As many of you have undoubtedly already noticed, HorseTourneys this week unveiled a redesigned website. The idea is a clearer, better-looking site, but also one that offers even better, even faster functionality.
We tried to make these improvements without drastically altering the layout or landscape of the site. The player’s comfort level was top of mind throughout the process. One thing we did not want was for our players to feel as though they had stepped into someone else’s car and, suddenly, none of the buttons and knobs were in the same place as before.
We think there are many improvements contained in the new site, but for the purposes of this blog, we’ll just point out (brag about?) three:
The main picks page:
The interface now has been reconfigured to make for an easier, more user-friendly experience when it comes to entering picks and/or seeing how many picks you’ve made and how many you still have to make. Now it’s staring you in the face. Fewer clicks and less scrolling are required.
The “My Entries/Results” page:
We’ve tried to make this page easier to read now. More importantly, we made more options available so that the player can quickly and easily tailor this page to show as much as he or she wants without cluttering up the page with info that isn’t desired.
Speedier purchase process:
We’ve streamlined the buy-in process. Whether you like entering tourneys with one minute to post for the first race…or just don’t like clicking…we think you’ll like the faster process.
By clicking on “enter” you can now initiate the purchase process right on the home page. (You don’t have to go to the contest page if you don’t want to.)
Then you just accept the terms of purchase and click on “Confirm” (“Confirm” will turn to green and become clickable once you accept the terms of purchase.)
Boom, You’re in! And if you’re ready to make picks for the tourney you just entered, one click will take you directly to that page.
(And trust me—the actual experience is a lot faster than my above description. What I like best, though, is that it’s all very intuitive. One step just naturally leads to the next. No “Where am I now?” moments…and I am more prone to those than most.)
We have some additional refinements and improvements that we’ll be debuting in the coming weeks. None should come as shocks to your system…maybe you won’t even notice them…but some of you will, and it is our hope that they will only cause you to believe that the site is even better than before.
It’s all in keeping with our overall mission to reinvest in ourselves and in our players—because without your support, nothing else that goes on here really matters.
TOURNEY NOTES—There are a few other changes this week that don’t have anything to do with how the site looks. They pertain to new or existing tourneys, and we wanted to give you an early heads up on them.
1. Gulfstream is hosting a new tournament on June 30, the Seize the Speed Betting Championship. Entries cost $3,000 ($1,500 to prize pool, $1,500 to live bankroll) and players will compete for cash and seats to the Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge and the NHC. Our first qualifier for the Seize the Speed Betting Championship will be held on Sunday, May 27. Winners receive $500 in travel reimbursement in addition to a $3,000 entry.
2. “Regular” NHC qualifiers hosted at HorseTourneys will now carry an entry fee of $240 (instead of $165) and have a winning ratio of 1 in 45 (instead of 1 in 65). Feeders for these will cost $27, rather than $18. This is being offered in order to give players another option in terms of NHC price points/winning ratios. There will still be $165 NHC qualifiers with 1 in 65 winning ratios and $18 feeders offered on a regular basis at HorsePlayers for those who prefer to stick with the “traditional” price points.
3. Our next special, big-money tourney will be held on Belmont Stakes Day, Saturday, June 9. It will be a $75,000 live-format event with no limit on how high the purse can grow. Low-cost feeders are already available that will allow you to win your way into the $695 event on June 9 for as little as $37.