As the 2017 calendar marches forward, HorseTourneys marches on with another robust weekend offering significant cash and a host of desirable live-tournament seats, including seven to next February's NHC.
We get things started on Friday with our $6,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray game with pool-style payouts that could mean a prize pool of as much as $10,000 depending on how many take part. But it will be worth at least $6,000 no matter what. The entry fee is $190, and entries are capped at 60. Contest races are the 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th from Gulfstream; the 6th and 7th at Aqueduct; and the 6th through 9th at Woodbine—10 races in all.
The same races will comprise the schedule for that day's ever-popular $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.
Two NHC seats (the first two of the at least seven that will be awarded during the weekend) are guaranteed in this low-entry-fee, high-payoff event.
Saturday again puts the accent on two subjects near and dear to most gamblers—cash and Las Vegas.
Our Saturday, live-format cash game is guaranteed at $20,000, and the pot could jump to as much as $30,000 depending on signups. (Entries are capped at 133.) This—our richest tourney of the weekend—costs $260 to enter, though you could also opt to win your way into the $20,000 via one of our low-cost feeders. Tanya Taylor did that (using a feeder as her starting point for that day's big-money game) last weekend, and a few short hours later, she was the winner of $35,000.
There's also a live, full-package qualifier on Saturday for the 2018 Horse Player World Series in March. It costs $117 to play and one entry per 25 will receive not just a $1,500 entry to the big, three-day competition, but four nights at The Orleans and another $500 for your transportation expenses.
If you prefer the bright lights of the strip, then you may choose among a pair of Saturday NHC qualifiers.
…is a $500 Super Qualifier (live-format) over at HorsePlayers with one seat guaranteed and a highly attractive NHC-winning ratio of just one in 21.
Contest races for all of Saturday's featured tourneys are the 6th through 8th (all stakes) at Laurel Park; the 7th and 9th from Aqueduct; the 7th, 9th and 10th from Tampa Bay Downs; and the 6th through 9th at Hawthorne.
If you like the sounds of Friday and Saturday, then you should really like Sunday. Because there are as many featured tourneys on Sunday as on Friday and Saturday combined (seven).
The day's marquee event among direct qualifiers is our live-format advancer to the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship at Gulfstream on January 26-27. One entry in 30, at $480 each, will win a $12,000 entry (plus $500 for travel) to this ultra-high-end contest.
There are also three nice Sunday qualifiers all carrying entry fees under $100.
Or you could try and parlay $87 into a $1,500 entry for the Horse Player World Series.
Or for just $63, you could win your entry fees for the two days of tournaments during the Hawthorne Holiday Extravaganza (Dec. 29-30). This year, the two winners at Hawthorne will become eligible for $1 million bonuses should he or she go on to win the NHC in February.
Our top Sunday cash game is again guaranteed at $12,000 but with a pool-style, "The more that play, the more we pay" provision that could grow the pot to as much as $20,000. It's a live-format game this week with an entry fee of $195, and entries are capped at $118.
Sticking with cash games, there's a $2,000 guaranteed Exacta tourney (you simply pick a three-horse box in every race) for $72, and the purse could reach $5,000 if the maximum number of entries (79) sign up.
Last but not least, there's a final opportunity of the weekend over at HorsePlayers for you to qualify for the NHC.
This is a live-format "regular" qualifier with an entry fee of $165. Two seats are guaranteed to be awarded.
Enjoy your holiday contest shopping. And may your efforts bring you good cheer.