The Preakness will miss the presence of Country House and Maximum Security, but everyone seems to agree that the baker’s dozen that were entered for Saturday’s middle jewel of the Triple Crown make for a wide open and intriguing betting race. That race serves as the anchor leg of the Saturday featured contest races, and it could make tens of thousands of dollars of difference to you in our special Preakness Day $75,000 Guaranteed, No Limit cash game.
The takeout for this event is a player-friendly 11.5%, and because the pool is guaranteed at $75,000 no matter how many sign up, the payoff to the winner should be at least $30,000. It could be well more than that, though, should we get above the 180-entry mark. A small handful of $27 and $58 feeders are still available for you to try and win your way into this big-money event for a fraction of the $495 entry fee. Or, if you prefer, you can simply buy your way in now. Please note, though, that there is a maximum of two entries permitted per account.
The $75,000 Guaranteed tourney is just one of 18 featured events scheduled for Preakness weekend. The fun—and prizes—get started on Friday.
We have yet another new addition to the Friday lineup: a direct qualifier to the Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament. This joins the Spa & Surf Showdown Pick & Pray as new qualifiers on the Friday slate—so you now have two chances (Friday and Sunday) to qualify for these two important events.
Winners of our Monmouth qualifier receive a $2,000 entry plus $500 to travel to New Jersey for the June 1 event, which offers a copious amount of NHC seats, BCBC entries and cash. Spa & Surf Showdown qualifying winners also get a $2,000 entry for that August 3-4, $100,000 Guaranteed, cash-on-the-barrelhead competition. No travel allowance for that one, though, as it is an online tourney!
We haven’t forgotten about you straight-cash gamers, of course. Friday’s up-to-$12,500 Pick & Pray comes with its customary $5,000 purse guarantee regardless of participation. It has an entry fee of $190 and entries are capped at 75.
Also taking place on Friday is a $116 Round 2 feeder for the $75,000 tourney with one in just five moving on to the finals on Preakness Day.
Contest races for all of the Friday features are the 8th through 13th from Pimlico; the 6th and 9th at Belmont Park; and the 5th and 6th from Santa Anita—10 races in all.
Saturday is, of course, led by the live-format $75,000 game, but there are four additional featured events that are all well worth winning.
There aren’t many better settings for contest play than Saratoga Race Course, and you can win a $3,000 entry (plus $500 for travel) to the Spa’s pair of single-day tourneys. (The $3,000 covers you for both days.) Entries to this Pick & Pray qualifier are $166 each, and the winning ratio is 1 per 25.
Also on tap on Preakness Day is a Pick & Pray qualifier to the June 22 Santa Anita Spring Challenge. Winners (one per 20) in this $176 contest receive a $3,000 entry to the Santa Anita competition where (based on 100 entries) two seats each will be awarded to the NHC, the BCBC and the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship. Bonus money will also be part of the prize pool there. Should you win one of those $3,000 entries, you can choose to play the Spring Challenge in person at Santa Anita or at Xpressbet.com.
HorsePlayers jumps into the weekend fray on Preakness Day with two live-format qualifiers.
Two Guaranteed NHC seats will be on the line in a “regular” qualifier. You can get in for $165, and the winning ratio is 1 in 65…unless fewer than 130 sign up, in which case the winning ratio will be accordingly lower.
There’s also a Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier, and here, one $10,000 entry is certain to be awarded. This one is also a “regular” qualifier, meaning the standard entry fee of $179 is in effect and the winning ratio is 1 per 65, though one grand prize will be awarded no matter what.
The Preakness Day featured tourneys at both HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers will be contested using an expanded menu of 15 mandatory contest races. They are: races 9 through 13 (all stakes) from Pimlico; the 2nd, 4th, 5th , 6th and 7th at Santa Anita; and the 8th through 12th from Belmont—three tracks, five races each.
Sunday is what some would consider a real day of opportunity at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers…and not just because of the 10 featured events that are lined up.
