It seldom takes much prodding to get excited for Breeders’ Cup weekend (Nov. 6-7), and this year it’s one of the few big events that’s actually taking place during its customary spot on the calendar! In case you could still use some extra reasons to get enthused, though, be aware of three big cash tourneys will be hosting to help make a big weekend even bigger.
There will be a $25,000 Guaranteed game on the Friday full card at BC host site Keeneland, a $75,000 Guaranteed tourney on the full Saturday card and a $40,000, two-day competition combining the five Breeders’ Cup races on Friday and the nine on Saturday.
Why am I bringing this up so far in advance? Because feeders for these events start this weekend!
The many Breeders’ Cup cash-game feeders serve as a very nice side dish to the bountiful buffet of featured tourneys on the menu this weekend. The kitchen starts cooking up its weekend features on Friday.
The longest line all weekend figures to be the one to get a piece of our $75 NHC Pick & Pray which guarantees two seats and offers some potentially valuable NHC Tour points if you do well.
Many will find our qualifier to the $150,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff quite tasty as well. It’s $118 to indulge, and one of every 15 entries will advance to compete on January 9 and 10. The Flo-Cal Faceoff is the first leg of the new Tourney Triple series made up of the Flo-Cal Faceoff, the Players Championship and the Spa & Surf Showdown. Tournament seats await the top three overall series performers, and if you win two of the three events, you earn a $1 million bonus. Win all three, and you get $2 million.
Speaking of $118, 1-per-15 qualifiers, there’s a “first chance” play-in on Friday to a new event called the Santa Anita Last Chance BCBC Challenge. Winners of Friday’s Pick & Pray get a $1,500 entry for the contest that will be held at Xpressbet on Santa Anita’s Closing Day, Sunday October 25th.
No one around here ever seems to lose their taste for money…and that brings us to Friday’s $10,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray. Entries are $190 each.
If you’re still hungry, we direct your attention to the HorsePlayers station where a Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier is being served.
It’s a Low Ratio Pick & Pray. At least one $10,000 entry/prize is assured in this $500 event. The winning ratio is 1-per-23.
Friday contest races are the 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th from Keeneland; the 7th and 9th at Belmont; and the first three from Woodbine—10 races in all.
There are four featured events at HorseTourneys on Saturday.
For $165, you can take a shot at qualifying for the NHC in Saturday’s “regular,” 2-seats-guaranteed play-in. The winning ratio is 1-per-65, but two seats are certain to be awarded even if fewer than 130 sign up. The format is Live.
The richest tourney of the weekend is Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed, No Limit game. An entry fee of $260 gets you into this live-format event.
There’s also Saturday’s $10,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks Pick & Pray. The entry fee is $1,150, and the field is limited to 20, unless there are latecomers due to last-minute feeders. As always with Big Bucks events, payoffs go only to the top three finishers—on a 70%/20%/10% basis.
The $8 Pick 6 Jackpot remains un-hit despite a very close call last Sunday by James Snyder who lost the final race by a head. That means that Saturday’s game will start out with $25,706 in the Jackpot. That amount will be won or shared by anyone who can go 6-for-6. Seventy percent of net entry fees get paid out via traditional win/place scoring totals while 30% gets directed to the Jackpot.
The Pick 6 Jackpot races on Saturday are the 6th through 8th at Belmont; and the 6th, 8th and 9th from Woodbine. Across the six races, there are 45 betting interests before scratches. The entry deadline will be approximately 3:06 pm ET.
There are two Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifiers on the Saturday board at HorsePlayers.
Saturday’s “regular” BCBC qualifier 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 assures at least one winner—even if fewer than 11 participate. The entry fee here is $1,000.
The 12 Saturday contest races are: the 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th from Keeneland; the 8th through 10th at Belmont; and the 8th, 10th, 11th and 12th from Woodbine.
There are nine more marquee events on Sunday, including your second weekend crack at the Santa Anita Closing Day Challenge and your third at the NHC.
The same parameters apply to Sunday’s Santa Anita qualifier as for Friday’s. It’s a $118 buy-in with one in 15 picking up a $1,500 entry to the October 25th tournament (held at Xpressbet). The only difference is that this Sunday qualifier will be run in Live format.
Sunday’s NHC qualifier is a $500, Low-Ratio competition with a winning ratio of 1-per-21. It’s a Pick & Pray that requires at least 10 entries to take place.
We have a Live-format qualifier on Sunday to the $150,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff. It’s $118 to enter and one of every 15 will earn a $1,500 entry to the first leg of the 2021 Tourney Triple (which offers a potential $2 million bonus among other special prizes).
Another live-format affair is Sunday’s $15,000 Guaranteed No Limit cash tourney. The entry fee is $195. As always with No-Limit games, there’s always room at the inn. The more that sign up, the bigger the purse.
The Sunday Big Bucks tourney guarantees a purse of $7,500…and the pot for this Live-format event could reach $20,000 or more depending on how many show up. The entry fee is $1,150, and payoffs go just to the top three.
Our up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney with $1,000 Guaranteed is always run in Live format. In this 12-race game, you come up with a three-horse exacta box for each race, and scores are based on the cumulative $1 payoffs players chalk up across the 12 races. The entry fee is $125, and no payoff caps are in effect.
The second of the weekend’s two $8 Pick 6 Jackpot tourneys is set for Sunday. Check our Twitter feed on Saturday night or our home page on Sunday for an update on what the Jackpot will be. It will be based on how many people participate in the Saturday Jackpot game (carryover: $25,706) and whether anyone hit it. Like the Exacta tourney, the Pick 6 Jackpot game is always done in live-format.
With the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge just three weeks away, there’s a run on BCBC entries right now. So HorsePlayers is offering two more qualifiers on Sunday.
Similar to most Sunday’s, there’s a Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier on the schedule. The winning ratio is 1-per-23, and the entry fee is $500 for the live-format tourney. One $10,000 entry is guaranteed.
For the higher of the high rollers out there, there’s also a Pick & Pray qualifier to the BCBC with an entry fee of $2,200 and a winning ratio of a mere 1-in-5. Note that for this “Ultra Low Ratio” qualifier to take place, a minimum of 5 entries must be attracted.
One final note before we sign off—the 2021 Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship is scheduled for Saturday, January 23rd. Entries will cost $6,000 each, with $5,000 of that going to the player’s live bankroll. Look for the first qualifiers to this to begin sometime next week.
In the meantime, good luck THIS week!