For the first time, a major, all-cash competition will be held in the format held most dear by the majority of online tournament handicappers. Welcome to the Pick & Pray Classic.

The Pick & Pray Classic will carry a purse of at least $300,000 and will be contested on Saturday, November 23 and Sunday, November 24. The entry fee is $2,000, and there is a maximum of two entries allowed per account holder.

Competitors will be required to make mythical $2.00 win-and-place selection on every contest race each day and all selections must be entered prior to the start of that day’s first contest race. (Sunday selections are due prior to the start of Sunday’s contest races.) It is anticipated that there will be between 15 and 20 contest races each day from tracks including Aqueduct, Gulfstream and Del Mar.

As was the case with the year’s other three HorseTourney Grand Slam events (the Flo-Cal Faceoff, the Players Championship and the Spa & Showdown). “Day-money” bonuses will also be paid to the top performers on each specific day of the competition.

As the final leg of the HT Grand Slam, the Pick & Pray Classic will determine the three 2024 winners of Grand Slam bonuses. In each event, points are awarded based on a formula that assigns 100 points for a first-place finish, 99 points for second, 98 for third, down to 1 point for a 100th-place finish. (If you play multiple entries in a single tourney, only your best score counts.)

The overall points leader at the end of the Grand Slam series will receive a paid entry for all four 2025 HorseTourneys Grand Slam competitions. The runner up receives berths in two events of his or her choice, and the third-place finisher gets a choice of any one seat. 

The person with the second-most points will earn a 2022 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) entry, and the third-place points earner will receive an entry to the 2022 edition of The BIG One.

Here’s what the leaderboard looks like heading into the Pick & Pray Classic:

Christian Orscher’s work is far from done. In fact, If you are one of the 38 players with 107 or more points, you may want to give extra consideration to playing this weekend, because a high finish could move you straight into the top three.

Qualifiers for the Pick & Pray Classic—at $156 and $295 per entry—will be continue to be offered right up through Friday.

Keep an eye out for pop-up, single-track qualifiers as well.

For those who are already signed up and who wish to get a head start on their handicapping, the Day 1 Pick & Pray Classic races will be the 7th through 9th from Aqueduct, races 6 through 9 at Tampa Bay Downs, the 7th through 11th from Gulfstream and races 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 at Del Mar. That’s 20 races in all for Saturday with the first of them, race 7 at Aqueduct, slated to break from the gates at 3:08 pm ET.

Day 2 races will be announced after the draw for the Sunday Del Mar card has been released.

Good luck to everyone taking part. May your prayers be answered!