It’s not the first leg of the Triple Crown we’re used to, but it’s the one we’ve got—and we stand ready to try and supercharge it a bit with a special $50,000 Guaranteed cash game to go along with Saturday’s customary $25,000 cash game. They’re part of featured-tourney weekend offering a whopping $119,500 in Guaranteed cash. The fun begins on Friday.
You can build up your Belmont Stakes bankroll in Friday’s $10,000 Guaranteed No Limit Pick & Pray. Entries are $190 apiece.
Speaking of the Belmont Stakes, Friday represents your last chance to earn a $3,000 entry into the Belmont Stakes Challenge over at Xpressbet on Saturday. One of every 20 entries, at $177 each, will advance to the live-bankroll event. Note that you must have (or have established) an Xpressbet account by Saturday morning in order to compete in their Challenge.
Also on the weekend schedule is a daily qualifier to the August 15-16 Spa & Surf Showdown. Winners receive a $2,000 entry to the $150,000 Guaranteed all-cash tourney.. The buy-in each day this weekend is $113. Winners (1-per-20) will square off on August 15-16 for two full days of racing from Saratoga and Del Mar. Friday’s play-in will be a Pick & Pray.
The NHC and the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge share the spotlight on Friday at HorsePlayers.
Friday’s $75 NHC Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers offers two guaranteed seats to Vegas next February and NHC Tour points will also be up for grabs. It’s a Pick & Pray with a winning ratio of 1 in 143.
Also a Pick & Pray is Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier. One $10,000 entry is certain in this $500 competition. The winning ratio is 1-per-23.
Contest races this Friday at both HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers are the 6th through 10th from Belmont; the 1st, 3rd and 5th at Santa Anita; and the 7th and 8th from Laurel—10 races in all.
Nine featured tourneys are set for Belmont Stakes. Total guaranteed cash on the table: $86,000.
One thing you should note at the very beginning: The featured schedule for Saturday is the 12-race, full-card from Belmont. That’s 11:45 am ET and 8:45 am PT. So don’t oversleep!
Indeed, you’ll need to be awake and alert to conquer the field in Saturday’s $50,000 Guaranteed, No Limit cash tourney. It carries an entry fee of $395 and will be run in Live format.
Prefer Pick & Prays? Then Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed No Limit game is for you? This one costs $260 to enter.
Prefer Pick & Prays but for extra high stakes? Look no further than Saturday’s $10,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks game. It has an $1,150 buy-in and signups are limited to 20, though occasionally the field can be a touch higher via last-minute qualifiers. The purse could grow as high as $20,000 (or even a little bit more). Payouts go to the top three scorers on a 70%/20%/10% split.
Belmont Stakes Day marks the first weekend this year that we start offering guaranteed qualifiers to The BIG One on both Saturday and Sunday. The first prize includes an upfront cash payment of $500 to go along with the paid-up entry to the finals on September 19-20. The buy-in here is $395, the format is Live (Sunday’s will be a Pick & Pray) and no more than 27 entries will be accepted. In The BIG One, the top 10 finishers receive their choice of a seat to the NHC, BCBC or Pegasus World Cup plus they share in a cash pool that is already up to $87,000 (and counting). Finishers 11-15 get a choice of either $1,500 or a Horse Players World Series entry. The final field in September will be comprised of no more than 57 entries in it. So if you make it to The BIG One, you have an excellent chance of winning a nice prize.
As we alluded to earlier, there’s another Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier on Saturday. This one will be played in live format, though the entry fee is again $113, and the winning ratio remains at 1-per-20. Winners get a $2,000 entry to the $150,000 Guaranteed online cash event (August 15-16) in which players tackle two days of full cards from Saratoga and Del Mar.
Belmont Stakes Day serves as your last chance to qualify for the Lone Star Park Spring Betting Challenge. It’s a Pick & Pray play-in, and the entry fee is $80. The winning ratio is 1-per-15. Winners garner a $1,000 entry for the June 27 ONSITE tournament at Lone Star.
To make things a little extra special on Belmont Day, we’re adding an-up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney with $1,000 Guaranteed to the mix. These games, always run in live format with an entry fee of $125, require players to select a three-horse box in every race. Scoring is based on the returns of a $1.00 play. Whoever does best wins (what a concept!), and there are no payoff caps in these Exacta tourneys.
Seats to the NHC and Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge will be on offer Saturday over at HorsePlayers.
The NHC tourney is a live-format “Maiden Special” restricted to players who have yet to earn a 2021 seat. One prize is guaranteed, and the entry fee is $165. Because it is a restricted competition, no NHC Tour points will be awarded.
The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier is a “regular” play-in. The entry fee is $179, the winning ratio is 1-in-65, the format is live and at least one $10,000 BCBC entry is certain to be awarded regardless of participation.
Sunday is no time for a Belmont Stakes hangover because another nine featured events are on tap—seven here at HorseTourneys and two at HorsePlayers.
As noted just a minute ago, the second of back-to-back qualifiers to The BIG One takes place today. This one is a Pick & Pray. The entry fee remains $395, and one grand prize is certain to be awarded no matter how many sign up.
Another Big Bucks tourney is set for Sunday. This time the format will be run Live. The buy-in is again $1,150, and the guaranteed purse is $7,500. Once again, as with all Big Bucks events, sign ups are limited to 20, and prizes go only to the top three.
More guaranteed cash is at stake in Sunday’s $12,500 Guaranteed No Limit tourney. The buy-in here is $195, and the format this week is Pick & Pray.
As you know by now, there’s another qualifier on Sunday to the Spa & Surf Showdown. One of every 20 entries, at $113 per entry, will earn $2,000 places in the Showdown where at least $150,000 will be in the prize pool on August 15-16. The format for the Sunday qualifier is Pick & Pray.
We switch over to a Live format for Sunday’s Low Ratio NHC qualifier. The winning ratio is 1-per-21. (Note that, per NHC Tour rules, Tour points will only be available here if there are enough entries to award two seats.) This event carries a $500 entry fee and requires at least 10 entries for the contest to take place.
As was the case on Belmont Stakes Day, there’s up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney with $1,000 Guaranteed on Sunday. The entry fee is again $125.
One of the most fun tournaments of this or any weekend is our $8 Pick 6 Jackpot game. On Sunday, we’ll again try to hand out a large return for a small outlay. In this event, 70% of the net pool gets paid to top finishers via the normal, $2 win/place scoring method, while the other 30% gets directed to the Jackpot pool. You win (or share) the Jackpot if you pick the winners of all six races. This week, the Jackpot starts out at $13,689.
Again the NHC & BCBC share the stage at HorsePlayers with a pair of live-format tourneys on Sunday.
One is a “regular,” 2-seats-guaranteed NHC qualifier. It carries a winning ratio of 1-per-65, and an entry fee of $165.
The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge play-in is a Low Ratio affair with an entry fee of $500, and a winning ratio of 1-per-23. At least one $10,000 BCBC entry is guaranteed to be awarded no matter how take part.
Enjoy this year’s unique first jewel of the Triple Crown and good luck in all your tourney endeavors this weekend.