The latest on-site tournament to be introduced at Gulfstream Park takes place on December 9. It’s the Gulfstream Caribbean Classic, which carries a $2,000 buy-in, of which $1,500 goes to the player’s live bankroll. A full 100% of entry fees will be returned as prizes—in the form of four seats to the Pegasus World Cup Handicapping Championship on January 26-27 and two seats to the NHC (based on 100 entries).
The first-ever qualifier to the Gulfstream Caribbean Classic takes place on Sunday. And it’s just one of several exciting events on tap this weekend at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers.
We start the weekend off at HorseTourneys on Friday with a $6,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray with pool-style payoffs that could mean a pot as high as $10,000 depending on the number of signups. It’s $190 to play.
There are five guaranteed seats for the NHC up for grabs this weekend, and at least two will be awarded Friday in a popular $75 NHC qualifier (Pick & Pray). Contest races for this and the $6,000 contest are the 7th and 8th from Belmont, the 7th through 9th at Keeneland; the 8th and 9th from Laurel Park; and the 5th through 7th at Santa Anita—10 races in all.
Using the same races, HorsePlayers will host a special Low Ratio BCBC Pick & Pray qualifier on Friday with one $10,000 entry guaranteed, and one entry per 23 (at $500 each) going on to victory.
This is one of four guaranteed BCBC seats there for the winning this weekend at HorsePlayers.
Two more of those Guaranteed BCBC seats will be won on Saturday at HorsePlayers.
You can play in a Guaranteed BCBC qualifier on Saturday for $179. Or you could increase your theoretical odds of winning by playing in that day’s $1,000 Super Qualifier with an attractive 1 in 11 winning ration. (If you’re daring, you could play in both, of course.)
Back at HorseTourneys, two more Guaranteed NHC seats are on the block. This qualifier is a traditional, $165 Pick & Pray with 1 in 65 “getting qualified.”
And for cash gamers, there’s a $25,000 Guaranteed tourney with $12,500 to the winner and prizes down to 8th place. The entry fee is $260 with a cap of 107 entries. Contest races for this and the above Saturday HT/TP featured tourneys are the 7th and 9th at Belmont; the 7th through 9th at Keeneland; the 4th through 8th at Santa Anita; and the 9th and 10th from Laurel—12 races all together.
And don’t forget our fun Saturday night fixture…
…a live cash game with $750 Guaranteed and up to $3,000 if participation warrants. It’s a 10-race event consisting this week of five stakes from Charles Town and five heats from the all-turf card at the Monmouth at Meadowlands meeting.
On to Sunday:
As previously mentioned, the “new kid on the block” is the qualifier for the December 9 Caribbean Classic at Gulfstream. Again, it’s a 100% payback, live-bankroll event where you could win seats to the NHC or Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship.
And you could also win a $12,500 package to that Pegasus World Cup tournament right here this day at HorseTourneys. One in 30 entries (at $480 each) will move on to the lucrative January 26-27 event on the weekend prior to the NHC.
There’s also a Guaranteed NHC Super Qualifier Sunday for a $500 entry fee. This has the best winning ratio of the weekend’s NHC events—1 in just 21 will go on to Treasure Island.
If you’d rather stay off strip when you compete in Las Vegas, you could stay elsewhere and take a cab to Treasure Island. Or you could play in our Horse Player World Series qualifier for $87. One of every 20 entries will earn a $1,500 entry to the venerable classic held each year at The Orleans.
Cash specialists (and aren’t we all?) should enjoy our $15,000 Guaranteed tourney (live-format this week) with $7,000 to the winner and payouts down to 7th. Entry is $195 with a limit of 86 entries.
And our Sunday Exacta game will be guaranteed at $2,000 though it rise as high as $5,000 depending on how many take part. Entry fees for the Sunday three-horse-box competition are $72 each.
The Sunday feature at HorsePlayers is another BCBC Qualifier (remember, the big weekend is now just three weeks away).
This one is a “Low Ratio” qualifier with one entry per each 23—at $500 each—earning a coveted $10,000 ducat to the best betting weekend in racing. One entry is guaranteed to be awarded, and the format is Pick & Pray.
It should be an exciting weekend—especially so for the 22 HorseTourneys qualifiers who will be challenging themselves on Sunday at Keeneland in the Keeneland NHC-BCBC Challenge. We wish them—and you—good luck and a great weekend.