We’re back to the norm of late—a four-day featured-tourney weekend. Unfortunately this will be our last one for about a month. So we plan to make the most of the extended Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. weekend with 18 featured events, including our first qualifier to the September 22-23 The BIG One at Laurel.
As always, the HorseTourneys weekend begins on Friday.
We again offer the schedule that Friday fans have come to know and (we hope) love: An up-to-$10,000 Pick & Pray with $6,000 Guaranteed; a Horse Player World Series entry-only qualifier; and a Treasure Island NHC Last Chance qualifier.
All three events are Pick & Prays and will use the 6th and 8th from Laurel; the 6th through 10th from Gulfstream, and the 3rd through 5th at Santa Anita as contest races—10 in all.
Of particular note is the day’s marquee event over at HorsePlayers.
It’s the final $75 qualifier for the 2018 NHC (now less than one month away). This, too, is a Pick & Pray and one seat is guaranteed to be awarded regardless of participation.
On Saturday, we offer at HorseTourneys what have become two of our most anticipated weekly contests:
One is our Saturday up-to-$30,000 cash game which, like most of this weekend’s events, will be a Pick & Pray. Even if participation is unusually light, we guarantee at least $20,000 in the kitty no matter how take part. (Entries are capped at 133 at $260 each.)
The other is our Saturday full-package qualifier to the Horse Player World Series at The Orleans. It’s $117 to play and winners (one per each 25 entries) will earn a $1,500 berth plus four nights’ hotel and another $500 for travel. This is one seat that comes with a bed and an airplane as well.
Another such event is the NHC. And for that on Saturday, you need to click on over to HorsePlayers.
For $165, you can play our “regular” NHC qualifier with one seat guaranteed (reminder: no more NHC Tour points can be earned—just the seat itself).
For $58, you can win a $500 entry to the NHC Last Chance Tournament at Treasure Island on NHC eve. This is a very good proposition for people who will be at the NHC but have yet to secure two entries…or even for those who have since those folks will be eligible instead for a seat to the 2019 NHC. Contact Michele Ravencraft of the NTRA for additional details.
Saturday contest races for both the HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers featured events are the 6th and 8th from Laurel; the 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th from Gulfstream, the 8th through 10th from Tampa Bay Downs; and the 4th through 6th at Santa Anita—12 in all.
Sunday is a big day led by the first of 25 bi-weekly qualifiers to the 2018 The BIG One. Here are the details for that and the rest of the Sunday featured schedule:
The BIG One will take place September 22-23, again at Laurel Park. Each bi-weekly qualifier will offer two all-inclusive packages guaranteed. Packages include your $1,000 starting bankroll, $500 for travel, three nights at an area hotel, hotel-track transfers, welcome dinner with open bar on Friday night and full buffets and open bar throughout the two days of tournament competition.
Even better are the prizes. From a maximum field of 57 (50 online qualifiers, five available buy-in slots for $9,000 each and two seats to be awarded at onsite Laurel contests during the year), the top 10 receive bonus money and seats to both the NHC and BCBC. Finishers 11 through 20 earn their choice of a Horse Player World Series entry or $1,500 cash.
For those still trying to secure a spot for the 2018 NHC or HPWS, you can win a spot to both of them here on Sunday; and also to the NHC Last Chance Tourney at Treasure Island on February 8.
Cash game specialists, meanwhile, have their choice of playing in our up-to-$20,000 Pick & Pray (traditional win/place scoring) or our up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney. Though, many people do play in both. When you’re seeing the ball well, you’re seeing the ball well.
Your very best chance, percentage-wise, to grab one of the few remaining seats to the 2018 NHC comes on Sunday at HorsePlayers.
It’s our NHC Super Qualifier with one in just 21 advancing from this Pick & Pray to the big dance on February 9-11.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day brings along with it a trio of special Monday games at HorseTourneys.
The most lucrative of the three is an up-to-$15,000 Pick & Pray with $6,000 Guaranteed. Entires are $190 each with a maximum of 89 entries in the contest.
And for the fourth consecutive day, you can take a swing at both the Horse Player World Series ($87 entry fee) and the NHC Last Chance tournament at Treasure Island ($58). A good day on Monday can certainly lead to some quality time later this winter in Las Vegas.
Speaking of quality, we wanted to give you an early heads up that our next up-to-$100,000 event has been scheduled for Saturday, January 27—aka Pegasus World Cup Day.
You can buy in directly now, or you can participate in one of our many low-cost feeders between now and January 27. If you get lucky, you could qualify for our “hundred grander” for as little as $36.
So there you have it. Enjoy the long weekend. We hope you can spend at least a little of it here with us. Good luck!