Let’s just say it figures to be an extra-nice Christmas this year in the Sharma household.

It was a tale of two formats for Vineet “Please Don’t Squeeze the” Sharma on Saturday. Unlike most situations that get the “Tale of Two…things” treatment, however, both sides of this particular “tale” turned out well for Sharma. Very well.

With just three months remaining until the 2023 NHC, qualifying for the “Big Dance” takes on even more urgency. Those looking to maximize their chances at landing a spot in March can now—starting on Sunday—play in a 1-per-21 qualifier…and if you’re really lucky, your odds of success could be 1 in just 10.

Sometimes a contest day unfolds in such a way that favors some players more than others. People who like to bomb away with one longshot pick after another didn’t like Wednesday very much. The day’s top-priced winner, Hierro in the 7th at Gulfstream, paid just $9.40 to win and $3.00 to place.

With the Exacta Extravaganza in the books, it’s time to square our sights on the $250,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff (the first leg of the 2023 Tourney Triple) now just barely more than a month away. We’ll have a qualifier a day for the Flo-Cal this weekend—and the same holds true for the 2023 NHC.

In an endeavor synonymous with up-and-down emotions and long dry spells, Joe Koury was pretty darned consistent in the two-day, $50,000 Guaranteed Exacta Extravaganza. He hit five three-horse exacta boxes on Saturday to finish the day in 3rd place. On Sunday, he connected on another five gimmicks to amass the second-best score of the day. When all the final accounting was done, it was Koury, “The People’s CFO”, who was the victor, earning the top prize of $22,500 plus an additional $1,250 in day money for his top-three finishes each day.

We run a fair number of Exacta tourneys around here, but only once a year can you play one with (at least) $50,000 on the line. Welcome to Exacta Extravaganza weekend!

This blog is sent out annually as a reminder of some tweaks we here at HorseTourneys employ to try and mitigate the effects of winter weather on scheduling. For beginners and veteran tourney players alike, it’s always a good idea for a quick refresher:

As we roll into the winter months, it’s a good idea that we explain our approach to scheduling, which we tweak this time of year.  We’ve employed this approach every year, and it just bears a quick reminder every November or so as chilly temperatures descend across the land.

Longshots in mythical-money tourneys are like determined bidders at an auction. When there’s just one present, then that one dominates. When there’s more than one, then all hell can break loose.

The Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship will be back in 2023 (on January 28), and you can win a $6,000 entry for it—plus a $500 travel stipend—for $384 this Sunday when we offer our first qualifier to the prestigious live-bankroll competition.

Unfortunately, with the premature termination of the Sunday card at Woodbine, our five-day featured-tourney week turned into a four-day featured-tourney week. However, there were still plenty of seats and cash to go around—and one player managed to visit the winner’s podium three times.