There were lots of double winners on this predominantly Pick & Pray weekend, and we’ll get to them all. We’re going to start with Cheryl Knepper, though. She only won one prize per se, but in many respects, she was a double winner too—arguably one of the most impressive such double-uppers that we’ve seen lately.
The three-day format of the Horse Player World Series—and Las Vegas, itself—makes for a grueling and intense few days. I happened to add a couple of extra days to my Orleans journey to bet on some baseball and basketball and, as a result, I STILL am catching up on my sleep from last weekend.
My post-mortem thoughts are still pretty scattered at this point. If I neglected to note something obvious or important, feel free to bring it to my attention in the comments section. Otherwise, here goes.
Last Saturday, Paul Sadler selected Maximum Security and won $22,500 in our Florida Derby Day $50,000 Guaranteed event. This Saturday, it could be you and your Derby horse that get the spotlight…and the money…in our Wood/Blue Grass/Santa Anita Derby Day $35,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray. It’s the highlight of an 18-featured-tourneys weekend that gets started on Friday.
After Day 1, Loyal Sprague’s two entries were in a four-way tie for first. After Day 2, they were tied for third. At the conclusion of the three-day, $646,650 Horse Player World Series, however, Sprague had first place, and the $258,660 grand prize, all to himself.
A year ago, Bob Montgomery was sapped by a severe cold but still managed to prevail over 427 opponents and win $231,120 in the Horse Player World Series. This year, buoyed by good health and a monster Day 2, Montgomery has put himself in line for a repeat victory as the Day 2 leader in the 2019 renewal of the World Series.
It figured to be a unique day at the Horse Player World Series with just three contest tracks, offering a total of 37 races, operating on Thursday. When Day 1 of the three-day competition was complete, the leaderboard made the day seem even more unusual.
There have always been three main price points for Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifiers: $179 (Regular), $500 (Low Ratio) and $1,000 (Super Low Ratio).
Starting in April, there will be a fourth.
A record 172 qualifiers from HorseTourneys will be among the field of 600 or so at The Orleans this Thursday, Friday and Saturday for the 2019 Horse Player World Series. We’ll be onsite providing end-of-day recaps on our blog page and we will also post updates on Twitter if…and it’s a big “if”…we can get names to go along with the scores on the leaderboard. (Typically these aren’t posted at the HPWS.)
Pick & Pray weekends often result in someone having “a really good day” (as Richard Dreyfus said in “Let it Ride”) and rolling to multiple victories. We certainly had a classic example of that this weekend—but we also had players who turned in very strong efforts on consecutive days, which is also highly impressive. Craig Hom was one such player on Friday.
If you’re looking to finally gain an entry to next Thursday’s Horse Player World Series—or to add an additional entry to your portfolio—this weekend is your last chance or else you’ll have to pony up $1,500 at The Orleans. The same applies to the $700 in entry fees for the Hawthorne March contests taking place next Friday and Saturday. On the other hand, you have plenty of time to qualify for Saratoga, with your first chance being this Sunday. It’s also your first chance on Saturday to qualify for the Wood Memorial Challenge at Aqueduct, but there’s definitely not plenty of time for that since the event takes place on April 6. It all makes for a frenzied weekend of featured-tourney action, which gets started on Friday.
HorseTourneys.com Blog 