Could we already be nearing the end of summer? According to the calendar (which seems like a less believable companion this year), the answer is “Yes”. On what will be the final weekend of August, we have 19 featured events—including a last chance, a first chance and lots of fun stuff in between.
Friday is your last chance to qualify for Saturday’s onsite NHC qualifier at Monmouth. One of every 10 entries, at $59 each, will earn a $500 Monmouth entry in this Pick & Pray.
For cash-game fans, there’s Friday’s $10,000 Guaranteed No Limit cash tourney. Entries here cost $190 each.
Over at HorsePlayers, there’s one qualifier on Friday for the NHC and one for the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.
Friday’s $75 NHC Pick & Pray will award at least two seats, and NHC Tour points will also be available to those finishing in the top 10%. It’s a Pick & Pray with a winning ratio of 1 in 143.
The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge play-in is a Low Ratio Pick & Pray. At least one $10,000 entry is certain to be won in this $500 event. The winning ratio here is 1-per-23.
Friday contest races are the 6th through 8th from Woodbine; the 6th, 8th and 9th at Saratoga; and the 2nd through 5th from Del Mar—10 races in all.
Six features are on the Saturday docket—four here and two at HorsePlayers.
The richest tourney of the weekend is Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed event. It’s a live tourney with an entry fee of $260.
There’s also a $10,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks Pick & Pray for $1,150. The field for this competition is limited to 20, barring any late entries due to last-minute feeders. If the game is sold out, the purse will rise to over $20,000. Payoffs go out only to the top three—on a 70%/20%/10% basis.
The carryover for the $8 Pick 6 Jackpot tourney has gone past the $20,000 mark. If anyone can go 6-for-6, he/she/they will win or share the Jackpot which, to be exact, now sits at $20,429. Seventy percent of net entry fees (at $8 each) get paid out via traditional win/place scoring totals while 30% gets directed to the Jackpot. The Pick 6 Jackpot races this week are the 9th at Gulfstream, the 7th from Saratoga; and the first four from Del Mar. Five of the six races have six horses entered (before scratches)…the other has a field of seven.
The featured qualifying event at HorseTourneys on Saturday is our Pick & Pray play-in to The BIG One. The grand prize is an entry to The BIG One on September 19-20 plus $500 in cash. (Just nine online seats remain available.) The buy-in here is $395, and entries for this qualifier are capped at 27. In The BIG One, the top 10 finishers get 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 $131,990 (and counting). Finishers 11-15 get a choice of either $1,500 or a Horse Player World Series entry. The BIG One will be held here at HorseTourneys this year, and the final field in September will consist of no more than 57 entries (50 online qualifiers plus up to seven buy-ins). So if you make it to The BIG One, you have a better-than-usual chance to leave with a nice prize.
Over at HorsePlayers, there are ta pair of Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifiers on the slate.
Saturday’s “regular” BCBC play-in has one grand prize guaranteed and carries an entry fee of $179. It’s a live-format tourney with a winning ratio of 1-per-65.
The winning ratio is just 1-per-11 in Saturday’s Super Low Ratio BCBC Pick & Pray. It also guarantees at least one winner no matter how many take part. The entry fee here is $1,000.
The 12 contest races on Saturday are: Races 5, 7, 8 and 11 from Saratoga (we’re trying to stay away from turf races there on Saturday); races 8 and 12 at Monmouth (we’re trying to stay away from turf races there too); the 9th and 11th (both dirt stakes) from Gulfstream; and the 1st through 4th from Del Mar (no Saturday worries about the weather there!).
Nine more featured events—including a new addition to the weekend roster—come your way on Sunday.
Sunday is your first chance to earn a $3,000 entry to the Keeneland Fall NHC/BCBC Online Challenge. You can get in to the October 10 competition for $175 if you win this live-format play-in. The winning ratio is 1-per-20.
A guaranteed berth is on the line up for grabs in Sunday’s live-format, $395 qualifier to The BIG One, which takes place here (instead of at Laurel Park) on September 19-20. The field for The BIG One will number no more than 57—50 via online qualifiers plus up to seven buy-ins.
You can punch your ticket to the NHC in Sunday’s Low Ratio Pick & Pray here. It’s $500 to play. Note that this game must attract at least 10 entries in order to take place.
Sunday’s cash games include our live-format $15,000 Guaranteed tourney. The entry fee is $195.
Also in live-format is Sunday’s $7,500 Guaranteed Big Bucks tourney. The pot could exceed $20,000 depending on participation, but it won’t be less than $7,500. The entry fee is $1,150, and payoffs go only to the top three finishers.
The second of the weekend’s two $8 Pick 6 Jackpot tourneys takes place on Sunday. Check out our Twitter feed on Saturday night or home page on Sunday for an update on what the Jackpot will be. It will be based on how many people take a shot at the Saturday Jackpot (which starts out at $20,429)…and whether anyone hits it. The Pick 6 Jackpot competition is always a live-format game.
Our up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney with $1,000 Guaranteed is also always contested in live-format. Players in this one select a three-horse exacta box in each race. Winners receive scores based on a $1 mythical play. The entry fee is $125, and no payoff caps are in effect.
On Sunday at HorsePlayers, a live-format Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier and an NHC Pick & Pray comprise the featured-tourney schedule.
One $10,000 entry is guaranteed in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier, which carries an entry fee of $500 and a winning ratio of 1-per-23.
Sunday’s $165, “regular” NHC qualifier guarantees at least two Vegas spots. The winning ratio is 1-in-65.
Good luck to all our HorseTourneys qualifiers playing onsite this Saturday in New Jersey and New Mexico—and good luck to you too!