Which do you find more impressive? The fact that Brian “BC” Chenvert finished first in five featured tourneys last week? Or that he accumulated a total of eight grand prizes (though really nine as you’ll learn later) for the five triumphs plus three other close calls?

I respectfully suggest that the right answer is “None of the above” and instead offer up the possibility that his most impressive feat was racking up the above tallies over three different—and consecutive—days, showing a level of both excellence and consistency that is seldom seen, especially during this highly-competitive time of year.

In case you missed the news yesterday, we now have a Tour tied to each weekend’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday featured cash tourneys. It begins this weekend.

The past week had a lot—the much anticipated openings of Saratoga and Del Mar, lots of close contest finishes and a few players who won multiple tourneys. What it didn’t have from Wednesday through Sunday was a single cap horse. (The closest we came was a $38.60 winner at Del Mar on Friday.) And that trend was taken to extremes on Sunday when the biggest price that came in was 6-1.

It’s one of the most anticipated weekends of the year—the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday at both Saratoga and Del Mar. On top of that, it’s Haskell Weekend at Monmouth. To help make a big weekend that much bigger, we have 31 featured tourneys scheduled over the three days.

As Belmont’s Spring/Summer meet draws to a close and Delaware Park gets ready for its signature day, HorseTourney stands ready to try and make a fun weekend that much more engaging with a plentiful variety of cash games and important qualifying events

With 37 featured tourneys spread out across six days of Fourth of July week, there were plenty of opportunities for top HorseTourneys players to show their mettle.

And Charles Myers wasted no time in doing so.

The Minnesota Racing Commission has recently notified us of new requirements for Source Market Fees for residents of Minnesota.

Previously, HorseTourneys had received a waiver of a portion of these source market fees owed to the state on play at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers. Effective July 1, 2021, we are now responsible for the full amount of prescribed source market fees for ADW providers in the state.

Due to our extremely low blended takeout rate (approximately 11 percent blended), HorseTourneys is unable to absorb this source market fee requirement in our existing expense structure. As a result, the State Fee on deposits for Minnesota residents has been increased to six (6) percent of deposited funds. This is only applied to your deposits, not to your entry fees on either site.

We regret that costs for Minnesota residents have increased, but please understand that this additional State Fee is required for us to be able to serve Minnesota residents. We will advise if there is any change to the source market fee requirement moving forward.

If you like action, we have it here in high volume over Fourth of July weekend. Seven  marquee games on Friday and Saturday, 15 (!) on Sunday, and another five during a special holiday Monday menu. 

So cue the John Philip Sousa music and let’s take a look, starting, of course, with the Friday slate.

It was a predominantly Pick & Pray week last week with no fewer than 35 featured events. The high volume—combined with some pricey winners—made for an extra-large helping of noteworthy performances.