I’m not sure how religious it is, but we here at HorseTourneys are celebrating Easter/Passover weekend with 19 featured events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In fact, the Easter holiday will bring about a special change in our Sunday schedule. More on that later. First…on to Friday!
We hope it’s an extra “good” Friday for you thanks to our $10,000 Guaranteed No Limit Pick & Pray, The entry fee for this lucrative cash tourney is $190.
The majority of this week’s marquee competitions will be run as Pick & Prays. All of Friday’s top tourneys fall into that category—including our qualifier to the $150,000 Guaranteed Spa & Surf Showdown. This is the first of three Showdown play-ins during the weekend (all of them Pick & Prays). One of every 20 entries, at $113 each, will earn a $2,000 entry to the August 15-16 online tourney that focuses strictly on Saratoga and Del Mar races.
Just as at HorseTourneys, there are two featured Pick & Prays slated for Friday at HorsePlayers.
A minimum of two NHC seats will be on the line in Friday’s $75 NHC Pick & Pray. The winning ratio in this always-popular affair is 1-per-143. NHC Tour Points will be available to the top 10 percent of the field.
The other Friday feature at HorsePlayers is a Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier with one $10,000 BCBC entry guaranteed, Here the winning ratio is 1 per 23, and the entry fee is $500.
Contest races for Friday are the 4th through 10th at Gulfstream; and the 6th through 8th from Tampa—10 races in all.
On Saturday, we have a trio of featured tourneys for your picking and praying pleasure.
The richest competition of the weekend is Saturday’s $20,000 Guaranteed No Limit event. You can put yourself in the starting gate for $260.
Opportunity number two to qualify for the Spa & Surf Showdown takes place this weekend. Again, one of every 20 entries, at $113 per entry, will pick up a $2,000 entry to the $150,000 Guaranteed contest, which will take place right here at HorseTourneys.
The other Saturday HT feature is the play-in to the Lone Star Park Spring Betting Challenge—recently rescheduled to June 27. It’s a 1-per-15 contest with an entry fee $80 per pop, and winners garner a $1,000 entry to the Metroplex meeting of the minds.
HorsePlayers goes in a slightly different direction on Saturday by offering a pair of live-format featured tourneys.
One is a “regular” Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge play-in with an entry fee of $179 and at least one $10,000 entry definitely awarded regardless of participation.
The other is a regular NHC qualifier with a ticket price of $165. This game has two NHC spots guaranteed at the top.
The 12 Saturday contest races for all of the features at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers are the 6th through 9th at Tampa; and the 6th through 13th from Gulfstream.
Easter Sunday is the busiest day of the weekend here for featured tourneys…and the quietest day for racetracks.
Because the only open tracks we currently have access to are Gulfstream and Tampa…and because Tampa is closed for Easter Sunday…that means that Sunday’s featured events will all be single-track, Gulfstream-only competitions. (Early-bird feeder fans can look for a few Sunday feeders late on Saturday night with our Australian races.)
We have a Sunday NHC qualifier right here at HorseTourneys on Easter. It’s a live-format, Low Ratio play-in with an entry fee of $500 and a winning ratio of 1-per-21. Note that a minimum of 10 entries must be attracted in order for this tourney to be run.
We, of course, have a pair of five-figure cash games this Sunday—both Pick & Prays.
Our $10,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks game cost $1,150 per entry, and entries are capped at 20. The purse is set at a minimum of $10,000 regardless of participation and the top three finishers split the pot on a 70/20/10 percent basis.
A smaller entry fee, $195, will get you into our $12,500 Guaranteed No Limit tourney. The more that play, the more we pay—but we won’t be paying less than $12,500. Keep an eye out for overlay opportunities in this and other guaranteed tourneys this Sunday since closing times will be earlier due to the availability of only one track.
One of those other guaranteed events is our qualifier to The BIG One. Here, one guaranteed, all-inclusive package to the 2020 The BIG One at Laurel will be up for grabs. Fifteen contest seats and at least $75,000 in cash will be in the prize pool in Maryland on September 19-20—distributed amongst a field that will be no greater than 57. The Sunday entry fee is $395 and entires are limited to a total of 26. Winners receive a prize package that includes hotel, travel stipend, welcome dinner, high-end amenities at Laurel and more. At The BIG One, the top 10 finishers also get cash bonuses plus their choice of a seat to the NHC, BCBC or Pegasus World Cup. Finishers 11-15 get a choice of either $1,500 or a Horse Players World Series entry.
You have your third and final chance of the weekend to pick up a $2,000 entry to the Spa & Surf Showdown. One of every 20 entries, at $113 per entry, will have a paid-up Showdown entry this August and play for a cash-only prize pool ($150,000 Guaranteed) in an event that will involve only races from Saratoga and Del Mar.
The Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament joins the fray on Sunday. Players in our Sunday qualifier will be vying for a $2,000 entry plus $500 for travel to New Jersey for the popular onsite event which has been postponed from May 30 to a summer date yet to be determined.
Getting back to Sunday cash games, our up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney with $1,000 Guaranteed is one worth checking out—in part for a possible overlay opportunity with the early start. These are always run as live-format affairs. Players choose a three-horse-exacta box in each of the contest races, and receive scores based on the returns of a $1.00 base play. No payout caps are in effect. What the dollar exacta pays is what your score gets credited with. So you’re never out of contention.
Another fun, slightly-out-of-the-ordinary cash game on Sunday is our $8 Pick 6 Jackpot tourney. These are also always run in live-format, and 70% of the net pool goes to top finishers via the normal, $2 win/place scoring method, while the other 30% is directed to the Jackpot pool. This week, the Jackpot is up to $8,030.
Two Pick & Prays at HorsePlayers round out the weekend slate.
One is a Low Ratio (1-per-23) Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge play-in. A $500 bill will get you past the ticket taker, and at least one $10,000 BCBC entry is certain to be awarded.
The other is a regular ($165) NHC qualifier with two seats guaranteed to be won. The winning ratio here is 1-per-65.
We wish everyone in the HorseTourneys community a happy and healthy Easter and Passover weekend. Wherever you are, hang in there and be safe.