Author Archives: McKay

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About McKay

President and Founder of HorseTourneys

HorseTourneys is now MOBILE – m.horsetourneys.com

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A new mobile site – m.horsetourneys.com – has just launched. If you are using a mobile device, your device will likely point to the mobile site upon visit. If it does not, navigate to m.horsetourneys.com from your device to access the mobile site.

The new site has been designed to make navigating on smaller devices easier, especially when making selections. For the most part, the mobile site operates the same way as the main site, but in a tighter package.

When making picks, players designate their Primary pick by selecting the “Pick” option for the menu when selecting a horse. To designate your Alternate selection, use the “Alt” option when selecting a horse. Selections still must be saved as they must on the full desktop version.

CLICK HERE FOR SCREENSHOTS AND MORE INFORMATION.

email-MOBILE

2015 NHC Tour Registration Now Open At NTRA.Com; Prize Money Increased 25 Percent

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NTRA Press Release

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Thursday, December 11, 2014) – The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced today that the 2015 Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship (NHC) Tour will offer record prize money of $250,000, a 25 percent increase over the 2014 prize money of $200,000. Signups for the 2015 DRF NHC Tour are now being accepted at ntra.com/en/nhc/2015-become-a-member. The complete rules are posted at ntra.com/en/nhc/2015-nhc-tour-official-rules.

The DRF NHC Tour is a yearlong series that, in addition to offering record prize money, will offer 22 or more qualifying berths to the 2016 NHC in Las Vegas. The 2015 Tour officially kicks off Monday, January 26, and continues through December 31. A tentative schedule of 2015 NHC qualifying events will be released in coming weeks.

DRF NHC Tour participation requires an annual NTRA individual membership fee of $50. Membership is mandatory in order to compete for a berth in the 2016 NHC and must be in place prior to participation in any given qualifier tournament in order for top finishers of sanctioned NHC qualifying events to be eligible to compete in the January 2016 NHC – the lucrative culmination of the year’s qualifying schedule. The 16th renewal of the NHC will be held January 23-25 at Treasure Island Las Vegas, where Jose Arias of Bell Gardens, Calif., will defend his title. The 2016 NHC will offer a record purse of well over $2 million.

As was the case in 2014, the top 150 Tour points leaders at the end of the year will be guaranteed entry into the 2016 NHC, where the overall, season-ending NHC Tour points leader will be eligible for a $2 million bonus should he or she capture the 2016 NHC and become the first person to earn a seat to the 2017 NHC.

The NHC Tour prize pool of $250,000 includes a total of $50,000 in mid-year payouts to the top five individuals (who will receive $10,000 each) in the standings as of July 31. End-of-year payouts will total $175,000, with points based on a member’s top six scores (including at least one score from a brick and mortar tournament location). The overall Tour winner will receive $75,000 and a seat to the 2017 NHC, and the top two finishers will each receive a trophy.

The top 20 finishers at the end of the year will each receive prize money and be eligible to compete for a $25,000 bonus to be paid to the individual who achieves the highest overall finish at the 2016 NHC. This individual also will earn a berth in the 2017 NHC. The bonus money is in addition to any other prize money won at the NHC.

In addition to making one eligible to earn a coveted seat to the NHC, other NHC Tour benefits include:

  • Exclusive discount from Daily Racing Form on past performance subscription packages – 15% discount for first-time Tour Members and 10% discount for those renewing;
  • Individual membership in the NTRA, which include benefits and discounts from NTRA Advantage partners and membership in the Horseplayers Coalition that supports NTRA legislative initiatives in Washington, D.C.; and
  • Weekly e-newsletter featuring player profiles, timely tournament information and other event information.

Entering its 17th year, the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship is the most important tournament of the year for horseplayers. There are no “buy-in” entries at the NHC. It is the culmination of a year-long series of NTRA-sanctioned local tournaments conducted by racetracks, casino race books, off-track betting facilities and horse racing and handicapping websites, each of which sends its top qualifiers to the national finals. Each year, the NHC winner joins other human and equine champions as an honoree at the Eclipse Awards. The 14 NHC Champions since the event’s inception, in chronological order, are Steven Walker, Judy Wagner, Herman Miller, Steve Wolfson Jr., Kent Meyer, Jamie Michelson, Ron Rippey, Stanley Bavlish, Richard Goodall, John Conte, Brian Troop, John Doyle, Michael Beychok, Jim Benes and Jose Arias.

