It’s been a full week—that’s half a fortnight—since the last NHC qualifier. So we’re calling a halt to this procrastination baloney and scheduling the first online qualifier to the 2020 NHC at HorsePlayers this Friday.
Perhaps best of all, you can enter this Pick & Pray for just $75. Two seats are guaranteed, as will be bragging rights to the two winners who will be able to boast for the next 358 days that they are qualified to the NHC.
This weekend, we’ll also be offering qualifiers to events taking place sooner than 51 weeks from now…and some nice cash games too. One of each is on tap for Friday right here at HorseTourneys.
The Horse Player World Series takes place a mere six weeks from now. One in 20 in this Pick & Pray will get a $1,500 entry to the March 28-30 extravaganza at The Orleans. The entry fee here is $90.
For cash gamers, 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 are 10 contest races for the Friday featured events at both HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers: the 5th and 8th at Aqueduct; the 6th through 10th at Gulfstream; and the 8th and 10th from Tampa Bay Downs—10 races in all.
Most—but not all—of the Saturday and Sunday features will be live-format tourneys, including the weekend’s richest event.
Our up-to-$30,000 cash game with $17,500 guaranteed takes the spotlight on Saturday. This one costs $260 to enter and the field is limited to 133.
And don’t look now, but here comes another 2020 NHC qualifier, this one of the “regular” variety with an entry fee of $165 and two seats guaranteed.
Another popular Saturday qualifier is our play-in to the April 14th Keeneland Grade One Gamble. Win this (one per 25 will do so), and you’ll get a $3,000 entry plus $500 for travel to Big Blue Nation. The entry fee is $164.
Saturday is also full-package day for the Horse Player World Series. Winners (one per 25) in this $117 buy-in tourney receive not just a $1,500 entry to the three-day, mythical-money major on March 28-30, but a four-night hotel stay at The Orleans (home of Big Al’s Oyster Bar) plus another $500 for travel.
Over at HorsePlayers, the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge is back on the docket.
Saturday’s offereing is the first of two weekend BCBC qualifiers. This one is a “regular,” $179 live-format tourney in which one $10,000 entry is guaranteed regardless of how many sign up.
If you only like playing Pick & Prays, then do we have a big one for you on Sunday.
No, it’s not a qualifier to The BIG One…but our Big Bucks tourney (always run as a Pick & Pray. The buy-in is $1,150 and no more than 20 entries will be accepted. Payoffs are made only to the top three—on a 70/20/10 basis—and should the game sellout, the total pool would exceed $20,000…though it will be at least $10,000 no matter what.
Not to worry, though…we do have a Sunday qualifier to The BIG One (it just happens to be a live-format game). The September event 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: the entry fee for our 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.
We mentioned the Big Bucks game earlier, but there is another $10,000 Guaranteed cash tourney on the schedule. It’s our $10,000 Guaranteed, up-to-$20,000 tourney that has an entry fee of $195. The lower price means more competitors, of course (limit: 118).
Another cash game is 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. This one costs $125 to enter.
We have a brand new qualifier on the HorseTourneys roster this week: It’s a $166 buy-in qualifier to the TSG Ultimate Betting Challenge, taking place simultaneously at Santa Anita, Gulfstream and on Xpressbet.com in less than a month (March 9). One winner per each 25 entries earn a $3,000 entry plus $500 for travel to Arcadia, Hallandale Beach or your nearest laptop.
A lucky 13 have already qualified to August’s Spa & Surf Showdown, and you can add your name to that list via our Sunday qualifier. Winners (1 per 20) earn $2,000 entries to the two-day, Saratoga/Del Mar online event that guarantees a pot of at least $100,000. It’s just $113 to play this Sunday.
It’s cold in New Jersey right now, but it will be nice by June 1. That’s the date of the Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament. You can play in this tourney for $117, and one in 25 will earn a $2,000 entry plus $500 for travel to “The Joisey Shore.”
Also on tap for Sunday is a $90 live-format qualifier to the Horse Player World Series that awards a $1,500 HPWS entry per every 20 sign ups.
There are two featured events at HorsePlayers on Sunday.
There’s also a guaranteed, Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier on Sunday with one in 23 earning a $10,000 entry. The price tag here is $500, for this live-format play-in to one of the most prestigious events of the year.
Of course, the NHC is pretty darned prestigious in its own right (just ask Scott Coles). As newly-crowned Champion, he’s already won a seat to the 2020 edition, but you could win one for yourself in Sunday’s live-format, Low Ratio qualifier. One seat is guaranteed to be awarded here as well.
In case you’re not aware (or are still in a post-NHC fog like I am), this Monday is President’s Day, and we’ll have a special, bulked-up menu of Monday tourneys this week.
Also, keep an eye out for a special new tourney that will be making its debut a week from Sunday.
It’s a Pick 6 Jackpot tourney. Here’s how it works. It’s a six-race tourney, with the six selected by us from among the day’s 12 featured tourney races. Those who do best based on the standard $2.00 win/place scoring method share 70% of the pool. To get the other 30% of the pool, you have to have picked all six winners. If no one does so, the 30% carries over to the next Pick 6 Jackpot tourney. We’re starting the Jackpot out at a nice round $1,000 to kick things off.
Enjoy the long weekend! We hope you can spend a portion of it with us.