We’re all familiar with one of the most frustrating feelings in mythical-money, win-place contest play. You do your handicapping. You identify a 15-1 shot you think has a real chance of winning. You pull the trigger on the play, then start to get excited as, under no encouragement, he starts moving past shorter price horses down the backstretch.
For the second straight Saturday, we offered a big-money game centered around the day’s key Kentucky Derby preps. High-quality racing certainly afforded us that opportunity, and HorseTourneys players once again took advantage of it.
We normally like to spread out our big-money tourneys a bit, but with back-to-back weekend days like last Saturday at Gulfstream and this coming Saturday with the Wood Memorial, Blue Grass Stakes and Santa Anita Derby, we’re wheeling right back on short rest like a Rick Dutrow trainee (back when those existed) and offering an up-to-$75,000 all-stakes tourney with $50,000 Guaranteed.
Anthony Laurino, winner of last Saturday’s $101,000 tourney, is no stranger to horse racing or handicapping. His family would make an annual trip each summer from their Hyde Park, N.Y. home to Saratoga, where Anthony quickly picked up on the joys of trying to solve the many handicapping puzzles each day. Before that, his father was such a regular at the Poughkeepsie, N.Y. OTB, that he would comfortably leave young Anthony in his umbrella stroller outside the front door with other regulars while he ran in to get his bets down.
For the longest time, though, Laurino really was a stranger to tournament play.
In what was our richest tourney ever, Anthony Laurino of Clayton, N.C., recorded four winners—including three of the last four among the 15 contest races—to claim the top prize of $40,594 in Saturday’s live-format contest that closed with a total pot of $101,487.
The BIG One, to be contested on September 22-23, 2018 at Laurel Park, has already gotten bigger for this year’s renewal—thanks to the addition of two Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entries to the 2018 prize pool (bringing the total number of BCBC spots up for grabs to 10, along with the usual 10 NHC seats and 10 Horseplayer World Series entries).
Now The BIG One bonus – payable should the winner of The BIG One go on to win the 2019 NHC – has gotten bigger, and better, as well.
While some are excited about baseball’s Opening Day…or the Final Four…we tournament players know the true excitement is right here. That’s because, on Florida Derby Day, HorseTourneys hosts its richest tourney ever—an up-to-$150,000 live-format event with $100,000 Guaranteed. Someone could walk away from it $60,000 richer. That would buy a whole lot of peanuts and Cracker Jacks.
It’s sometimes easy to think that the supply of future contest players has been fully tapped. Happily, this is not the case. Justin Dew is just one of many longtime horseplayers I know who just recently—about a year and a half ago—started getting involved in tournament play.
There were a lot of Pick & Pray tourneys scheduled last weekend, and that meant good things for those who a) had a good day and b) played more than one event.
It may just be March, but it’s time to start thinking about Saratoga. That’s because our very first qualifier for the 2018 Saratoga Challenge (to be held for the first time on a Friday-Saturday) is this Sunday. This is by far the earliest that we’ve ever offered Saratoga qualifiers, but as far as we’re concerned, it’s never too early to begin thinking “Spa.”
HorseTourneys.com Blog 