 

Wynn Qualifiers Begin Saturday, December 6

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The first qualifiers to the $200,000 Guaranteed Wynn Handicapping Challenge will take place on Saturday, December 6.  The Wynn contest, to be held July 31-August 1, 2015, is one of the most popular tournaments on the yearly circuit.  The contest is a $2 Win/Place mythical contest covering Saratoga and Del Mar cards for both contest days.

Players can win the $2,000 entry fee to the Wynn here at HorseTourneys.  The first entry-only qualifier will feature entry fees of $95, one $2,000 entry awarded per 25 entries participating.

Full package qualifiers that include allowances for both the hotel portion and travel will begin sometime early in 2015.  Note that this year, cash allowances will be awarded rather than hotel rooms booked directly through the Wynn, and players will be responsible for making their own hotel reservations through the Wynn sportsbook.

Daily Feeders into qualifiers are available each day.

Qualifiers to January 22 NHC LAST CHANCE Contest at Treasure Island Begin Sat., Dec. 6

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Players can win the $500 entry to the Thursday, January 22 Treasure Island NHC “Last Chance” contest, which will award a MINIMUM of five (5) NHC seats and hotel stays to this year’s NHC, which begins on Friday, January 23.

Note that players that have already earned one seat to the NHC MAY win a second seat in this last chance qualifier.

Qualifiers at HorseTourneys will be held on BOTH Saturdays and Sundays through the weekend of Jan. 18.

If players winning entries to the contest end up qualifying to the NHC before the contest, players may request an exchange of $500 credit – deadline to request is end of day Friday, January 16.

Daily Feeders Available for $16 into select weekend qualifiers.

Contact us with any questions.

MY ACCOUNT Section Upgraded; Includes Transaction Detail, Balance Tracking

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If you visit the “My Account” section (top right near account balance once logged in), you’ll notice some major improvements to that section, especially relating to your transaction history.  This new tracking is effective from October 16 onward.  An example of the new transaction history display is below:

Detail is now provided for all of the following: 
  • Deposits
  • Purchases
  • Withdrawals
  • User Cancellations (when player cancels an entry themselves)
  • Breakage Refunds
  • Prize Credits (winnings)
  • Balance Adjustments (those done manually by administrators)
  • Coupon Redemptions
  • Contest Cancellations (usually, when a contest does not fill to minimum entries)
  • Auto-Entries (when you win an entry into a future contest)
  • Declined Withdrawals (if your withdrawal was declined for any reason)
You may filter by transaction type using the drop-down menu on the upper right of the transaction section.  This will be helpful for players especially around tax season if total amount of purchases or deposits is desired:
You may also change details of your account profile (note that email change requests are sent to us via email and must be changed by HorseTourneys administrators).
We hope you find these new features useful; please contact us with any questions.

Now Accepting Paypal for Deposits

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We’re now accepting Paypal for deposits.  The option to deposit with Paypal is included in the drop-down menu under Payment Type on the main Deposit page.

Also note that Paypal may be used to withdraw amounts up to $600.  It’s a fast, safe and easy way to withdraw more quickly from your account rather than waiting for a check.

Please note that deposits with Paypal will not register correctly for users using Internet Explorer 7 or earlier.  If you have deposited using any of these older browsers and have not seen the credit to your HorseTourneys account, email us for help.

Shawn “Spike” Turner takes “The BIG One” at Laurel; Johnson 2nd, Podratz 3rd

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Longtime tournament horseplayer Shawn “Spike” Turner of Middletown, Maryland, took “The BIG One”, held at Laurel Park Oct 11-12.  Turner turned a single $25 feeder entry into a qualiifer into a haul of $70,500 in grand prize money plus a Breeders’ Cup Challenge and NHC berth.  Gary Johnson of Massillon, Ohio, was second, with Michelle Podratz of Santa Clarita, California, third.

Total prize money was $175,000, with the top five winners earning coveted seats to both the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and NHC.  Finishers 6th thru 15th earned seats to the Horse Player World Series.  In total, nearly $300,000 in cash, prizes and amenities were awarded at this year’s event.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL FINAL STANDINGS

CLICK HERE FOR FINAL PRIZE LISTINGS

Improvement: Race Names Now Listed on Pick & Pray® Leaderboards

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We’ve added race labels with vertical orientation on all Pick & Pray leaderboards moving forward. This improvement makes it easier for players to recognize the proper picks column for each contest event.

PLEASE NOTE: This improvement involves HTML code that is only supported by more recent internet browsers. Older browsers, particularly older versions of Internet Explorer, will not support this feature. If do not see the race labels on a Pick & Pray contest, this likely means that you are using an outdated web browser and should consider upgrading to a newer version.

