On Saturday and Sunday, September 11th and 12th, HorseTourneys will host a brand new event, the $50,000 Guaranteed Exacta Extravaganza. It’s a two-day exacta box tourney requiring players to select a three-horse exacta box in each race, and it carries a $500 buy-in. There will be two contest tracks each day, Kentucky Downs and one other (most likely either Woodbine or Monmouth), and players make a selection for each race of the full cards at both tracks. It figures to be a lot of fun…and rather lucrative as well.
Starting this Sunday, HorseTourneys will begin offering 1-per-10 direct qualifiers to the “EE” for $59. That is just one of 24 featured events this weekend, which gets rolling with six marquee games on Friday.
Our most prominent cash game on Friday is a $15,000 Guaranteed No-Limit Pick & Pray. The entry fee is $190.
If you have a $2,000 Monmouth Pick Your Prize entry on your “shopping list,” you can try your luck each day of the upcoming weekend. Friday’s qualifier is a Pick & Pray with one of every 15 entries, at $156 per entry, landing a spot in the June 12th tournament that can be played at Monmouth, at Xpressbet or—if you live in New Jersey—4NJBets.
On Friday and Sunday, you can shoot for a berth in the $300,000 Guaranteed Spa & Surf Showdown and the Derby Day Challenge.
The Spa & Surf qualifier on Friday is a $147 Pick & Pray with a winning ratio of 1-in-20. Winners get a $2,500 entry for August 14-15.
The Derby Day Challenge play-in has a ticket price of $177 and is also a 1-per-20 affair. Winners will be in the Derby Day starting gate at Xpressbet with their $3,000 entry already taken care of.
There are two featured tourneys at HorsePlayers on Friday.
One is a $75 NHC Pick & Pray with two seats guaranteed. The winning ratio is 1-per-143, and if we reach the 429-entry mark, we’ll add a third NHC seat into the prize pool.
The other Friday HorsePlayers feature is a $500 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray. At least one $10,000 BCBC entry is certain to be won in this 1-per-23, guaranteed competition.
Contest races for the Friday features are the 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th from Pimlico, where it is opening weekend (a little bit ahead of schedule!); the 1st and 3rd at Santa Anita; the 7th and 9th from Belmont, where it is opening weekend (right ON schedule); and the 7th and 9th at Keeneland, where, alas, it is closing day. That’s 10 races in all.
Generally speaking, we rotate each week between putting the accent on Live and Pick & Pray formats for Saturday and Sunday. This weekend, it’s “Live’s” turn, though there is a nice combination of both on Saturday.
The week’s richest event is Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed, No-Limit game. The entry fee for this live-format test is $260, and there is “no limit” as to how high the purse could grow.
Saturday’s “up-to-$20,000” Big Bucks game is always operated as a Pick & Pray, and it has a guaranteed pot of $10,000. Entries are limited to 20 (unless we get a late arrival or two from last-minute Saturday feeders). Payoffs go only to the top three finishers with the winner taking 70 percent of the net pool, the runner up getting 20 percent, and the third-place finisher pocketing the remaining 10 percent. The entry fee for this big-money, short-field event is $1,150.
The second of three weekend Pick Your Prize qualifiers is on the Saturday menu. An entry fee of $156 will gain you admittance. On the line is a $2,000 entry into the Monmouth tournament. One of every 15 contestants will win.
There’s an NHC qualifier right here at HorseTourneys on Saturday. It’s a “regular,” $165 Pick & Pray with two spots certain and a winning ratio of 1-per-65.
The $15 Pick 4 Jackpot tourney starts out on Saturday with a carryover of $1,705. In our Pick 4 Jackpot games, if you go four-for-four, you win or share the Jackpot. (You don’t have to have the only perfect ticket.) 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.) Entries in these Jackpot Pick 4 tourneys—always run as Pick & Prays—are limited to three per person.
Saturday’s Pick 4 Jackpot races will be the 7th and 10th at Old Hilltop (Pimlico) and the 11th and 12th from Gulfstream.
The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge once again has the Saturday spotlight at HorsePlayers to itself.
On the docket is a $179 live-format qualifier with at least one $10,000 entry certain to be awarded. The winning ratio is 1-per-65.
The 12 Saturday contest races are the 7th, 9th and 10th from Pimlico; the 8th through 12th at Gulfstream; the 7th and 8th from Beautiful Belmont Park; and the 4th and 6th at Santa Anita.
Half of our weekend featured tourneys take place on Sunday when there are 12 such events on the schedule.
The new kid on the block is our aforementioned $59, 1-per-10 Exacta Extravaganza qualifier, which (appropriately enough) will be contested as an Exacta box tourney. Just select a three-horse exacta box for each of the 12 contest races and whoever gets the highest aggregate returns wins. And remember…there are no price/payoff caps in our Exacta tourneys.
For the second consecutive Sunday, there are not one but two Spa & Surf Showdown qualifiers. For the usual $147, you can participate in a live-format, 1-per-20 play-in.
If you’d like to increase your chances of securing a $2,500 Spa & Surf entry, there’s our Low Ratio qualifier. The entry fee here is $368, and that means the winning ratio for this Live-format game is 1 in just 8.
On Sunday we offer our second Derby Day Challenge qualifier of the weekend (see Friday). It’s a 1-per-20 Pick & Pray with a barrier to entry of $177 and a $3,000 Derby Day Challenge entry waiting for the winner(s).
And there’s yet another Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier on Sunday. As was the case on Saturday. It’s a $156 live-format play-in with a grand prize of a $2,000 entry and a winning ratio of 1-per-15.
Sunday is your weekly chance to earn a limited-availability spot in The BIG One. Sunday’s qualifier is a $395 live-format affair, and one berth will be awarded regardless of participation. Note, however, that these qualifiers to The BIG One are capped at 27 entries, so don’t wait until the last minute to enter. Incidentally, the first-place finisher also receives a $500 winner’s bonus, and the runner up grabs a $395 consolation prize. Keep in mind that when The BIG One is contested in September, the field will be no more than 57 (50 online qualifiers plus up to 7 buy-ins), with each entrant playing just one entry in his or her quest for major-tournament seats and generous cash prizes.
You can also win a berth on Sunday for the Lone Star Million Betting Challenge. The Lone Star Million Challenge is the climax of three straight days of contest action in Grand Prairie, Tex. Sunday’s Pick & Pray requires an entry fee of $177, and one entry per 20 will pick up a $2,000 entry for the May 31st (Memorial Day) on-site tournament, plus $500 for travel to Texas.
For those who prefer more immediate gratification, there’s Sunday’s $20,000 Guaranteed No Limit cash game. The entry fee is $195, and it’s a live-format tourney this week.
The Sunday Big Bucks tourney is always a live-format game. It has a guarantee of $7,500, and the final pot could reach $20,000 should we reach the maximum capacity of 20 entrants. The entry fee is $1,150, and prizes go just to the top three.
We’ll have another $15 Pick 4 Jackpot tourney (always a Pick & Pray) on Sunday. The jackpot amount will depend on how many played in Saturday’s Pick 4 Jackpot tourney—and whether anyone hit it. Check our home page or our Twitter feed on Saturday night for updates.
Two featured tourneys come your way at HorsePlayers on Sunday.
The day’s NHC qualifier is a special, $100 play-in. Two seats to the 2022 event are guaranteed in this live-format affair. The winning ratio is 1-per-100.
At least one $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entry will be up for grabs in Sunday’s Low Ratio qualifier. It’s $500 to get into this 1-per-23 Pick & Pray.
Enjoy your weekend and best of luck to you in all of your contest and parimutuel action!