The prize pool for the Flo-Cal Faceoff is up to $184,522, and eight more qualifiers for it are on tap this weekend. Those represent just a fraction of what’s under the featured-tourney tree, however, this Christmas weekend.
We’ll be dark on Christmas Day so that we can spend time with our families (and because no tracks other than Camarero are open). But we got action on Thursday!
Much as Christmas Eve is your last chance to Christmas shop, it’s also your last chance to win a $1,500 entry to Saturday’s Santa Anita Opening Day Challenge at Xpressbet. An entry fee of $118 gets you a 1-in-15 chance at playing in a fun tournament on Saturday.
Speaking of Christmas, think of the pride you will feel when your child sees you on your laptop on Christmas Eve and wonders aloud, “Is Daddy online buying me a last-minute present?” and your spouse replies, “No, honey, he’s trying to win money for the family in a handicapping contest.”
You can experience just such a feeling by participating in Thursday’s $1,500 Guaranteed Pick & Pray. It’s $79 to play (less than the cost of one nice present for the little one).
The only thing that might light up your chid’s face more than the thought of extra money coming in is news that Mommy or Daddy has qualified for the Flo-Cal Faceoff. You’ll have two chances to provide your youngster(s) with that very special gift on Thursday. One comes via a multi-track qualifier; the other through a Gulfstream-only, full-card play-in. Both cost $118.
Gulfstream and Tampa Bay Downs are the only tracks open on Thursday, so the 10 contest races for the multi-track features are pretty straightforward—races 6 though 10 at Gulfstream and races 5 through 9 from Tampa.
I imagine that the Christmas Day horse racing moratorium may have many of us champing at the bit for action on Saturday. In case you need further motivation…it’s opening day at Santa Anita!
We’ll offer a single-track Flo-Cal Faceoff qualifier on the full card from The Great Race Place—and also one on the Gulfstream program. Those two are on the Saturday slate (though not pictured above quite yet) along with the more standard multi-track Flo-Cal qualifier. All will carry entry fees of $118 and winning ratios of 1-per-15.
There are also three important Pick & Pray cash games on Saturday.
The richest of those is Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed, No Limit tourney. It’s $260 to enter, and the more that play, the more we’ll pay.
For $1,150, you can be part of our “up-to-$20,000” Big Bucks game on Saturday. The purse is guaranteed at $10,000, and entries are limited to 20 (unless we get a late arrival or two via last-minute Saturday feeders). Payoffs go strictly to the top three finishers with the winner earning 70 percent of the net pool, the runner up getting 20 percent, and the bronze medalist picking up 10 percent.
Saturday’s $15 Pick 4 Jackpot tourney begins with a carryover of $5,614 after going unhit again last week. If you four-for-four 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.) Note that there is a maximum of three entries per player permitted in these Jackpot Pick 4 games.
The NHC once again has the stage to itself at HorsePlayers this weekend.
The featured event on Saturday is a “regular” Pick & Pray with two seats guaranteed. The entry fee is $165, and the winning ratio is 1-per-65.
A very special offering serves as the marquee game at HorsePlayers on Sunday.
It’s a $430 NHC Super Qualifier with a whopping five seats guaranteed. The format is Live and the entry fee is $430…which works out to a winning ratio of 1-per-25. At least five “Bally’s Berths” will be awarded, however, regardless of participation levels.
Nine features are on the board here at HorseTourneys on Sunday.
As you might guess, there will be not one, not two, but three Flo-Cal Faceoff qualifiers on Sunday—one on Gulfstream, one on Santa Anita and one of the multi-track variety. All require $118 in order to take part.
A Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship qualifier is a highly noteworthy component of the Sunday schedule. The winning ratio for this $384 Pick & Pray is 1-per-20. Winners get a $6,000 entry plus $500 for travel to the January 23rd contest…though they may play the Pegasus at Xpressbet instead of Gulfstream if they prefer.
For $80, you can compete for a spot in the onsite NHC qualifier at Tampa Bay Downs on January 9th. Winners (1-per-15) get a $1,000 entry. The format is Pick & Pray.
The eyes of cash-game enthusiasts will be on Sunday’s $15,000 Guaranteed No Limit Pick & Pray. The price of play here is $195.
The Sunday Big Bucks game has a guarantee of $7,500, and it could reach $20,000 if we reach the maximum of 20 entrants. The entry fee is $1,150, and prizes go only to the top three. Sunday Big Bucks games are always run in Live-format.
Another “always-Live” competition is Sunday’s up-to-$5,000 Exacta tourney with $1,000 Guaranteed. You pick a three-horse exacta box for each race, and whoever has the best overall (based on $1.00 payoffs with no price caps in effect) takes the top prize.
There’ll be 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 played in Saturday’s Pick 4 Jackpot tourney—and whether anyone went 4-for-4.
Enjoy the holiday weekend. From the HorseTourneys family to yours, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas.