While some are excited about baseball’s Opening Day…or the Final Four…we tournament players know the true excitement is right here. That’s because, on Florida Derby Day, HorseTourneys hosts its richest tourney ever—an up-to-$150,000 live-format event with $100,000 Guaranteed. Someone could walk away from it $60,000 richer. That would buy a whole lot of peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

Saturday also marks your first chance to qualify online (over at HorsePlayers) for the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. However, before we get to Saturday, there’s plenty to discuss about Friday.

Our popular up-to-$10,000 Pick & Pray–with $6,000 Guaranteed—gets the weekend ball rolling on Friday. The entry fee is $190, and entries are capped at 60. Contest races are the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th from Santa Anita; the 7th through 9th from Tampa Bay Downs; and the 8th, 10th and 11th from Gulfstream—10 races in all.

Those races will also comprise the challenge for that day’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier. The $164 Pick & Pray is one of three Keeneland Grade One Gamble tourneys offered over the course of the three weekend days. Each winner receives a $3,500 package to the April 15th event.

We should also point out that Friday is our big Round 2 feeder for Saturday’s up-to-$150,000 tourney. One in five entries (at $159 each) earn a $695 entry to the following day’s big-money game.

On Saturday, it’s all about our up-to-$150,000 live-format tourney with $100,000 Guaranteed. Befitting the monetary largesse, we have created a 15-race tournament card consisting of the 8th through 14th races on the Florida Derby Day card at Gulfstream; the 7th through 10th races (juicy betting races, all) at Aqueduct; and the 6th through 9th at The Great Race Place (aka Santa Anita).

Entries for our up-to-$150,000 game are $695 each with a limit of two entries per account, and a cap of 240 entries in total. Should the tourney sell out, first-place would be worth $60,000 and cash would be paid down to 20th.

Saturday also brings with it our second of three consecutive Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifiers. We’ll use the same 15-race menu for this as for the $150,000 tourney.

Subtracting the first couple of Gulfstream races from the HorseTourneys race menu, HorsePlayers will go with a 13-race slate for its two featured events on Saturday.

Yes, it’s your first chance to qualify online for the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. One entry per each 65 purchased at $179 each will earn a $10,000 entry to the big live-bankroll event, and one entry is guaranteed to be awarded regardless of participation.

The other featured tourney at HorsePlayers on Saturday is a “regular” qualifier to the 2018 NHC. If you’re daring, you could play in both…and a good day could set you up very nicely for the upcoming year.

Easter Sunday is our biggest day of the weekend in terms of number of featured tourneys.

The schedule is headlined by an up-to-$20,000 live-format tourney for $195 with $12,000 Guaranteed.

With the Wood Memorial just a week away, it stands to reason that this weekend is our last-chance qualifier for the April 7 Wood Memorial Challenge at Aqueduct. One of ever 10 entries (at $59 each) will win a $500 seat at the Big A.

You probably guessed by now that we offer a Sunday qualifier to the Keeneland Grade One Gamble…again for $164, again a live-format contest.

There are also live-format qualifiers scheduled for the Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament (entry fee: $117) and the Saratoga Challenge ($164).

Exacta game fans have come to know and love our Sunday live-format tourneys for $72. $2,000 is guaranteed, but it could pay out as much as $5,000, depending on participation.

There are a couple of high-end games on HorsePlayers this Sunday.

One is our first-ever, BCBC “Low Ratio” tourney. It’s an even $500 to enter and one in just 23 entries will win a $10,000 BCBC berth.

Then there’s the tourney that sort of served as the inspiration for the BCBC Low Ratio game…the NHC Super Qualifier.

Also with an entry fee of $500, the NHC Super Qualifier has an even kinder winning ratio: one in 21.

Both the BCBC Low Ratio and NHC Super Qualifier tourneys will be run in live-format mode.

We wish you a nice holiday and a fun and profitable weekend—and we don’t even mind if you sneak in a little baseball or NCAA action in between tourneys.