Take a peek at what a typical NHC contestant has up on his or her laptop at any given time during the tournament, and you are likely to find one of four things: Past performances, proprietary speed figures, an ADW site (even though that’s frowned upon) or HorseTourneys.
With good reason. We may not quite be able to equal the NHC’s $750,000 grand prize, but we’ll be awarding way more seats to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, Keeneland, Monmouth and the Players Championship than the little old NHC will—and we have a fair amount of cash to hand out in our own right.
Just like the NHC, our featured-tourney weekend fun gets started on Friday.
The day’s HT Tour clash is our $15,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray. The price to play is $190, and the purse could reach $20,000 or more depending on participation…but, in any event, it won’t be less than $15,000.
There will be a Pick & Pray qualifier on each day of the weekend for the Players Championship, the Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge and the Keeneland Grade One Gamble.
The Players Championship qualifier is a $156, l-per-15 test. Winners reel in a $2,000 seat for the $350,000 Guaranteed second leg of the 2023 Tourney Triple here on Friday and Saturday, April 7-8.
Another $156, 1-per-15 affair is our Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier. Winner(s) of Friday’s Pick & Pray earn a $2,000 entry for the popular on-track/online hybrid tournament to be held on June 3.
The Keeneland Grade One Gamble is another highly-anticipated date on every year’s racing calendar. This year’s Gamble will take place on April 15, and entries then will run you $3,500 apiece. You can grab one on Friday (and Saturday and Sunday), though, for $207 in our Pick & Pray play-in to the “KGOG”. One of every 20 entrants will so prosper.
Contest races for Friday are the 6th through 9th from Gulfstream; the 5th through 8th at Aqueduct; and races 8 and 9 from Tampa Bay Downs—10 races in all.
Eight features—including one new one—come your way on Saturday.
The new addition to the schedule is a $59 qualifier for the March 25 Laurel Champions tournament—an on-track-only contest with a $500 buy-in. Saturday’s Pick & Pray calls for a $59 entry fee, and one of every 10 entrants will advance to Maryland in a couple of weeks.
Our two featured cash games on Saturday will carry slightly reduced guarantees to account for the fact that many of our cash-game regulars may have a lot on their plates out in Vegas. Still, the show must go on!
Saturday’s HT Tour event, our $350 cash tourney will be a Pick & Pray with a guaranteed pot of at least $20,000.
Also in Pick & Pray mode is our Saturday Big Bucks tourney. It will offer a purse of no less than $7,000 with the winner receiving 70 percent of the net pool, the runner up getting 20 percent, and the third-place finisher picking up the remaining 10 percent. Entries for this $1,150-buy-in skirmish are capped at 20.
This Saturday brings with it another qualifier for the April 22 Lone Star Spring Betting Challenge. One of every 15 entrants, at $79 per entry, will take home a $1,000 seat for the on-track contest in suburban Dallas.
As mentioned earlier, there will again be Pick & Pray qualifiers on Saturday for the 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). The price points and winning ratios for each are the same as those in place for Friday.
HorsePlayers finally gets into the weekend swing of things on Saturday.
The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge has the floor to itself on the purple and red site on Saturday with a $179 play-in that guarantees at least one $10,000 entry. The winning ratio is 1-per-65.
There’s more reason than one to call March 12 “Selection Sunday”. There’s the selection of the NCAA field and—more importantly, of course—we have eight more featured events, including yet another brand-new qualifier.
The newcomer on this day is a qualifier for the April 1 Florida Derby Challenge, which is playable at Gulfstream, Santa Anita or at Xpressbet. This play-in requires an entry fee of $118, with one of every 15 earning a $1,500 entry for April Fools Day.
Sunday’s HT Tour event, a Pick & Pray cash tourney, will offer a $15,000 guarantee. You will be allowed in by presenting the doorman with $250.
The only Live-format feature of the weekend is Sunday’s $7,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks tourney. It’s an up-to-$20,000 game with entries costing $1,150. Payouts go just to the top three finishers on a 70/20/10 basis.
For the third consecutive day, we’ll have direct qualifiers to the Players Championship, the Keeneland Grade One Gamble, and the Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge. All three are Pick & Prays.
For the second straight day, a $59 Pick & Pray qualifier to the March 25 Laurel Champions contest will be on the featured-tourney menu.
Since the NHC will be busy determining its 2023 champion, the Breeders’ Cup Betting will again have the spotlight to itself on Sunday at HorsePlayers.
The lone HorsePlayers marquee game on Sunday is a Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio tourney. The entry fee for this Pick & Pray is $500; the winning ratio is 1-per-23; and at least one $10,000 seat is guaranteed.
We send out special good wishes to all the loyal HorseTourneys players shooting for the big money in Las Vegas. We’re rooting for you. If you’ll just be playing for a few bucks from the comfort of your living-room couch…well…we wish you good luck too! Here’s to a fun and memorable weekend for all.