Don’t look now, but the $250,000 Gtd. Flo-Cal Faceoff is now just about two weeks away, so qualifiers to the January 20-21 event take on added significance in the coming days.

Roughly two months away is the 25th edition of the NHC. Qualifiers to both the NHC  and the Flo-Cal Faceoff will be prominent components of the featured schedule during the upcoming weekend which, as always, begins around here on Friday.

Every single one of the 18 marquee games this weekend are Pick & Prays. (That should afford you plenty of time to spend time at the gym, read…or to follow through on any other New Year’s resolutions you might have made.) The first three of those 18 features are set for Friday.

Congratulations to Ed Peters, who finished 2023 as the HT Tour champion. The first Friday HT Tour event in 2024 is our $15,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray. The doorman will ask you for $190 on your way in.

On each day of the weekend, you can play in a $118 Pick & Pray qualifier to the $250,000 Gtd. Flo-Cal Faceoff here on January 20-21. Winners of Friday’s play-in (one of every 15) get a $1,500 Faceoff berth and will be making full-card selections on the Gulfstream and Santa Anita cards during the high-stakes tourney action here later this month.

A $75 NHC Pick & Pray is the focus on Friday at HorsePlayers. 

The 2023 HT Tour may have concluded, but the 2023 NHC Tour continues. There are always plenty of NHC Tour points at stake in these well-attended qualifiers. Perhaps I am burying the lead, though. Two seats to the March 2024 NHC are guaranteed to be heading out the door in this one. The winning ratio is 1-per-143. 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 5th through 8th from Aqueduct; the 7th through 9th at Tampa Bay Downs; and races 5 through 7 from Santa Anita. 

Eight Pick & Prays make up the Saturday featured-tourney menu.

The richest game of the weekend is Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray—an HT Tour event. Entering will set you back $350. Winning will set you way forward.

Saturday’s other marquee cash game is our $7,000 Guaranteed Big Bucks tourney. The entry fee here is $1,150. No more than 20 entries will be accepted for this high-end battle, 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.

Saturday is your first chance of the week to grab a $6,500 Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge Package.  One of every 20 entrants, at $384 per entry, will get a $6,000 Pegasus entry plus a $500 winner’s bonus. The Jan. 27 contest can be played either on-track at Gulfstream or at Xpressbet.

Also taking place on Jan. 27 is the on-track-only Houston Racing Festival Handicapping Contest at Sam Houston. For a $79 entry fee, you can compete on Saturday to win a $1,000 live bankroll for the “HRFHC.” The winning ratio is 1-per-15.

For the second of three straight days, there will be a $118 Pick & Pray qualifier on Saturday for the $250,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff.

The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge gets into the act on Saturday at HorsePlayers, joining a pair of NHC qualifiers on the featured docket there.

At least one $10,000 seat will be on the line in Saturday’s $179 BCBC Pick & Pray. The winning ratio is 1-per-65.

Also on tap is a restricted, $165 NHC qualifier—strictly for those who have yet to earn a 2024 seat. One spot is guaranteed to be in the prize pool, and due to the restricted nature of this tourney, no NHC Tour points will be awarded.

There’s also an NHC Low Ratio qualifier that’s open to all. The entry fee is $500, and the winning ratio is 1-per-21. Note that at least 10 entries must be signed on for this tourney to go forward, and, per NHC rules, NHC Tour points will only be handed out if there are enough entries for two seats to awarded. 

Seven featured tourneys come your way on Sunday.

The day’s NHC opportunity is here at HorseTourneys in the form of a “regular,” two-seats-guaranteed, $165 play-in. The winning ratio is 1-per-65.

There will also be more qualifiers on Sunday for the Flo-Cal Faceoff, the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship and the Houston Racing Festival Handicapping Contests.

On the cash-game front, the Sunday HT Tour competition is Sunday’s $20,000 Gtd., No Limit Pick & Pray. If you have $250 in your account, you can play.

The other Sunday cash feature is a $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks tourney. Once again, the barrier to entry is $1,150, and entries are limited to 20, with the top three finishers earning payouts.

The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge occupies center stage all by itself on Sunday at HorsePlayers.  

It’s a Low Ratio BCBC qualifier in which ne of every 23 entrants, at $500 per entry, will garner a $10,000 seat. The winning ratio is 1-per-23, and one grand prize is guaranteed, regardless of participation.

We hope that 2024 turns out to be “your year” and that this weekend proves to be just the start of it. Good luck!