As the Saratoga meeting reaches its apex with the Travers (and shockingly with no rain in the upstate New York forecast), HorseTourneys celebrates the Mid-Summer Derby (and the good weather) with a special $50,000 Guaranteed cash tourney on Saturday. That’s one of just many reasons you’ll want to spend part of the last weekend in August right here with us.
The first of 17 weekend featured tourneys begins on Friday.
Travers eve is led by our up-to-$12,500 Pick & Pray with $5,000 Guaranteed no matter how many or few sign up. It’s $190 to enter and there is a limit of 75 entries overall.
While you’re here on Friday, though, don’t forget about the day’s Round 2 feeder for Saturday’s aforementioned $50,000 tourney. One in just five entrants will win a full, $280 entry to the Saturday big-money game—and the entry fee for this feeder is just $65. It’s a great way to get into the $50,000 event on the cheap…but if you prefer getting in on the cheaper, then there are Round 1 feeders available on Thursday for just $15.
Contest races for the Friday featured tourneys are the 6th through 11th from Saratoga; the 7th and 10th from Gulfstream; and the 2nd and 3rd from Del Mar—10 races in all.
Using the same races, HorsePlayers gets involved with what is fast becoming a Friday favorite—a Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray.
This entry fee here is $500, which gets you a winning ratio of just 1 in 23 for grabbing a $10,000 BCBC seat.
Saturday is a special day—and not just because of the $50,000 Guaranteed tourney.
Don’t get us wrong…the live-format $50,000 guaranteed event, with a $280 buy-in and no limit as to how high the purse can grow, is at the top of the Saturday marquee. But it’s not the only noteworthy on said marquee.
Saturday also represents your very first chance to qualify for the 2019 Horse Player World Series, to be held March 28-30 at The Orleans (where else?). This is a live-format, entry-only qualifier with one entry per each 20 earning a $1,500 buy-in to one of the sport’s most prestigious tournaments.
Speaking of The Orleans, there’s also a Saturday qualifier to their Orleans Fall Classic in October. This qualifier costs just $79 to play and one in 15 will earn a $1,000 package—a $500 entry and $500 for travel…or Fortune Cup credits.
We’d also bang the drum for Saturday’s “Big Bucks” tourney, which carries an $1,150 entry fee, is limited to 20 entries and offers payouts only to the top three finishers. The problem is, this one is already sold out. However, you can still win your way in via Friday’s feeder. Based on the response to this new offering, expect to see more of them in the near future.
Since it’s such a big day, we’ve stretched the Saturday contest race menu out slightly to 13 races. They are: the 8th through 13th at the Spa; the 7th and 9th from Monmouth; the 6th through 8th from Woodbine and the 2nd and 4th from Del Mar. That’s a baker’s dozen—including seven (a baker’s half-dozen?) stakes.
The same group of races will serve as the structure for the featured schedule at HorsePlayers on Saturday.
Our second of three guaranteed BCBC seats this weekend is up for grabs on Saturday in a “regular” BCBC qualifier. It carries a $179 entry fee and one $10,000 entry/prize guaranteed. One entry per each 65 will win.
The NHC joins the party on Saturday with a Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers. Here, one in just 21 will win the grand prize. And one NHC berth is guaranteed here even if fewer than 21 sign up. Both the NHC Low Ratio and the BCBC qualifiers this day are live-format tourneys…as are pretty much all of the Saturday-Sunday featured events.
There are no fewer than nine featured events on Sunday—including a couple of new ones worthy of special attention.
One of those is a first chance/last chance/only chance (sounds like a Johnny Mathis or Barry White song) for next Saturday’s Florida Sire Stakes Betting Challenge at Gulfstream. This is an entry-only contest costing $88 to play and one in 20 will earn a $1,500 entry to Gulfstream. Unlike with the horses, though, you need not be a Florida-bred to be eligible.
Did you know that just eight online berths remain available for The BIG One? Now you do…and two of those spots are guaranteed to be awarded this Sunday. Winners receive all-inclusive packages including travel, hotel, welcome dinner and full buffet/open bar at Laurel. They’ll also be competing for 10 NHC seats, 10 BCBC entries, 10 HPWS entries and cash amongst a field of no more than 57.
Keeneland is, of course, on the Sunday qualifying schedule thanks to its October 14 Keeneland NHC/BCBC Challenge. One in 25 entries in this affair will earn a $3,500 package ($3,000 entry fee and $500 for travel) to one of America’s showpiece racetracks and race meets.
Woodbine is back in the mix this weekend too and time’s a-wastin’ for you to qualify for its Woodbine Mile Horseplayers Tournament on September 15 (Woodbine Mile Day). Win our qualifier (one per 20 will do so) and you’ll earn your Woodbine entry fee of $3,500 (Canadian) plus $500 in U.S. dollars for travel. The September 15th event offers a prize pool that will include two BCBC entries and four NHC berths. Note that, after this weekend, there will likely be just one more chance to qualify for Woodbine.
We haven’t forgotten about you cash-game aficionados. Sunday brings with it our up-to-$20,000 tourney with $10,000 guaranteed. This live-format competition carries an entry fee of $195 with a maximum of 118 entries permitted.
There’s also our Sunday Exacta tourney offering $2,000 Guaranteed with a urse of up to $5,000 depending on participation. It’s $125 to enter, and players pick a three-horse exacta box in each of the 12 contest races. Remember—no price caps in these exacta box contests.
HorsePlayers is a big part of the Sunday fun with not one, not two but three featured tourneys, including a brand new one.
The new shooter is a qualifier for the first of three on-site NHC Super Qualifiers taking place before the end of the 2018 NHC Tour year. This first “Super Q” takes place at Belmont on September 29, when one NHC berth will be awarded per each 15 entries. Winners of our Sunday qualifier (one per each 20 entries) receive a $1,500 entry to the Belmont NHC Super Qualifier plus $500 for travel. (Look for additional NHC Super Qualifiers at Fair Grounds and Santa Anita.)
There’s also a 2-seats-guaranteed NHC qualifier for just $75 on Sunday. If we manage to attract 429 or more entries (it happens every now and then), we’ll add a third NHC seat to the prize pool.
The BCBC closes things out with a Low Ratio qualifier in which you pay $500 to play, but the winning ratio is just one-in-23. One prize is guaranteed no matter how many sign up.
Before we leave, we want to send special good wishes to the following 13 sharp contest players: Robert Masterton, Michael Kavana, Geoffrey Billet, Franco Pacione, Pete Acocella, Rene Morety, Michael Guadagno, John O’Neil, Stephen Irwin Sr., Stephen Luca, Stephen Fitzpatrick and William Epp. They are the HorseTourneys qualifiers/representatives playing 14 entries (Kavana won a pair) at Saturday’s Monmouth Park Super Qualifier.
May all of you have an enjoyable weekend.