Thanksgiving weekend is understandably being celebrated on a smaller scale this year—but not at HorseTourneys! With so many staying home, we’re ramping up with 24 marquee competitions from Thursday to Sunday, including five features on Turkey Day itself.

You may have heard that the Flo-Cal Faceoff (January 9-10, $150,000 Gtd.), the Players Championship (April 2-3) and the Spa & Surf Showdown (August 14-15) make up the new 2021 Tourney Triple series here at HorseTourneys. And you may already realize that annuity bonuses worth $2 million and $1 million are available should someone sweep the series or capture two of the three legs.

Did you know, though, that three valuable bonus prizes will definitely be won by those who perform the best across the three events?

With 20+ featured tourneys every week, you’d think a somewhat monotonous “sameness” would set in, with one contest playing out pretty much the same as the next one. However, high volume can yield a wider range of outcomes, and we certainly saw an unusual one on Friday.

As we get closer to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the featured-tourney pace remains brisk at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers with 22 marquee games this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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.

Some days, you need to hunt down that one longshot hiding out there in order to succeed. Other days call for stringing together a bunch of shorter-priced winners. We saw examples of both last week at HorseTourneys—and, perhaps more surprisingly, we saw players who were able to prosper by shifting gears from one day to the next.

Two weeks ago, Ezra Garrett won $30,000 by breaking the $8 Pick 6 Jackpot ice that had remained frozen for 19 months. This weekend, we begin a new Jackpot game, a $15 Pick 4 tourney, that we hope will not be quite as hard to hit. That one begins on Saturday. On Sunday, you can become the very first person to qualify for the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.

One of the reasons I think this year’s Breeders’ Cup will stay with me a little longer than most is because of the success that a couple of “Also Eligibles” had. During an event that sometimes comes across as one with room for only the most fashionably bred horses, owners and even spectators, Also Eligibles just seem so much more…relatable.

If you were a horse trainer, it was a good weekend to be Brad Cox. If you were a HorseTourneys player, it was a good weekend to be Michael Somich…or Steve Abelman…or Matthew Bickey.

We entered Breeders’ Cup week advertising/promoting/bragging that we’d be awarding $200,000 in Guaranteed prize money across our featured tourneys. Thanks to the enthusiasm of our players, the total wound up being much more—$305,575.