There are so many reasons to look forward to the upcoming weekend of racing—and HorseTourneys gives you one more: a 14-race, $75,000 Guaranteed live-format event on Belmont Stakes Day in which $75,000 represents the bare minimum of what the purse will be worth. If enough people enter, it could be worth $100,000, $125,000 or more. You will decide ultimately what the pot will be, but it will be worth $75,000 even if all our players decide to mow their lawns instead. But this big-money game is just one of 15 featured events with significant cash prizes or seats to some of the most anticipated onsite tournament events.
The fun begins on Friday.
It’s our up-to-$12,500 Pick & Pray with $7,000 guaranteed. The entry fee is $190, and total entries are capped at 75. The 10-race schedule for this event will be comprised of the 7ththrough 11th from Belmont; the 7th and 9th from Laurel; and the 3rd, 5th and 6th from Santa Anita. If you have a good day, you can pad your bankroll for Saturday, and if you have a less-than-stellar day, you will at least get an early read on how the Belmont main track and turf courses are playing.
Saturday’s the day many horseplayers have been waiting for—at least since the Preakness went official.
As most of you know by now, the Belmont card is terrific on Saturday. Not only do we have a slew (pun intended) of Belmont-only tourneys using races 3-11, we will be leaning on the Belmont card for half of our special 14-race featured schedule. (We’d have used more if there weren’t so much time between the New York races!) The 14 races in our featured schedules are: the 6th through 11th (all stakes) from Belmont; the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th from Santa Anita; and the 7th and 10th from Laurel. The last of the 14 races is the Belmont Stakes at about 6:46 p.m. ET.
Our $75,000 Guaranteed game will be run in live format and once we pass 125 players or so, the pot will get larger with each additional sign up. But if fewer than 125 enter, it will still be worth $75,000. Note that there is a limit of two entries per player in this contest. You can still win your way into the big tourney via low-cost feeders for as little as $37, and our Round 2, 1 in 5 winning ratio, feeder takes place Friday for $159.
Keeping with the NYRA theme, we’ll also offer a Saturday Pick & Pray qualifier to the August 10-11 Saratoga Challenge with 1 per each 25 entries earning a $3,500 package to the Spa.
There will also be $79 qualifier for the Orleans Fall Classic with 1 in 10 earning a $500 entry and $500 for travel to the October 11-13 event in Las Vegas.
Interested in the NHC or the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge? Then HorsePlayers is the place for you on Saturday.
On tap is a “regular” BCBC qualifier with one entry per 65, at $179 each, earning a $10,000 entry to the greatest betting weekend in racing. At least one prize is guaranteed to be awarded.
There is also an NHC Super Qualifier. It costs $500 to enter, and the winning ratio is an attractive one in just 21. At least one berth is guaranteed in this event as well.
On Sunday we may be celebrating the previous day’s Triple Crown winner—or maybe just our own betting successes. But even if there is nothing to celebrate on those two fronts, there will be plenty of action to keep us busy—and take note that these “days after the big day” are often excellent opportunities to catch the competition napping!
Our featured Sunday cash game is our up-to-$20,000 tourney (Pick & Pray this week) with $12,000 guaranteed. Entries, at $195 each, are limited to 118.
There’s also our up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney which requires players to select a three-horse exacta box in each race. Jorge Cruz-Aedo has won this event each of the last two Sundays. Will he win the Triple Crown?? Either way, $2,000 is guaranteed no matter how many or few take part It’s just $72 to play, and this tourney, like always, will be run in live-format mode, even though our other Sunday HorseTourneys featured events are all Pick & Prays.
We also have five excellent qualifiers slated for Sunday. One is for The BIG One on September 22-23 at Laurel Park where a maximum field of 57 will compete for 10 NHC seats, 10 BCBC entries and 10 Horse Player World Series entries. This qualifier carries an entry fee of $515 and at least one winner is guaranteed regardless of participation. Winners receive their The BIG One plus an all-inclusive package that includes travel, hotel, transportation to the track, full open bar and buffet at the track and Friday evening welcome dinner (also with open bar!).
Another high-end offering on Sunday is that for the Del Mar Handicapping Challenge on July 28-29. Sunday winners (one per 25) will receive an $8,500 package to play at the track where the surf meets the turf.
Another more-than-worthwhile visit (and an essential one if you’ve never been) is to Keeneland. On Sunday, you can win a $3,500 package to their Keeneland NHC/BCBC Challenge on October 14. One in 25 will emerge from this competition as winners and be headed to Lexington.
Another $3,500 package is up for grabs in Sunday’s qualifier for the June 30 Gulfstream Park Seize the Speed Betting Championship. The winning ratio is…yup…1 in 25.
And this Sunday, there’s a brand new qualifier—it’s for the Stars & Stripes Challenge at Belmont on July 7. This is an entry-only contest with players competing for a $500 entry to the day of international grass racing at Belmont. It’s just $59 to play and one in 10 will win.
HorsePlayers should once again be your destination on Sunday if you are focused on qualifying for the NHC or BCBC.
It’s similar to our Saturday schedule except that the “regular” and “Low Ratio” games are basically reversed. Today, it’s the NHC offering a regular, live-format, 1 in 65 qualifier for $165 (two berths are guaranteed), and the BCBC tourney will offer a low winning ratio of 1 in 23 for its $500 Pick & Pray. One $10,000 entry is guaranteed here.
There you have it—a weekend to savor whether you’re a die-hard tournament player or just a casual fan of the sport. We hope you all enjoy it, and we send out special good wishes to Brett Wiener, Eric Piniero, Ken Seeman, Anthony Trezza and Darwin Labordo. They are the five players representing HorseTourneys as qualifiers to the Friday-Saturday Belmont Stakes Handicapping Challenge. We wish them—and you—the very best of luck.