There’s one tourney this weekend that almost all of you should enter, and that’s Sunday’s free NHC qualifier, which is open to all 2023 NHC Tour members. (If you’re not a member, you can still become one quickly and easily at NTRA.com).
Full packages to the March 2024 extravaganza in Las Vegas will go to the top three finishers in Sunday’s extra-long, 15-race competition.
Prior to the lucrative freebie, there are two exciting days of featured-tourney action, made even more compelling by the return of Keeneland to the track menu and several Breeders’ Cup preps. Five games get the spotlight on Friday.
The five Friday features are all Pick & Prays, including the first of three consecutive “two-seats-guaranteed” qualifiers to The BIG One. These play-ins to The BIG One carry a $500 entry fee and winners receive a full package for October 21-22 in Maryland. They also get a $500 bonus, as well as free hotel accommodations, welcome party and buffet/open bar all weekend long at Laurel. Win, lose or draw, we are confident that all contestants will have a good time there.
Another tourney that will be on the schedule all three days of the weekend is a qualifier to the October 14 Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge (playable at Xpressbet as well as on-track). The price of admission for Friday’s Pick & Pray is $275, with one of every 15 participants picking up a $3,500 seat for their handicapping enjoyment the following weekend.
If you’re partial to cash games, there’s our $15,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray. It requires an entry fee of $190, and it also serves as Friday’s HT Tour event.
As per usual, the featured events at HorsePlayers on Friday are Pick & Pray qualifiers to the NHC and the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.
The ticket price the NHC Pick & Pray is $75, and at least two seats for next March will definitely be headed out the door. The winning ratio is 1-per-143.
An investment of $500 will get you into 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 in the prize pool even if fewer than 23 sign up.
The 10 contest races on Friday are the 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th (three of them graded stakes) on the opening-day card at Keeneland; the 1st and 4th from Santa Anita; and the 8th through 10th at “Belmont at Aqueduct”.
All six of Saturday’s featured tourneys will be Pick & Prays this week.
The richest tourney of the week is Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed game. The buy-in for this Live-format tussle is $350, and the game is also the day’s HT Tour event.
Saturday’s other featured cash game is our $7,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks Pick & Pray, which carries an entry fee of $1,150. Total entries are limited to 20, with the winner grabbing 70 percent of the net pool, the runner up getting 20 percent, and the third-place contestant picking up the remaining 10 percent. If we happen to reach the maximum entry count of 20, the total purse will top $20,000.
The NHC qualifying opportunity on Saturday takes place here at HorseTourneys. It’s a $165, 1-per-65 play-in. Two Vegas berths are certain to be won no matter what.
By now, you already know that qualifiers to The BIG One and the Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge will both be on the Saturday slate. The entry fees are the same as on Friday—$500 and $275, respectively, and the qualifier to The BIG One guarantees packages to the top two finishers. As was the case on Friday, these Saturday qualifiers will be Pick & Prays.
The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge has the featured-tourney stage to itself on Saturday at HorsePlayers.
The stand-alone marquee game in the land of purple and red is a $179 Pick & Pray with a winning ratio of 1-per-65. One $10,000 BCBC entry is guaranteed.
The 12 contest races for Saturday are the 5th through 10th (including five graded stakes) from Keeneland; the 7th through 9th from Gulfstream; and the 2nd through 4th at Santa Anita. If you’re scoring at home, that’s a total of nine added-money races across the 12 contest heats…so sharpen your stakes-race pencils. Closing time is slated for 3:08 pm ET.
We close out the weekend with six featured events, including the aforementioned free NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.
Fifteen races (rather than 12) will determine the three players who get free passes to the 25th NHC next March. It’s a Pick & Pray, and, again, you must be a current, paid-up member of the 2023 NHC Tour in order to play and win.
There’s also a Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge at HorsePlayers on Sunday. The entry fee is $500, the winning ratio is 1-per-23, the format is Pick & Pray, and one seat is guaranteed. This game and all the other Sunday features (other than the free NHC tourney) will consist of 12 contest races.
The four top events here at HorseTourneys on Sunday are evenly balanced between cash games and qualifiers.
The HT Tour skirmish on Sunday is our $20,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray. You can play this No Limit game for $250.
The only Live-format game of the weekend is Sunday’s $7,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks tourney. It’s $1,150 to participate, and payouts go strictly to the top three finishers.
For the third straight day, we host qualifiers to the Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge ($275 entry fee) and The BIG One ($500). The Keeneland game is a 1-per-15 affair, while the play-in to The BIG One once again guarantees two packages for the October 21-22 “high expectation tournament at Laurel, where the field will be no more than 57.
Enjoy the Breeders’ Cup preps, the football, the playoff baseball and all the other trappings of the upcoming weekend—and good luck!