This improvement should be supported by the following web browsers:

Internet Explorer version 9.0 or greater
Mozilla Firefox version 3.5 or greater
Google Chrome version 4.0 or greater
Safari version 3.2 or greater

We hope you find this improvement useful.

Mike Mayo, 1954-2014

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From NTRA Press Release

Photo by NTRA/HorsePhotos

Mike Mayo, a handicapping tournament mainstay and the longtime Chairman of the NHC Players’ Committee, passed away Thursday, September 18 after a brief illness. Mike and his wife, Marsha, were familiar faces at racetracks and handicapping tournaments around the country, including at the NHC, where he was a 10-time qualifier.

Beyond the pari-mutuel windows and out of sight from most tournament players, Mike had a lasting and profound impact on the development and growth of the NHC, handicapping tournament play and Thoroughbred horse racing in general.

As Chairman of the NHC Players’ Committee, Mike was a tireless advocate for the horseplayer and a staunch believer that the NHC could help grow the popularity of horse racing. The Players’ Committee serves as a voice for all NHC tournament players and assists the NTRA with the establishment of NHC rules, formats and procedures. Under Mike’s steady hand, the committee helped set the stage for the 2008 launch of the NHC Tour, which connects tournaments through a points system and prize money. The Tour has helped fuel record participation in NHC tournaments and record purses at the NHC, which began in 2000 with a purse of $192,000 and this January will offer a purse of well over $2 million.

Mike was a longtime proponent of a “Final Table” format for the NHC. His vision become reality earlier this year when the NHC instituted a ”Final 50” and “Final Table.” By all accounts, the result was the most exciting NHC in the event’s 15-year history. Several years ago, Mike sent a letter to the NTRA formally requesting that the organization appoint a horseplayer to its Board of Directors. Mike felt strongly that horseplayers, whose wagering dollars fuel every aspect of the industry, deserved a seat and voice at the table. In August, Judy Wagner became the first horseplayer elected to serve on the 13-member NTRA Board.

Funeral arrangements for Mike were still pending, however, Mike did make it clear that he was not a big fan of flowers. He asked that horseplayers and friends consider a contribution to Old Friends retirement farm, to go toward the care of the beautiful animals that brought him so much pleasure. Contributions can be made directly to Old Friends, 1841 Paynes Depot Road, Georgetown, KY 40324 or online via PayPal at www.oldfriendsequine.org.

– Keith Chamblin

 

NEW Player-Friendly Feature – Copy Picks from One Entry to Another

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  • Accessible through “Speed Picks”
  • Entries must have same race schedule

Players may now copy picks from one entry to another entry that is run under the same contest schedule (i.e., uses the same races). This is a useful, time-saving feature for players that play multiple entries in multiple contests. To access the copy feature, please follow the instructions below:

1. Make picks for one of your entries using either the standard or Speed Picks interface – the copy function will not be available until picks have been made for the entry you wish to copy FROM.

2. Access the “Speed Picks” function through the blue button on your entry you wish to copy FROM. The copy function is ONLY accessible through the Speed Picks interface (but you may still use the standard interface to make your selections):

3. Locate the “Copy these picks to entry” menu available beneath the contest title:


4. Choose the other entry you wish to copy picks from your existing entry TO. A list of your active entries using the same contest schedule will display in the drop down menu:

5. A confirmation dialogue box will appear to make sure that you indeed want to copy picks. Choose OK if you wish to do so:

6. Once you click OK, your picks will be copied to the other entry and a dialogue box will appear confirming the copied picks:


7. You can return to the “View/Make Picks” summary page to confirm that your entry has been successfully copied:


IMPORTANT!

A few important notes to be aware of when copying picks:

(1) You MAY copy selections from an entry into another entry that already has selections made. If you do this, your copied picks will replace any picks that have already been made in the other entry – so be careful to ensure that you wish to copy before doing so.

(2) If you copy picks from an entry that contains NO SELECTION into another entry that already contains a pick for that particular race, the existing pick in the entry that you are copying TO will remain. This is intended to make sure that players are not accidentally stuck with NO SELECTION if an error has been made by the player.

(3) You MAY copy selections from entries that include races that have already closed. If you do this, picks will only copy for the races that are still OPEN (only relevant in the Live format).

While this feature has been extensively tested, if you experience any issues, please send us an email at support@horsetourneys.com with as much detail as possible about what you are experiencing.

We hope you enjoy this new feature, and we look forward to introducing more player-friendly improvements down the road.