It’s not a holiday weekend but it feels like one since Saturday is Travers Day. To properly fete our own little “Horseplayer Holiday”, we’re offering a not-at-all-little cash game to supercharge Saturday.
It’s a live-format, $65,000 Guaranteed cash tourney with an entry fee of $495 and no limit as to how high the purse can grow. Now some may say that the Travers has lost some of its luster this year given that a star or two couldn’t make it. You know…the Derby winner…the Preakness winner…the Belmont Stakes winner…the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile/Los Alamitos Derby winner…the Haskell winner…the first-place finisher in the Derby. (Okay so maybe we’re guilty of exaggeration since those last two are one in the same.) We’re not buying into any of that hooey because we’re all about contests here, and the 2019 Travers has left us with as challenging a final race in a big money tourney as we can remember in recent years. Stay within a “capper” heading into that last race, and you’ll have a shot at a big payday.
Chances to win your way into Saturday’s big game are dwindling, but there’s a good one on Friday…along with a couple of other great tourneys that day.
You can win a $495 entry to the $65,000 Guaranteed event for just $116 in Friday’s “Round 2” direct feeder, which is a 10-race Pick & Pray. The winning ratio is one in just five.
There’s also our up-to-$15,000 Pick & Pray with $7,500 Guaranteed on Friday. It’s $190 to play and there is a limit of 90 entries that will be allowed in.
Travers eve is exciting as it is, but HorsePlayers turns up the excitement a decided notch or two.
A $75 NHC qualifier always brings out a good crowd, and Friday’s should be no exception. It, too, is a Pick & Pray and two NHC spots are guaranteed to be handed out regardless of participation levels.
Contest races for the above Friday events will be the 6th through 11th from Saratoga; the 7th and 8th at Monmouth; and the 7th and 8th from Gulfstream—10 races in all.
Like the Travers Day card itself, our Saturday featured schedule has a pretty great undercard as well.
In addition to our $65,000 event, there is a qualifier for the October 13 Keeneland NHC/BCBC Challenge on October 13. Winners receive a $3,000 Keeneland entry plus $500 for travel out to the Blue Grass. The winning ratio is 1 per 25, and entries go for $162.
You can also play your way into the Orleans Fall Classic on Saturday. The live-format Fall Classic qualifier offers a $1,000 package ($500 entry plus $500 travel) to the October 17-19 mythical-money test at The Orleans in Las Vegas.
Also, early in the day on Saturday, keep an eye out for a last-minute, early-bird, last-chance qualifier to the $65,000 tourney. There’s nothing like turning a little into a lot within the space of just a few hours.
HorsePlayers is also a significant part of the Travers Day excitement with a pair of direct qualifiers (one live, one Pick & Pray) to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.
The “regular” BCBC qualifier is a Pick & Pray with an entry fee of $179, and a winning ratio of 1 in 65. At least one $10,000 entry/prize guaranteed.
One prize is also guaranteed in Saturday’s Super Low Ratio BCBC qualifier. The winning ratio here is just 1 in 11, and this one—a live-format game—carries an entry fee of $1,000.
Contest races for Saturday at both HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers are: the 7th through 11th (all graded stakes and most of them Grade Ones) at Saratoga; the 7th, through 11th from Monmouth; and the 7th and 8th at Woodbine;—a dozen races all together, with the Travers serving as the day’s grand finale.
It’s a typically-busy Sunday again this week with six featured tourneys here and another couple at HorsePlayers.
There are only four weekends left to qualify for the 2019 renewal of The BIG One and just 11 spots left in what is always an intentionally compact field of no more than 57. This weekend’s lone opportunity is a 2-packages-guaranteed live-format tourney with an entry fee of $350. Winners will compete for 10 NHC spots, five BCBC entries and five Pegasus World Cup entries…plus $75,000 in cash. The BIG One qualifiers also receive a three-night hotel stay, another $500 for travel and welcome dinner, hotel/track transfers and buffet and open bar each of the two days at Laurel. It’s a great weekend with a great chance for a player to taste success (meaning winnings…as well as the food and drink).
As usual, we also offer a Sunday, $10,000 Guaranteed game. This one carries an entry fee of $195, and it will be run in live format this week. It’s an “up-to-$20,000” pool-style contest, but it won’t be worth less than $10,000. Up to 118 entries will be accepted.
The weekend’s second chance to get into the Keeneland NHC/BCBC Challenge (October 13) comes your way as well on Sunday. This live-format competition is a low-ratio, entry-only tourney. One of every 10 entries—at $352 per entry—receives a $3,000 seat to the Lexington, Ky., event.
There’s also another entry-only affair on Sunday…this one to the Orleans Fall Classic. This $59 game isn’t technically a “Low Ratio” qualifier, but it plays like one. A $500 entry to the Fall Classic will go to one of every 10 contestants.
It wouldn’t seem like Sunday without our up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney (always run in live format) with a guaranteed pot of $1,000. Players pay $125 to enter, and then select a mythical three-horse-exacta box play in each of the 12 contest races. The biggest overall return(s), based on $1 payoffs, takes the prize money.
Our $8 Pick 6 Jackpot is now up to $2,611. In this tourney, you pay just $8 to enter and 70% of the net pool gets paid out to players via the normal, $2 win/place scoring method, and the other 30% is devoted to the Jackpot pool. Pick the winners of all six races and you win the Jackpot (and you don’t have to be the only player to do so…multiple winners share the jackpot).
Meanswhile, there are two very nice qualifiers at HorsePlayers on Sunday.
A “regular” NHC qualifier with two “Bally’s Berths” guaranteed is on tap. The entry fee is $165 in this live-format contest which carries a winning ratio of 1 in 65.
Last but far from least is our Sunday Low-Ratio, Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier. An entry fee of $500 buys you a 1 in 23 chance of walking away with a $10,000 BCBC seat. One prize is guaranteed in this live-format “play in”.
Best wishes to the many Horse Tourneys qualifiers who will be competing Saturday at Monmouth in the Super NHC/BCBC qualifier there (six NHC seats and two BCBC entries up for grabs). I hope to see many of you there.
And those who I don’t see there, I hope to “see” here! Have a great weekend and good luck in all of your weekend contest and parimutuel pursuits.