There’s plenty to pick from this weekend with six featured tourneys on Friday, a whopping 12 on Saturday and another 10 on Sunday. This is the final weekend in which to qualify for the Laurel Champions tournament (August 19) and the Woodbine King’s Plate Challenge (August 20), and play-ins to those are two of the six marquee games on tap for Friday.
For $59, you can earn a $500 spot in the Laurel Champions tournament, an on-track-only test. The winning ratio in this Pick & Pray is 1-per-10, and if you lose, you can try again on Sunday.
The going rate for Woodbine King’s Plate Challenge seats is $1,000—except that around here, you can get one for $79 if you succeed in one of this weekend’s three such Pick & Prays. The winning ratio here is 1-per-15.
Another qualifier that you find listed on each day of the weekend is that for the Travers Day Challenge, which is playable at Monmouth Park, Xpressbet or 4NJBets. One of every 10 entrants, at $95 per entry, will secure an $800 berth for the August 26 battle.
Friday’s HT Tour competition is our $15,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray. An entry fee of $190 will get you into this one.
Once again, HorsePlayers offers Friday Pick & Pray qualifiers to the NHC and the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.
The NHC Pick & Pray carries a low-cost $75 entry fee, and it guarantees two seats to next March’s mega-contest in Vegas. The winning ratio is 1-per-143.
An investment of $500 puts you in play for Friday’s Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Pick & Pray. The winning ratio is 1-per-23, and at least one $10,000 seat will be awarded no matter what.
The 10 featured-tourney races on Friday are the 5th through 7th from Monmouth; the 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th at Saratoga; and the 2nd and 4th from Del Mar.
On Saturday, two new qualifiers elbow their way into the proceedings to make for a chock-a-block menu of 12 featured tourneys.
One of the newbies is a $314 play-in to the Del Mar Pacific Classic Challenge, which takes place on-track at Del Mar on September 2 and also at TVG.com. One of every 15 entrants will pick up a $4,000 entry.
The other new game is a qualifier to the always-popular Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge on October 14. It’s also a “hybrid” playable on-track or at Xpressbet. If you wait until October 14, a seat will cost you $3,500. The entry fee for our qualifiers, though, is $275, and one of every 15 will advance.
On the cash-game front, Saturday’s HT Tour event is our $30,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray. The entry fee is $350.
Another important Saturday cash tourney is our $10,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks Pick & Pray, which carries an entry fee of $1,150. Total entries are limited to 20, with the winner earning 70 percent of the net pool, the runner up getting 20 percent, and the third-place contestant grabbing the remaining 10 percent. If we happen to reach the maximum entry count of 20, the total purse will top $20,000.
There are two NHC qualifiers on Saturday, and one of them is here at HorseTourneys—a “regular”, $165 Pick & Pray with two spots guaranteed. The winning ratio is 1-per-65.
We’re getting a little closer to October, so that means it’s time to ramp up our qualifiers to The BIG One. We’ll now have two guaranteed qualifiers a week—one on Saturday, one on Sunday—to the October 21-22 on-track contest at Laurel Park. The winner of Sunday’s $500 play-in earns a spot in October’s small-field, big-money contest, which has an all-cash prize pool this year and will have no more than 57 entries (with each person playing just one entry). The winner of our online qualifiers also receives hotel accommodations, welcome party, track transfers and full food and open-bar amenities at the track…plus $500 for travel. The entry fee is $500, and the runner up in this qualifier gets a $500 consolation refund.
Saturday is the first of two weekend opportunities to play for a spot in the Santa Anita Opening Weekend Challenge. One of every 15 entrants, at $314 per entry, will earn a $4,000 seat in the two-day, September 30-October 1 contest, and you can “sit” in that seat either at Santa Anita or Xpressbet.
Saturday is also the first of two weekend chances for the Kentucky Downs Turf Handicapping Challenge. Winners get $1,700 in combined entry fees for each of the three days (Aug. 31, Sept. 3, Sept. 9) of the KDTHC. Saturday’s Pick & Pray qualifier requires an entry fee of $134, and the winning ratio is 1-per-15.
As alluded to earlier, we’ll also have qualifiers on Saturday for the the Woodbine King’s Plate Challenge ($95 buy-in) and the Monmouth Travers Day Challenge (also $95). All the same prizes and winning ratios are in effect here as on Friday.
On Saturday at HorsePlayers, the NHC and the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge again share the featured-tourney stage.
The NHC game at HorsePlayers is a special $500 Low Ratio Pick & Pray. Note that at least 10 entrants must be attracted in order for this game to take place. The winning ratio is 1-per-21.
The winning ratio is 1-per-65 in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Pick & Pray, which has a barrier to entry of $179. At least one $10,000 entry is certain to be won here.
The 12 contest races for Saturday are the 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th from Saratoga; the 9th and 10th from Gulfstream; and the 2nd through 7th from Del Mar. Closing time is scheduled for 4:30 pm ET.
On Sunday, we’re almost as busy as on Saturday. We have 10 featured tourneys on the board.
Sunday’s HT Tour tilt is our $20,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray. Entries are $250 each.
The other Sunday cash feature is the day’s lone Live-format game—our $7,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks tourney. Payouts go just to the top three finishers on a 70%-20%-10% basis. A maximum of 20 entries (at $1,150 each) will be allowed in—and if we get that many, the purse will exceed $20,000.
Sunday is the second straight day of qualifying for The BIG One at Laurel Park, the Santa Anita Opening Weekend Challenge and the Kentucky Downs Turf Handicapping Challenge. These three are all Pick & Prays…just like they were on Saturday.
Sunday is the third consecutive day in which you can try to win a seat for the Woodbine King’s Plate Challenge and the Travers Day Challenge at Monmouth/Xpressbet.
After a one-day respite, there is a qualifier on Sunday for the Laurel Champions tournament. It’s another $59, 1-per-10 affair.
At HorsePlayers on Sunday, two Pick & Pray qualifiers are on tap—one for the NHC and the other pegged to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. The NHC game has a special twist to it.
It’s a $165 qualifier that’s restricted to those who have yet to earn a 2024 seat. The winning ratio is 1-per-65, and one berth is guaranteed. Since it’s a restricted tourney, no NHC Tour points will be awarded.
The BCBC game is a $500 Low Ratio play-in with a winning ratio of 1-per-23, and one $10,000 seat guaranteed regardless of participation.
Good luck to everyone this weekend—and especially to the 66 skillful handicappers who qualified through HorseTourneys for Saturday’s Saratoga Challenge at Saratoga Race Course/NYRABets. May the races play out as you envisioned them.