We have 25 featured tourneys across the four-day weekend that begins on Friday and concludes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Included are three important Last Chance events—one each on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. For the sake of chronological clarity, however, we begin our weekend preview with the five featured tourneys slated for Friday.
The first $7,500 of what will be $53,500 in weekend guaranteed cash gets put on the table in Friday’s up-to-$15,000 Pick & Pray. The entry fee is $190, and no more than 90 may enter.
This is the last weekend in which to earn a $6,500 package to the January 25 Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship. Friday’s qualifier (the first of three on the weekend) is a $384 Pick & Pray with one of every 20 participants receiving a $6,000 entry (plus $500 for travel) to World Cup day day.
There are also three weekend qualifiers for the NHC Last Chance Tournament at Bally’s Las Vegas on NHC eve, February 6. The winning ratio is 1-per-10 in this $59 Pick & Pray. Again…should you win a $500 entry to this tournament and later earn an actual 2020 NHC seat, you have the option of keeping the entry, trading it in for $500 in HorseTourneys credit or transferring the $500 entry to another player. The deadline for letting us know of your plans is February 1.
There are no fewer than four weekend opportunities to win a seat to the Horse Player World Series—one each on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. On Friday, you can play an entry-only Pick & Pray for $89. The winning ratio is 1 per 20. Winners get a $1,500 entry to the three-day “major” at The Orleans.
There are two chances—one on Friday and one on Sunday—to earn a $1,500 spot in the $100,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff. The Faceoff—to be held on February 29-March 1 here at HorseTourneys— will offer full-card racing from just Gulfstream and Santa Anita during Fountain of Youth weekend. The Friday Pick & Pray, like Sunday’s, has an $86 entry fee, and carries a winning ratio of 1 in 20.
Contest races for Friday are the 6th, 8th, 9th and10th from Gulfstream; the 6th, 7th and 9th at Tampa; and the 6th through 8th from Aqueduct;—10 races in all.
A very important competition is scheduled for Saturday at HorsePlayers.
It’s a $100 NHC Pick & Pray with five seats guaranteed. The five guaranteed seats and the low-end entry fee will certainly be nice to some…but what makes this one extra important is that it is the very last chance for NHC Tour members to earn 2019 NHC Tour points. So…if you’re trying to get in amongst the Top 50 scorers not otherwise qualified in order to earn a 2020 spot…or you’re trying to win year-end bonus money…or you’re even trying to secure the 2019 NHC Tour Championship, this is the very last chance in which to improve your position. Good luck!
Meanwhile, three more featured Pick & Prays take place on Saturday at HorseTourneys.
Money grubbers out there (and aren’t we all?) may find Saturday’s up-to-$30,000 game with $15,000 Guaranteed the most attractive offering. It’s $260 to play.
Weekend opportunity two of four for the Horse Player World Series is set for Saturday. This one is a full-package qualifier. Winners get a $1,500 entry plus four nights at The Orleans (where locals are always welcome to come in and get their paycheck cashed!) and a $500 travel credit in your HorseTourneys account. The entry fee for this contest is $148, and the winning ratio is 1-per-20.
We also have a Saturday qualifier to the April 19 Keeneland Grade One Gamble. For $236, you can pick and pray your way to a $4,000 package to the Gamble, where cash, NHC seats and BCBC entries will be up for grabs. The winning ratio of the Saturday qualifier is 1 in 20.
The 12 contest races for the Saturday features at HP and HT will be the 7th and 8th at The Big A (Aqueduct); the 9th through 12th from Gulfstream; the 8th and 9th at Tampa; and the 5th through 8th from Santa Anita.
Ten more featured contests come your way Sunday at HorseTourneys.
Some people will be interested to find out on Sunday who will play in the next Super Bowl. If you’re reading this, though, you will undoubtedly be more excited on Sunday to follow the results of the Last Chance play-in to the Sam Houston NHC qualifier. One of every 15 entries, at $80 per entry, will earn a $1,000 entry to the January 26 event.
There are two $10,000 Guaranteed cash Pick & Prays on Sunday.
One is our “Big Bucks” game, which has an $1,150 entry fee and permits no more than 20 entrants. Payoffs go solely to the top three finishers on a 70%/20%/10% basis, and if we draw a full field, the pot will exceed $20,000. These Big Bucks games are always run as Pick & Prays.
The other is our “regular” $10,000 Guaranteed, up-to-$20,000 tourney with a $195-entry-fee. Entries are capped at 118.
The penultimate 2020 Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship qualifier takes place on Sunday. It’s $384 to play in this Pick & Pray, and one in 20 will earn a $6,500 package to the January 25th live-bankroll competition.
We’re back to an entry-only game for Sunday’s Horse Player World Series qualifier. It’s $89 to be allowed in, and one in 20 will also be allowed in to the second floor of The Orleans for the HPWS in late March.
The $100,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff will take place on whichever floor you keep your computer (or phone). You can win a $1,500 entry to it on Sunday by putting up an $86 entry fee and picking some winners.
That new events center at Bally’s better be big given how many people have won entries here lately to the NHC Last Chance Tournament at Bally’s. One of every 10 entries in Sunday’s qualifier for it—at $59 per entry—will get a $500 entry for the day-before-the-NHC contest.
You won’t necessarily need the Bally’s Last Chance if you already have a 2020 NHC seat…and you can win one of those in a Live-Format, Low-Ratio NHC qualifier on Sunday in which at least one spot is guaranteed to be awarded. It’s $500 to enter, and the winning ratio is 1-per-21.
Another Sunday live-format game is our up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney with $1,000 Guaranteed. Players pick a three-horse-exacta box play in each of the 12 contest races. You’re credited with the returns on a $1.00 base play, and the highest final total wins. No price caps are in play in our Exacta tourneys…so what the exacta pays is always what your score is credited with. You’re never out of these games until the fat lady sings.
Sunday also offers our $8 Pick 6 Jackpot tourney. Seventy percent of the net pool goes to top finishers via the normal, $2 win/place scoring method, while the other 30% goes to the Jackpot pool. Pick the winners of all six races and you win (or share) the Jackpot, which is now up to $4,499.
There’s another NHC qualifier over at HorsePlayers on Sunday.
It’s a $210, live-format play-in with one spot guaranteed. The winning ratio here works out to 1 in 50.
Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day…which means many of you have the day off…which means the featured-tourney fun continues for an extra day with five Pick & Prays.
If you’ve wanted to play in the Pegasus but haven’t won a seat to it yet, you “can overcome” in Monday’s Last Chance Pegasus qualifier. An entry costs $384, and one in 20 will pick up a $6,500 package for the following Saturday.
Perhaps you still “have a dream” to qualify for the 2020 NHC. You can reach the promised land on Monday via our regular, $165 Pick & Pray. One spot is guaranteed.
You can also win seats on Monday to the HorsePlayer World Series ($89 to play, one in 20 will win) and/or the NHC Last Chance tournament at Bally’s ($59, one-per-10). Both are Pick & Prays.
Last but not least, we have a $10,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray on Monday. The entry fee is $195, and if we get enough entries for it, the pot could certainly exceed $10,000…but it won’t be below that amount.
Enjoy the racing, the football, and the long weekend. We hope it’s a winning four days for you on all counts.