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.
As is stated in our Support FAQ section, the race schedule for multi-track tournaments–by which we mean our Featured schedules on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays–are traditionally posted 48-hours in advance of the date of the tournament. So for instance, the race schedule for the Featured Saturday tournaments is typically posted on Thursday afternoon.
Snow, ice and high winds will no doubt descend on some of the racetracks we like to use, be it Aqueduct in New York, Turfway in Kentucky or even some of our friends as far south as Louisiana. We hate cancellations as much as you do and always do our best to avoid them.
Therefore, essentially through March, we’ll post race schedules a day later – or approximately 24 hours prior to the contest. So a race schedule for a Featured Saturday will now be posted on Friday afternoon.
We realize that players like to have access to races as far in advance as possible, but for us, these extra 24-hours are often critical. During these months, weather can change dramatically in a 24-hour span. Having the extra time to survey what we think might happen makes it more likely that we’ll avoid making scheduling mistakes that could result in cancellations. This approach has proven prudent, as it’s helped save more than an handful of schedules that would otherwise have been scrapped.
Generally speaking, we will also avoid using cold-weather tracks in Quick Early Bird schedules whenever an alternative with more predictable weather is available, especially on the weekends. It is essential that Quick Early Bird schedules run on Saturdays and Sundays, since those schedules include so many feeders to the days’ Featured events. So for instance, you’ll be far more likely to see Tampa included in a QEB schedule than Aqueduct–even though we know Aqueduct is a more popular circuit.
Lastly, since many people ask us about replacing races with “alternate” races in the event of cancellations, we feel it’s helpful to explain how we approach scenarios where races are indeed cancelled:
- If races that are included in a multi-track schedule are cancelled the evening prior to the date, we will make changes to the Featured schedule and announce to all players
- If races that are included in a multi-track schedule are cancelled the same day of the Featured schedule, it is our policy to never make changes to those schedules. This is mostly because there are simply too many players that make selections the day prior and will not have the ability to make changes, or may not even be aware of the changes. This is an untenable situation and one that is unfair to those players
- If races that are included in a QUICK EARLY BIRD schedule are cancelled on the same day, we will refund entries in that QEB schedule and post a new schedule that includes other races, assuming there is sufficient time to do so. We will never replace races in a QEB schedule the same day. What this means is that players will need to re-buy into the new schedule to play the revised Quick Early Bird schedule.
Here at HorseTourneys, Eric Wing and I take scheduling very, very seriously. You spend a ton of time preparing, and we feel the above approach is the best to ensuring your play experiences as few inconveniences as possible.
We hope this provides some insight – email us at support@horsetourneys.com with any questions. Stay warm!
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