Saturday is Preakness Day, of course. This means that Sunday is the day after Preakness Day(!) Quite often, players participate with gusto on the big days—and take something of a breather the following day. This means that some of your toughest foes out there may be on the bench. It could also mean that winning ratios could be reduced (that’s a good thing for you) if participation numbers are down for our various guaranteed tourneys.
One such guaranteed qualifier is Sunday’s play-in to The BIG One. This high-expectation, onsite tournament in September at Laurel Park will award 10 NHC seats, five BCBC spots, five Pegasus entries, five HPWS entries, plus a guaranteed cash prize pool of at least $75,000. Once again in 2019, there will be no more than 57 entries allowed at The BIG One, so those 25 prizes will be shared among no more than 57 people. And since Sunday’s qualifier is guaranteed, one package will be awarded regardless of participation. Winners receive their entry plus hotel, transfers from hotel to the track and back, and a welcome dinner, plus buffet/open bar at Laurel and a $500 stipend for your travel.
Two of our Sunday cash games are also guaranteed…even though it’s the “day after a big day.”
Sunday’s $10,000 Guaranteed tourney has an entry fee of $195, and it’s a Pick & Pray this week. Up to 118 can play, and the purse could grow as high as $20,000, depending on participation. But it will absolutely be at least $10,000.
The other guaranteed cash game this day is our up-to-$5,000 Exacta box contest (always run in live-format). It offers a guaranteed purse of $1,000 and requires players to choose a three-horse exacta box in each contest race. The winner is based on total return from a $1.00 base play. This tourney carries an entry fee of $125 and entries are capped at 45.
If you’re looking for inexpensive featured action, Sunday’s Jackpot Pick 6 tourney may be for you. The purse is not guaranteed…but the entry fee is just $8. Seventy percent of the net pool goes to the winners, and 30% goes to the carryover pool should no one get all six contest races right. If someone does, though, that $8 would take down the jackpot pool, which currently sits at $1,589. If more than one get all six right, then the jackpot pool is shared. (There doesn’t have to be a single winner.)
As mentioned earlier, Sunday offers the weekend’s second chance to win a $2,000 entry to the Spa & Surf Showdown. Like Friday’s qualifier, the entry fee is $113 and one in 20 will win. This format is again Pick & Pray.
Also part of a Friday-Sunday two-step is the Sunday qualifier to the June 1 Monmouth Park Pick Your Prize Tournament. Winners receive a $2,500 package to Oceanport, N.J., where they will compete for an anticipated 20 NHC seats, 6 BCBC entries plus cash.
Back on the Sunday schedule this week are a couple of “every-other-week” qualifiers. One to the Belmont Stakes Challenge and the other to the Del Mar Handicapping Challenge.
The Belmont competition takes place on Belmont Stakes eve and Belmont Stakes Day (June 7-8). There will be one winner per each 25 entries in this $495 qualifier with that winner (or winners) earning a $10,000 entry plus $500 for travel.
Stakes are nearly as high with the Del Mar Handicapping Challenge. Our Sunday winner(s) get an $8,000 entry to the July 27-28 contest in the land of perfect weather…plus $500 to get yourself to that weather. The entry fee is is $400.
HorsePlayers has another twin-bill on Sunday—both “Low Ratio” qualifiers.
On the NHC side of the street is a one-seat-guaranteed qualifier with an entry fee of $500 and a winning ratio of 1 in 21.
The other side offers a guaranteed Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entry (value: $10,000) for an identical entry fee of $500. The winning ratio here is 1 in 23. Once again, a reminder, though: Since both of these HorsePlayers tourneys are guaranteed, and since they take place on the day after a Triple Crown race, you might just be able to land an even-more-favorable winning ratio if too many folks keep their computers turned off. Time will tell!
We hope you have a profitable Preakness day and weekend. And if you like our $75,000 Guaranteed Saturday tournament this week, you’ll love (or at least like the same amount) our schedule on June 8.
Yep, we’ll be putting up another $75,000 Guaranteed on Belmont Stakes Day. First things first, though…enjoy the Preakness!