You have the option of filling up on tourney play—as well as turkey—this coming weekend with a total of 21 featured events at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers Thursday through Sunday.

The main course on Thursday is a $15,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray with all the trimmings. However, that is but one of four featured tourneys on Turkey Day.

The aforementioned cash game serves as a special Thursday HT Tour event, and it carries an entry fee of $190. Of course, it is a no-limit game, so there is no cap on how high the purse can grow, but it won’t be less than $15,000 no matter what.

A staple on the HorseTourneys table each day of the holiday weekend is a $118 Pick & Pray qualifier to the $250,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff here on January 20-21. Winner(s) of these 1-per-15 play-ins get a $1,500 entry into the exciting two-day tourney that focuses solely on the full cards at Gulfstream and Santa Anita in a couple of months.

This is your final weekend in which to qualify for the Fall Simulcast Challenge at Lone Star Park on December 2. The Thanksgiving Day qualifier to it is a $79 Pick & Pray, with one of every 15 entrants garnering a $1,000 spot in the on-track tournament at Lone Star a week from Saturday.

HorsePlayers gets into the act on Thanksgiving as well.

It does so in the form of a $125 NHC Pick & Pray qualifier with a winning ratio of 1-per-80. Note that one Vegas berth is guaranteed in this one, and, as per NTRA rules, NHC Tour Points will only be awarded if there are enough entries for two or more spots to be awarded.

There will be 10 contest races determining the outcome of the above four Thanksgiving Day games. They are the 4th through 8th at Del Mar and the 4th through 8th at Golden Gate. Note that our Thanksgiving Day featured tourneys are expected to close at 3:30 pm ET. So plan—and eat—accordingly!

The day after Thanksgiving, we’ll do our part to possibly turn Black Friday into Green Friday for you.

The Black Friday cash game—and HT Tour competition—is a $15,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray.  The fee is $190 to get a seat at this table.

As you know already, there’s another $118 Flo-Cal Faceoff qualifier on the Friday agenda. The format is again Pick & Pray.

Black Friday seems like an especially appropriate day to shop for an NHC seat at a rock-bottom price at HorsePlayers.

The price tag is $75, and two seats to the big dance in Vegas next March are guaranteed here. Consistent with Black Friday, you may have to fight some crowds as this is a popular event. The winning ratio is 1-per-143, and entries are limited to three per person. Remember—you must be a 2023 NHC Tour member, prior to the start of the contest, in order to be eligible for an NHC package in this or any other NHC qualifier. If you’re not a member, you can become one quickly and easily at NTRA.com for a $50 membership fee.

The 10 contest races on Friday are the 7th through 9th from Gulfstream; the 7th through 9th at Aqueduct; races 2 and 3 from Del Mar; and the 8th and 9th at Laurel. 

Pick & Pray remains the “format of choice” for the rest of the weekend—including the six marquee games (all at HorseTourneys) on Saturday. One of them is our first qualifier to the Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge.

Pegasus World Cup Day is slated for January 27 at Gulfstream. Part of that day’s excitement is the Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge, which carries a not incidental entry fee of $6,000. However, you can get one for $384 if you win Saturday’s 1-per-20 qualifier for it. Winner(s) also get a $500 travel stipend…although if you don’t play the PWCBC at Gulfstream, you can also do so at Xpressbet.

The most lucrative tourney of the week is Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray. It’s a No-Limit affair with an entry fee of $350, and it also serves as the day’s HT Tour event.

The other Saturday cash feature is our $7,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks Pick & Pray. It carries an entry fee of $1,150. Total entries for this high-end game are limited to 20, with the winner getting 70 percent of the net pool, the runner up pocketing 20 percent, and the third-place contestant leaving with the remaining 10 percent. If we reach the maximum entry count of 20, the total purse will exceed $20,000.

The Saturday NHC qualifying opportunity exists here at HorseTourneys via a $165 Pick & Pray with two seats certain. The winning ratio is 1-per-65.

We’ll be hosting another qualifier on Saturday for the $250,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff—and there will also be one for the Fall Simulcast Challenge at Lone Star Park on December 2. The parameters for this Saturday Lone Star game are the same as the one on Thanksgiving—a $79 Pick & Pray with a winning ratio of 1-per-15.

The 12 contest races for Saturday are the 9th and 10th from Aqueduct; the 10th through 12th at Gulfstream; the 5th through 8th from Golden Gate; and the 6th through 8th at Del Mar. Closing time is scheduled to be 3:43 pm ET.

Sunday is the busiest day of the weekend around here with eight featured tourneys—including a couple of new ones.

One of the “rookies” is a $118, 1-per-15 Pick & Pray play-in to the Santa Anita Opening Weekend Challenge. Winner(s) earn a $1,500 entry that is playable either on-track or at Xpressbet on December 26th, the traditional Santa Anita opening date.

The other newcomer is a $79 Pick & Pray qualifier for the January 27th contest to be held at Sam Houston. We don’t know the official name of the tournament yet, but we do know that it will have a $1,000 buy-in, and that it is an on-track-only event. 

We do know the name of the $250,000 Guaranteed tourney being hosted here on January 20-21. It’s the Flo-Cal Faceoff, and we’ll be offering another $118 Pick & Pray for it on Sunday.

Another Sunday qualifier is that for the Fall Simulcast Challenge at Lone Star Park on December 2. Just like on Saturday, this one is a $79, 1-per-15 Pick & Pray, with the prize being a $1,000 entry.

On the cash-game front, Sunday’s HT Tour event is a $20,000 Gtd., No Limit Pick & Pray. The doorman will ask you for $250 on your way in.

The price tag is $1,150 for a spot in Sunday’s $7,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks tourney. Once again, payouts go only to the top three finishers on a 70-/20-/10-percent basis. (That’s the standard payout schedule in these Big Bucks games.)

After a one-day hiatus, HorsePlayers is up for more featured-tourney action on Sunday with both an NHC qualifier and a Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge play-in.

The NHC game is a $210 qualifier with two seats certain and a winning ratio of 1-per-50. The format is Live.

The format is also Live for Sunday’s $500 Low Ratio BCBC play-in. One $10,000 seat is guaranteed in this 1-per-23 skirmish.

We at HorseTourneys wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving and good, safe trips for you—and your horses too. Good luck!