Think of them as unadvertised specials.
They’re not all up on the homepage just yet, but in addition to the multi-track qualifiers to the $150,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff this weekend, there will also be $118 Flo-Cal play-ins that focus purely on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday full cards from Aqueduct and Gulfstream. So there will be three ways to win Faceoff seats each weekend day.
Here are the featured single-track tourneys on Friday:
In the meantime, let’s take a look at the multi-track tourneys that will be in the spotlight this weekend.
For the second consecutive Friday, we’ll offer a $7,500 Big Bucks Pick & Pray. We took a bath on the last one, failing to meet the guarantee. So if history repeats itself, perhaps our loss can be your gain this week—like it was for Robert Schintzius Sr. last week. (He won $5,250 for defeating just five rivals.) Entries are $1,150 each.
For a more modest entry fee of $190, you can take a swing at Friday’s $10,000 Guaranteed No Limit Pick & Pray. There is no limit as to how high the purse can grow.
You already know about the single-track and multi-track weekend qualifiers that will be offered each day to the $150,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff here on January 9-10. Winners (1-per-15) get a $1,500 entry to the two-day cash contest consisting of mandatory full-card plays on both Gulfstream and Santa Anita. The Faceoff is the first leg in the new 2021 “Tourney Triple” series that also includes April’s Players Championship and August’s Spa & Surf Showdown. Guaranteed seats to the NHC, BCBC and The BIG One plus possible bonuses of $1 million or $2 million await the top overall series performers (based on a points system).
Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship qualifiers are again on a Friday/Sunday schedule this weekend. Friday’s play-in is a Pick & Pray, with the entry fee set at $384. One of every 20 entrants will earn a $6,500 package for the live-bankroll Pegasus event that can be played from either Gulfstream or Xpressbet on January 23rd.
Also offered on a Friday/Sunday basis this weekend are multi-track play-ins to both the Santa Anita Opening Day Challenge on December 28th at Xpressbet and the onsite tournament at Tampa Bay Downs on January 9th. The Santa Anita/Xpressbet tourney carries an entry fee of $118 and has a winning ratio of 1-per-15 with a $1,500 entry going to the winner(s). The Tampa Qualifier costs $80 to enter and one of every 15 gets a $1,000 entry.
As noted last week, HorsePlayers only serves up NHC qualifiers during the month of December. The Friday offering is a popular one.
It’s a $75 NHC qualifier. Two seats are guaranteed, and NHC Tour points will also be available to those who finish in the top 10 percent. The winning ratio is 1-per-143.
Contest races for all of the featured events at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers on Friday are the 7th and 8th from Aqueduct; the 6th through 9th at Tampa Bay Downs; and the 7th through 10th from Gulfstream. That’s 10 races all together.
The vast majority of the marquee games at HorseTourneys are Pick & Prays this weekend—and all four of the Saturday features fit that category.
The weekend’s richest competition is our $25,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray. It’s $260 to get involved.
Our second of three “up-to-$20,000” Big Bucks games during the weekend guarantees $10,000. The entry fee is again $1,150, and entries are limited to 20 (unless we get a late arrival or two via last-minute feeders). This one is a Pick & Pray and the winner earns 70 percent of the net pool.
Saturday’s multi-track qualifier to the Flo-Cal Faceoff is another Pick & Pray. Winners (1-per-15) again receive a $1,500 entry to the big cash event here in early January. The Flo-Cal guarantees a purse of $150,000, but we may just exceed that $150,000 purse guarantee by the end of this weekend. Exciting times are on the horizon come January 9-10.
Saturday’s $15 Pick 4 Jackpot game starts out with a carryover of $3,648. (No one has hit it yet.) If you get all four races right in this Pick & Pray, you win or share the Jackpot. Meanwhile, 70% of the net pool gets paid out to players via the traditional $2.00 win/place scoring system. (The other 30% goes to the Jackpot pool.) There is a maximum of three entries per player in these Jackpot Pick 4 tourneys.
Contest races for Saturday’s $15 Pick 4 Jackpot game are the 7th and 9th from Aqueduct; and races 8 and 10 on the Gulfstream card.
The Saturday feature at HorsePlayers is a special qualifier—a “Maiden Special.”
It’s a live-format NHC play-in for $165 in which only those without a 2021 seat may enter. One “Bally’s Berth” is guaranteed and, since it is a restricted tourney, no NHC Tour points will be handed out in this one.
Here are the 12 contest races for the three Saturday multi-track features at HorseTourneys and the one at HorsePlayers: the 6th, 7th and 9th at Aqueduct; the 7th through 9th from Tampa Bay Downs; the 7th and 9th at Laurel and the 8th through 11th from Gulfstream.
It’s another busy Sunday at HorseTourneys with four featured cash games and four featured qualifiers.
The cash-on-the-barrelhead events include our $15,000 Guaranteed No Limit Pick & Pray. It carries an entry fee of $195.
The Sunday Big Bucks game offers a certain $7,500 and could reach $20,000 if we sell it out. The entry fee is $1,150, and winnings go strictly to the top three. The Sunday Big Bucks event is always a live-format tourney.
Another “always Live” competition is Sunday’s up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney with $1,000 Guaranteed. You select a three-horse exacta box for each race, and whoever has the best cumulative day (based on $1.00 payoffs with no price caps in effect) takes the top prize.
We’ll have another $15 Pick 4 Jackpot tourney (Pick & Pray again) on Sunday. Check our home page or our Twitter feed on Saturday night for the Jackpot amount. It will depend on how many took part in Saturday’s Pick 4 Jackpot tourney—and whether anyone swept all four races.
As for qualifiers, Sunday is your third consecutive day to take a shot at the Flo-Cal Faceoff ($118 entry fee/$1,500 entry as the grand prize). Like the Friday and Saturday Flo-Cal play-ins, this one is also a Pick & Pray.
The second Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship qualifier of the weekend is set for Sunday. The winning ratio for this $384 Pick & Pray is 1-per-20. Winners get a $6,000 entry plus $500 for travel…though they can play the Pegasus at Xpressbet instead of Gulfstream if they like.
Sunday also offers a $118 Pick & Pray qualifier to the December 28th Santa Anita Opening Day Challenge—to be played exclusively at Xpressbet. One of every 15 entries will pick up a $1,500 entry.
If you’re longing for an onsite contest, then you may want to put up $80 and take a hack at Sunday’s Tampa Pick & Pray. Winners (1-per-15) get a $1,000 entry to the Oldsmar, Florida, tournament on January 9th.
The Sunday HorsePlayers feature is a live-format, 2-seats-guaranteed NHC qualifier with a special entry fee of $210.
The slightly higher entry fee means that the winning ratio—1 per 50—is slightly lower…compared to the usual 1 per 65.
Good luck to all who play this weekend. May your name be included in the Monday recap blog!