Monmouth; and the first three from Del Mar. As is perhaps fitting on Travers Day, the contest will begin and end with races from the Spa.
We are also hosting a pair of Pick & Prays on Saturday that could earn you a package to the Keeneland NHC/BCBC Challenge on October 15 and/or an entry to the Orleans Fall Classic on the weekend of October 5th. The Keeneland qualifier is $160 to play and the Orleans Fall Classic play-in game costs just $58. You may find them great companion games to play (or hedge with) as you are participating in the $100,000 game—or while you are playing live at Monmouth in their Super Qualifier on Saturday. Last Sunday, “The Colonel” Clay Sanders won a Keeneland NHC/BCBC Challenge package at HorseTourneys while he was Ellis Park finishing third in their Bluegrass Tournament.
Saturday is also a very big day at HorsePlayers, where there is another “first-time-ever” offering.
For those who like familiarity, there is a 2-seat-guaranteed NHC qualifier for $165. And for those who favor tourneys with a higher probability of winning there’s a brand new BCBC Super Qualifier for $1,000 with one in just 13 winning a $10,000 entry. There will also be up to two $1,000 consolation prizes per each 13 entries. So if you want to try and directly qualify for the BCBC for the smallest possible outlay, then Friday is for you. If you want to win your way into the BCBC without having to navigate your way to the top of a large field, then Saturday’s Super Qualifier should be your cup of tea.
On Sunday, while the Saratoga canoe is being painted in the colors of the 2017 winner, we’ll be offering a featured schedule with a lot of depth to it.
Just eight spots remain available for the September 23-24 The BIG One at Laurel and two of those all-inclusive packages (including hotel, travel, racetrack transfers and welcome dinner buffet) are up for grabs Sunday in a Guaranteed qualifier for $550. Win this, and you will be one of no more than 57 competing in a $1,000 live-bankroll tourney for 8 full BCBC entries, 10 NHC seats, 10 Horse Player World Series entries (or $1,500 cash), plus a cash prize pool that’s already up to $64,000 and is growing with each passing week. There’s also a new $500,000 lump sum bonus in effect for The BIG One winner should he or she go on to win the 2018 NHC.
We’ll also host a Sunday Lower Ratio NHC qualifier for $240 with one in 45 winning a seat.
There are also Sunday qualifiers scheduled that will offer entries and or packages to the 2018 Horse Player World Series, the Woodbine Mile Handicapping Tournament (September 16), the new Gulfstream Park Pick Your Spot Tournament (September 30), and the Santa Anita Autumn Championship (October 7-8).
And cash gamers can choose among a $15,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray with $7,000 to the winner and payoffs down to 7th place…and a $3,500 Guaranteed Exacta Box tourney (live format) with $1,400 to the winner and prizes down to 5th place. Scores are tabulated based on one mythical $1, three-horse exacta box per race and there are no caps on your mythical returns.
Over at HorsePlayers on Sunday, the accent is on the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.
You can play our traditional, 1-entry-guaranteed qualifier for an entry fee of $179 with one winner per 65 entries. Or you can increase your odds for success by trying our 1-seat-guaranteed BCBC Low Ratio qualifier that offers a $10,000 entry per each 26 entrants. This one costs $500 to play.
It’s obviously a very big weekend here at HorseTourneys. It’s probably not a stretch to call it a historic weekend.
It’s also a big weekend for the 21 HorseTourneys qualifiers who will be competing Saturday at the Monmouth Super Qualifier. We’ll certainly be rooting for them. We wish them—and you—the very best of luck.