We’re always pleased when we have something new to add to a given week’s lineup. By that yardstick, we are positively brimming with delight heading into the upcoming Pegasus weekend.
Pegasus World Cup Day, itself, means a special $40,000 Guaranteed event. On a weekend like this one, however, the big-money cash game has to share top billing with the rollout of 2019 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifiers, the onset of direct qualifiers to the 2019 The BIG One, and also our first offering of spots to the 2019 Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament.
And oh by the way, there are six more late seats to the 2019 NHC at stake too. The first of those comes your way on Friday.
It’s another opportunity to “get qualified” to the NHC for just $100. It’s a Pick & Pray Pick & Pray with one seat guaranteed to be awarded.
The four Friday features at HorseTourneys are all Pick & Prays as well.
Added to the usual list of important Friday games is a Round 2 qualifier to Saturday’s $40,000 Guaranteed, No Limit tourney. You can win a $340 seat to Saturday’s main event for just $79 here—and one entry per each five will do just that.
For those who prefer a greater sense of immediacy to their gratification, there’s our up-to-$12,500 Pick & Pray with $5,000 Guaranteed. It has a buy-in of $190 and entries are limited to 75.
There’s also a Pick & Pray qualifier to the Horse Player World Series. One in 20 in this one will get a $1,500 entry to the March 28-30 handicap-a-thon at The Orleans. (Think of it as a more laid-back NHC.) The entry fee here is $90.
The other Friday feature at HorseTourneys is a qualifier to the Treasure Island NHC Last Chance tournament, which takes place on NHC eve. One entry per 10 here earns a $500 buy-in to the NHC play-in. Lots of NHC qualifiers like to use the phrase “Last Chance” but this one truly fits those words! The entry fee is $58 for this qualifier and one in 10 get the $500 entry.
Contest races for the Friday featured events at both HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers are: the 7th through 11th at Gulfstream; the 8th and 9th from Aqueduct; and the 4th through 6th at Santa Anita—10 races in total.
On Saturday, the big dog is our special $40,000 Guaranteed Pegasus Day cash tourney. But there’s a lot more where that came from.
The Saturday and Sunday tourneys will be run, almost exclusively, in live-format mode so post parade observers and tote board watchers will have plenty to keep them busy. Our big Pegasus Day cash game will offer a pot of at least $40,000 regardless of participation, but since this is a “No Limit” game, the purse could well exceed that guaranteed amount should we get more than 130 entries (or thereabouts).
Also on tap is a Saturday qualifier to the April 14th Keeneland Grade One Gamble. Winner(s) get a $3,000 entry plus $500 for travel to the land of the bluegrass. One grand prize will be awarded per each 25 entries in this live-format contest, which carries an entry fee of $164.
As our Horse Player World Series fans are sure to know, Saturday is also full-package day for the HPWS. Winners (one per 25) in this $117 buy-in tourney receive not just a $1,500 entry to the March 28-30 classic, but a four-night hotel stay at The Orleans plus another $500 for travel as well.
You can also try to land a late NHC seat at both HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers on Saturday. The opportunity here is a Low Ratio qualifier with a $500 entry fee and a winning ratio of just one in 21. One seat is guaranteed.
The big news at HorsePlayers on Saturday is the return of Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifiers.
You can be among the first to qualify for the exciting, live-bankroll tourney on Breeders’ Cup weekend in this $179 qualifier with one $10,000 entry guaranteed. Also—depending on participation—a $5,000 “partial” BCBC entry might be awarded to someone finishing just outside the top slot(s). This could be a good chance to get your 2019 BCBC qualification out of the way before others have caught on.
Meanwhile, the NHC tourney at HorsePlayers is a “Lower Ratio” qualifier with a buy-in of $240 and one winner per each 45 entries. All are welcome to play.
Eleven more featured events, including a couple of new entries, are headed your way on Sunday—eight of them take place at HorseTourneys and three at HorsePlayers.
Two popular direct qualifiers make their 2019 debuts on Sunday, led by your first chance to qualify for the 2019 The BIG One. The September standard at Laurel will have several enhancements this year, including a return to a $2.00 win-place format, a guaranteed cash pool of $75,000 and five Pegasus World Cup seats ($12,000 value each) to go along with 10 NHC spots and five BCBC entries. Another change of more immediate consequence is that the entry fee for direct qualifiers has been reduced to $350 (from $495). There will be one winner of an all-inclusive package (entry, travel, hotel and more) per each 35 entries, and one package is guaranteed.
Another old favorite making a Pegasus weekend return is the Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament, slated this year for June 1. You can play in this live-format qualifier for $117, and one in 25 will earn a $2,000 entry plus $500 for travel to the Jersey Shore.
Last weekend’s first qualifier to the inaugural Spa & Surf Showdown was a big success with five people winning $2,000 entries to the two-day, Saratoga/Del Mar online event. This week you can try again. It’s just $113 to compete and one in 20 will have a 48-hour appointment with their laptops come August 3-4.
It should come as no surprise that there is a 2019 NHC qualifier on Sunday. Note that this one, a Lower Ratio (one per 45) qualifier open to all, is a Pick & Pray. One NHC seat is guaranteed.
Also a non-shocker is our scheduled qualifier to the Treasure Island NHC Last Chance tournament. Again, one per 10 entries (at $58 each) will win a $500 ticket to the TI tourney.
In addition to the TI, you can win a spot at the TO…The Orleans, to be specific. Our $90 Horse Player World Series entry-only qualifier awards a $1,500 HPWS entry per every 20 sign ups.
Cash-game specialists have two featured tourneys to pick from on Sunday.
One is our $10,000 Guaranteed, up-to-$20,000 tourney. It carries an entry fee of $195, and there is a limit of 118 entries.
If one horse per race isn’t enough action, how about three? You can do that in our up-to-$5,000 Exacta box tourney. This contest (always run in live-format) offers a guaranteed purse of $1,000. Here, you make a three-horse exacta box play in each contest race, and the winner is based on total return from a $1.00 play. And in exacta tourneys, there is never a payoff cap.
Sunday is also the biggest day of the weekend at HorsePlayers with three live-format, $500 buy-in tourneys.
One is a Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge competition with one in 23 earning a $10,000 entry (at least one of which is guaranteed to be awarded).
There are two one-seat-guaranteed NHC “Low Ratio” qualifiers on Sunday. One is open to all, the other is restricted to those who have yet to win a 2019 NHC seat. (Keep in mind that the 2019 NHC is now just 15 days away.)
This weekend we send out winning thoughts and wishes to Stephen McNatton, Jon Petoskey, Steven Meier, Michael Dennis, Russell Priola, Edward Enborg, Dennis Montoro, Ryan Flanders, John Holmes, Kevin Willett, Brad Henry, Eric Pineiro and Bill Chenvert. These 13 are the HorseTourneys qualifiers to the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship, which gets started tomorrow (Friday). May you turn your starting, $12,000 stake into a memory that lasts a lifetime.
Enjoy the Eclipse Awards (airing live tonight on TVG), the Pegasus and all the other great racing around the country this weekend.