If you didn’t know that the Breeders’ Cup is right around the corner, you’d know it from the extra heavy helping of Breeders’ Cup qualifiers this weekend. We’ll have six, rather than the usual three. And even when the weekend ends, the BCBC play-ins will continue because there’s one set up for Monday as well.
While the BCBC tourneys (all at HorsePlayers) are certainly a prominent part of the weekend ahead, they are but a small percentage of all the featured-tourney action on tap. The first six of the weekend marquee games take place on Friday.
Friday’s HT Tour event is our $15,000 Guaranteed No Limit Pick & Pray. The entry fee is $190.
Each day of the weekend, there will be a qualifier for the $250,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff. Friday’s will be a $118 Pick & Pray, offering one $1,500 seat to the first leg of the 2023 Tourney Triple for every 15 who enter.
Another qualifier that will appear on each day of the weekend schedule is a new one—a play-in to the October 30 Santa Anita BCBC Challenge…which can be played either on-track at Santa Anita or online at Xpressbet. One of every 15 entrants—at $118 per entry—will pick up a $1,500 seat to the “final” where BCBC seats and cash will be on the line.
At HorsePlayers on Friday, there will be an NHC qualifier plus two separate play-ins to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.
Friday’s NHC tourney is a $75 Pick & Pray with two seats guaranteed and a winning ratio of 1-per-143. Entries are limited to three per person. Remember—you must be a 2022 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. If you’re not a member, you can become one quickly and easily at NTRA.com for a $50 membership fee.
The lower-cost Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge on Friday is a $179 affair with one seat guaranteed and and entry fee of $179. The winning ratio works out to 1-per-65.
There’s also a $500 Low Ratio Pick & Pray on the menu. Here, the winning ratio is 1-per-23, and, again, one $10,000 entry is guaranteed.
The Friday 10-race schedule is made up of the 7th through 9th from “Belmont at Aqueduct”; the 8th through 10th at Keeneland; and the 4th through 7th from Santa Anita.
On Saturday, nine featured tourneys are on the agenda—most of them Pick & Prays.
One of those is our $30,000 Guaranteed game, the richest tourney of the week. A stake of $350 gets you into this HT Tour event.
Another Pick & Pray is the week’s first qualifier to the on-track Hawthorne Thanksgiving contests on November 26 and 27 (the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving). This qualifier carries an entry fee of $118 and has a winning ratio of 1-per-10. Winners get $1,000 to fund their $500 starting bankrolls on each day of the two separate contests (one each day).
As mentioned already, we’ll have qualifiers on Saturday to both the $250,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff in January and the October 30 Santa Anita BCBC Challenge. Both qualifiers are Pick & Prays with entry fees of $118.
A qualifier to the $50,000 Guaranteed Exacta Extravaganza is part of the schedule on Saturday, and it will be run in Live, Exacta format. In Exacta-format games, players make a mythical, three-horse exacta box selection in each contest race, and there are no price caps in effect. (You get the full payoff added to your score if you land a big one.) Saturday’s Extravaganza qualifier requires an $89 entry fee, and winners (1-per-10) pick up a $750 seat for the two-day, exotic tourney here on December 3-4.
We’re back to Pick & Pray mode for Saturday $10,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks game. It’s an “up-to-$20,000” tilt with an entry fee of $1,150—and there is a limit of 20 entries that will be accomodated. Payouts go only to the top three finishers with the winner taking the biggest share (70 percent) of the net pool, the runner up getting 20 percent, and the third-place finisher picking up the remaining 10 percent.
You can also take a swing on Saturday at the Del Mar Fall Challenge. Saturday’s Del Mar Pick & Pray requires an entry fee of $236, and one of every 15 entrants will compete (either on-track or at TVG.com) on November 26th with a paid-up, $3,000 entry.
Two qualifiers are set for Saturday at HorsePlayers, and they’re both Live-format Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifiers.
The less expensive one is a standard $179 qualifier with one $10,000 BCBC seat certain. The winning ratio is 1-per-65.
There will also be a Super Low Ratio offering. One seat is guaranteed here as well. Here, the entry fee is $1,000, and the winning ratio is 1-per-11.
Saturday’s 12 contest races are the 6th through 10th from Keeneland; the 7th and 8th at Belmont at Aqueduct; the 9th through 11th (all stakes) from the Maryland Million Day card at Laurel; and races 4 and 5 at Santa Anita. Closing time will be approximately 3:40 pm ET.
Sunday is our busiest day of the week with 10 featured tourneys.
Qualifiers to the Flo-Cal Faceoff and the Santa Anita BCBC Challenge—both Pick & Prays—are again staples of the schedule.
Also making return appearances are play-ins to the Del Mar Fall Challenge (Pick & Pray), the Hawthorne Thanksgiving contests (also Pick & Pray) and the $50,000 Guaranteed Exacta Extravaganza (Live, Exacta box format).
After a rare, one-day hiatus, a qualifier to the NHC is back on the docket, and it takes place right here at HorseTourneys. It’s a “regular,” $165 Pick & Pray with two seats assured and a winning ratio of 1-per-65.
Sunday’s HT Tour game is our $20,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray. You can play in exchange for an investment of $250.
Sunday’s Big Bucks game will be operated (as per usual) in Live format. It’s an up-to-$20,000 tourney with a purse guarantee of $7,000. Total entries will again be limited to 20 (at $1,150 per entry), and payouts go strictly to the top three finishers.
There are co-featured qualifiers on Sunday at HorsePlayers—and both focus on the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.
One is a $500 Low-Ratio tourney. The winning ratio is 1-per-23, and at least one player will earn a $10,000 BCBC entry for the first weekend in November. The format is Live.
In Pick & Pray mode is Sunday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier. The winning ratio in this case is 1-per-65. Once again, at least one seat is certain to be awarded.
One more reminder: There will also be a $179 BCBC Pick & Pray on Monday (and likely Tuesday as well). So you don’t necessarily have to “shut things down” after Sunday if you don’t want to.
We wish you all good luck this weekend. Enjoy all the football, baseball, basketball and hockey…and, most importantly, the horse racing.