Want into Grade 1 Gamble? Now’s the time to make move

The Grade 1 Gamble is approaching rapidly and players looking to win their way in are running out of chances.

Saturday’s featured contest on DRF Tournaments is a oneday direct qualifier for the Grade 1 Gamble in which players can enter for $410. One in 10 entries will win prize packages worth $3,500: a $3,000 Keeneland berth, and $500 in travel.

The Grade 1 Gamble is a live-bankroll contest on April 15 only at the storied Lexington oval. Of that $3,000, $2,000 will act as a live bankroll, with the remainder allocated to the prize pool, which will be returned to players in the form of cash and seats to other important handicapping tournaments.

In 2017, the Gamble attracted a record 171 entries. That record should be threatened, if not surpassed, this time around. The event will be held in the Lexington/Kentucky Room, which has the best view of the course. For the first time in 2018, tournament players will have use of the entire room, allowing for guests, and the dress code will be relaxed to business casual.

To make the weekend even more appealing for tournament players, on Saturday there will again be an additional $400 buy-in live-bank contest, the Spring Challenge.

Saturday’s other featured game is a $580 Grade 1 qualifier for the World Championship of Handicapping. Players can buy in or feed in, and one in 10 will win their $5,000 seats to DRF’s big money contest with no rake in the finals. The WCH takes place online and is expected to have a purse of $1 million, based on full participation of 200 entries.

Finally on Saturday, there is a featured game that is a Round 1 qualifier for the Belmont Stakes Challenge. Players put up $95, and one in five will win their $410 entries to next weekend’s direct qualifier for the Belmont contest.

There will be another event on Sunday catering to players in the Northeast: a $60 buy-in contest in which one in 10 will win into Aqueduct’s Wood Memorial Challenge.

Every operating day, DRFT will offer feeders for two events that can be found only at tournaments.drf.com. These are Round 1 events for the World Championship of Handicapping and feeders for the brand new World Horseplayers’ Tour/Santa Anita Preakness contest.

The WHT/SA contest is also a great deal for players, as all the prize money is added. Players put up $5,000 and take home whatever is left on their bankrolls at the contest’s end. A television pilot will be filmed at the WHT/SA Preakness event, featuring the first-ever live-bankroll final table. For more details, go to http://www. drf.com/news/new-eventunveiled-preakness-weekend.

Sunday will mark the first opportunity for players to win into the WHT/SA Preakness Challenge directly for less than $200. Entries for Sunday’s contest cost $185, and one in 30 will win their $5,000 bankrolls. Special feeders for this game are expected to appear on Friday and Saturday.

For a complete list of all the games happening at DRF Tournaments, go to tournaments.drf.com.