Even when there’s not a Triple Crown on the line, Belmont Stakes weekend has—over the last few years—turned into one of the very best betting weekends this side of the Breeders’ Cup. To try and keep pace, we’re ramping up this Saturday’s offerings to include both a $45,000 Guaranteed live-format game and a $15,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray.
Those are just two of 28 featured weekend tourneys that commence on Friday.
The Belmont Stakes is a key factor in our Friday featured schedule, not just because of the stronger-than-usual Friday card in Elmont, N.Y., but because Friday is your last chance to win a $1,500 entry in the following day’s Xpressbet Belmont Challenge. The entry fee is $118, the format is Pick & Pray and the winning ratio is 1-per-15.
The most lucrative Friday competition is our $15,000 Guaranteed No-Limit Pick & Pray. You can get in for $190.
The first of four weekend qualifiers to the $300,000 Guaranteed Spa & Surf Showdown (August 14-15) takes place on Friday. It’s a $147 Pick & Pray with a winning ratio of 1-in-20. Winners get a $2,500 entry into what is the third and final leg of the 2021 Tourney Triple series, which, as a bonus, offers valuable tournament seats to the top performers across the three events (Flo-Cal Faceoff, Players Championship, Spa & Surf Showdown).
Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge qualifiers will also be offered each day of the holiday weekend. Friday’s play-in is a Pick & Pray with one of every 15 entries, at $156 per entry, earning a place in the June 12th onsite/online (your choice) contest.
There’s also a qualifier a day this weekend to the NHC First Chance/Last Chance tournament at Bally’s Las Vegas on August 26. One of every 10 entrants—at $59 per entry—will pick up a $500 entry for the annual NHC eve scrimmage. If you do well there, you win a 2021 NHC seat for the following day…or, if you’re already double-qualified for 2021, you get a 2022 berth instead.
Two popular events make up the featured offerings on Friday at HorsePlayers.
Expect a large gathering fro Friday’s $75 NHC Pick & Pray with two seats guaranteed. The winning ratio is 1-per-143, so if we reach the 429-entry mark, a third NHC seat will be added to the prize pool. Remember—you must be a 2021 NHC Tour member, prior to the start of the contest, in order to be eligible for an NHC package in this or any other NHC qualifier. Not a member? You can become one at NTRA.com for a $50 membership fee.
The other Friday featured tourney at HorsePlayers is a $500 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray. At least one $10,000 BCBC entry is certain to be awarded in this 1-per-23 game.
Contest races for the Friday featured events are the 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th from Gulfstream; and races 6 through 11 at Belmont Park—10 in all.
There’s certainly plenty to play for on Belmont Stakes Day here and at HorsePlayers.
We normally offer a $25,000 Guaranteed, No Limit cash game on Saturdays for a $260 buy-in. Since it’s Belmont Stakes Day, we’re upping the guarantee to $45,000…but keeping the buy-in the same. Note that this is a Live-format game.
We haven’t forgotten you Pick & Pray preferrers on this Triple Crown Day. Separate and apart from the $45,000 tourney is a $15,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray with an entry fee of $190.
Despite all the largesse, we’re still hosting our usual “up-to-$20,000” Big Bucks Pick & Pray on Saturday. The guaranteed purse here is $10,000. Entries are limited to 20 (unless we get a late arrival or two from last-minute Saturday feeders). Payouts go strictly to the top three finishers with the winner landing 70 percent of the net pool, the runner up getting 20 percent, and the third-place finisher picking up the remaining 10 percent. The entry fee is $1,150.
Saturday’s second of four weekend qualifiers to the $300,000 Guaranteed Spa & Surf Showdown is a Live-format get together. A $147 buy-in will get you a seat at the table. Winners will play for at least $300,000 on August 14-15.
For $156, you can compete in the Live-format Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge qualifier. One of every 15 will move on to June 12th (not that far away!) with a paid-up $2,000 entry.
The barrier to entry is just $59 for Saturday’s Bally’s NHC First Chance/Last Chance Pick & Pray qualifier (Live format). The object of this one is to win a $500 seat to the day-before-the-big-dance contest in Vegas, and the winning ratio is a friendly 1-per-10.
Saturday’s $15 Pick 4 Jackpot tourney will open up shop with a carryover of $4,921. In our Pick 4 Jackpot games (always run as Pick & Prays), going four-for-four means you win or share the Jackpot. (You don’t have to have the only perfect ticket.) Meanwhile, 70% of the daily 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 are limited to three per person.
