Last weekend we offered an impromptu qualifier on Sunday to the Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament. This weekend, we shift things into high gear, hosting a Monmouth play-in on Friday, Saturday and Super Bowl Sunday.
Based on 200 entries, the June 3 Monmouth event—playable on-track or via Xpressbet—will have a prize pool consisting of 18 NHC seats, 4 BCBC berths and $65,000 in cash—which explains why it is one of the most popular contests on the annual tournament calendar.
Monmouth entries cost $2,000 each ($1,000 entry fee plus $1,000 live bankroll), but here at HorseTourneys, you can win one for $156 in our 1-per-15 qualifiers.
A Monmouth play-in is one of six marquee games on the featured Friday menu.
The Monmouth qualifier isn’t the only $156, l-per-15 qualifier on tap for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The same applies to our Players Championship qualifiers. Friday’s is a Pick & Pray and winners get a $2,000 seat into the $350,000 Guaranteed second leg of the 2023 Tourney Triple on April 7-8.
For a slightly higher entry fee, $207, you can compete for a $3,500 berth in the April 15 Keeneland Grade One Gamble. One of every 20 entrants will advance in Friday’s Pick & Pray (and Live-format Keeneland games will be on the Saturday and Sunday menus as well).
A qualifier a day will also be held this weekend for the March 9 NHC First Chance/Last Chance contest at Horseshoe Las Vegas. These play-ins call for an entry fee of $59, with one of every 10 participants snatching a $500 berth to play in the popular NHC Eve competition.
On the cash-game front, there’s our $15,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray, which is Friday’s HT Tour event. The entry fee here is $190, and there is no limit on how high the purse can reach.
This is the final weekend of the 2022 NHC Tour season, and that puts added emphasis on the lone Friday feature at HorsePlayers—a $75, points-rich NHC Pick & Pray.
Two seats are guaranteed in this game, which has a winning ratio of 1-per-143 and also offers a good amount of NHC Tour points. 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 qualifier to the 2023 NHC. If you’re not a member, you can become one at NTRA.com for a $50 membership fee.
Contest races for the Friday featured tourneys at both HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers are the 6th through 9th from Gulfstream; the 6th through 9th at Aqueduct; and races 7 and 9 from Tampa Bay Downs—10 races in all.
Saturday is the day the week’s richest tourney.
It’s our $30,000 Guaranteed No Limit game, which serves as the day’s HT Tour event. It carries an entry fee of $350, and like most of the features on Saturday and Sunday this week at HorseTourneys, it will be run in Live format.
As noted above, there will again be qualifiers on Saturday for the March 9 NHC First Chance/Last Chance tournament ($59 entry fee), the April 7-8 Players Championship ($156), the April 15 Keeneland Grade One Gamble ($207) and the June 3 Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge ($156). All four will be Live-format play-ins.
An exception to this weekend’s Live-format trend is Saturday’s Big Bucks tourney, which is a Pick & Pray and offers a $10,000 purse guarantee. The purse could rise above $20,000, however, with total entries—at $1,150 each— capped at 20. Payouts go just to the top three finishers with the winner collecting 70 percent of the net pool, the runner up getting 20 percent, and the third-place finisher picking up the remaining 10 percent.
Over at HorsePlayers, there are two Pick & Pray features.
One is a $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier with a winning ratio of 1-per-65. At least one $10,000 BCBC berth will be awarded, though, even if fewer than 65 sign up.
The other is a $210 NHC qualifier with two spots guaranteed. The winning ratio is 1-per-50.
The 12 contest races for Saturday are the 7th through 10th (all stakes) from the Sam F. Davis Stakes card at Tampa Bay Downs; the 8th, 11th and 12th at Gulfstream; and the 5th through 9th from Santa Anita. Closing time is slated to be approximately 3:27 pm ET.
Eight featured tourneys are on the Super Bowl Sunday schedule.
As far as we’re concerned, the Super Sunday MVP will be whoever wins our $20,000 Guaranteed No Limit tourney. You can get in for $250—way less than the cost of a ticket to the big game.
The $20,000 game will be run in Live format, and so will our Sunday Big Bucks tourney. The purse is guaranteed to be at least $7,000, though that could go to $20,000 if we reach our maximum entry capacity of 20. Entries cost $1,150 and payouts go only to the top three finishers on a 70/20/10 basis.
For the third straight day, we’ll have direct qualifiers to the Players Championship, the NHC First Chance/Last Chance tournament, the Keeneland Grade One Gamble and the Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge. All four will be Live-format affairs.
There are two Pick & Pray features on Sunday at HorsePlayers.
One is a Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier. The entry fee is $500; the winning ratio is 1-per-23; and at least one $10,000 seat will awarded even if fewer than 23 take part.
The other is a $165 NHC qualifier—the final contest of the 2022 NHC Tour season. The winning ratio is 1-per-65, and two seats are guaranteed.
Good luck to everyone competing this weekend (Friday and Saturday) in the Tampa Bay Downs High Rollers Contest. For the second straight year, it is being presented by HorseTourneys. That means that area resident McKay Smith will be on hand in the contest area, signing autographs and handing out 8” X 12” glossy head shots. Arrive early before supplies run out!
Enjoy all the contest action this weekend…and the football action too.