Saturday’s Pick 4 Jackpot races are all Grade I stakes from Belmont: races 6 (Jaipur), 8 (Just a Game), 10 (Manhattan) and 11 (Belmont Stakes).
The HorsePlayers feature on Saturday is a $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier.
It’s a Pick & Pray with one $10,000 BCBC entry guaranteed to be headed out the door. The winning ratio is 1-per-65 (or lower than that, of course, if we don’t get 65 entries).
The 12 contest races for the Saturday featured events (all but the Pick 4 Jackpot tourney) are the 6th through 11th from Belmont; and the 7th through 12th from Gulfstream. Note that closing time is a little earlier than usual—2:41 pm ET.
The 13 featured tourneys on Sunday include a brand new offering.
On July 26th, Colonial Downs near Williamsburg, Va., will host the Colonial Downs Handicapping Challenge. It will be a $500 buy-in event, and it can also be played at Xpressbet. On Sunday, you can win a place in it for just $59 via our 1-per-10, live-format qualifier.
Sunday is your weekly chance to earn one of 50 available online spots in The BIG One in September. (Seven buy-ins will also be made available closer to tournament time.) Sunday’s qualifier is a $395 live-format competition, and one seat will be awarded no matter how many/few sign up. Be aware, though, that there won’t be more than 27 allowed in…so don’t wait until the last minute to reserve your place. The first-place finisher in each The BIG One qualifier also picks up a $500 winner’s bonus for capturing the Sunday play-in, and the runner up gets a $395 consolation prize.
There’s also a Sunday qualifier to the Canterbury Big 10 BCBC Handicapping Contest on Thursday, September 16. A $177 entry fee gets you a 1-per-20 shot to win a $3,000 seat for the onsite/Xpressbet (your call) tournament offering cash, 10 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entries and a pair of NHC spots as well.
Two of Sunday’s features are our Spa & Surf Showdown qualifiers. For $147, you can play in a 1-per-20 live-format game. For $368, you can improve your theoretical chances of winning in a 1-per-8 live-format affair. The grand prize(s) in each is a $2,500 entry for the $300,000 Guaranteed all-cash extravaganza on August 14-15.
Speaking of extravaganzas… you can earn a $500 entry on Sunday for the new $50,000 Guaranteed Exacta Extravaganza, which will be held here on September 11-12. In the Exacta Extravaganza, players will make a three-horse exacta box selection on every race of the Kentucky Downs and Woodbine cards on both days. Those who do best (with no price caps in effect) will share in a $50,000 Guaranteed purse. Sunday’s qualifier will be contested in the same Live, Exacta Box format that will be used for the final, and it costs only $59 to play. One of every 10 contestants this Sunday will earn a $500 entry.
There’s also another Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier on Sunday. As was the case on Friday and Saturday, a $156 entry fee is required. Winners of this live-format exam get a $2,000 entry to the June 12th contest, which can be played onsite at Monmouth or online (Xpressbet or 4NJBets). The winning ratio is 1-per-15.
Also on the Sunday schedule is another $59 qualifier to the NHC First Chance/Last Chance tournament at Bally’s on August 26th. Like most of this Saturday/Sunday features, this one will be run in Live format.
On the cash-game front, there’s Sunday’s $20,000 Guaranteed, No Limit tourney, which will be hosted as Live-format contest this week. The entry fee is $195.
The Sunday Big Bucks tourney is always a Live-format game. It guarantees s pot of $7,500, and the final purse could reach $20,000 should we reach the maximum of 20 entrants. The entry fee is $1,150, and prize-pool payouts go only to the top three on a 70-20-10 percent basis.
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 the Belmont Stakes Day Pick 4 Jackpot tourney—and whether anyone swept all 4 races. Check our website or our Twitter feed on Saturday night for updates.
On Sunday at HorsePlayers, the NHC and the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge share the spotlight.
The BCBC qualifier is a 1-per-23, Low-Ratio Pick & Pray with an entry fee of $500. At least one person will win the grand prize of a $10,000 entry.
The Sunday NHC play-in is a “regular,” live-format qualifier with a required buy-in of $165, a winning ratio of 1-per-65 and two seats guaranteed.
Enjoy Belmont Stakes weekend and good luck in all of your tournament (and parimutuel) endeavors.