Belmont Challenge deadline near

This weekend marks the last chance to win into this year’s Belmont Stakes Challenge, a two-day, live-bankroll tournament being held ontrack only at Belmont on Friday and Saturday, June 8-9.

Sunday’s qualifier, held at DRF Tournaments, asks players to put up $410. One in 30 will win a full $10,000 Belmont entry plus an additional $500 in travel. This contest will utilize the live format, in which picks can be changed up to the scheduled post time of each contest race. The races in the tournament will be posted approximately 48 hours in advance at tournaments.drf.com.

This will be the third running of the Belmont Stakes Challenge. To play, players purchase an entry for $10,000, $7,500 of which will be used as a live bankroll. The remaining $2,500 will go toward the prize pool, which will be returned 100 percent to players in cash and seats to other tournaments, including the National Horseplayers’ Championship, Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, and next year’s Belmont Stakes Challenge. In an added wrinkle, the player who wins the Belmont Challenge will have the choice of a $1 million bonus at either the NHC or BCBC should they go on to win one of those events.

The rules regarding minimum wagers at the Belmont contest have been tweaked for 2018, and players would do well to take note. Rules require a minimum of $600 per race on a minimum of five races Friday. On Saturday, those minimums increase to $900 over five races. Should a player fail to hit one minimum on Friday, $600 will be deducted from his or her tournament total and that money also will be unavailable to bet. Should a player miss two minimums, they will be disqualified. Any missed bets on Saturday will result in a disqualification.

Permitted wager types are win, place, show, exacta, trifecta, quinella, and daily double, with double wagers counting toward bet minimums in the first leg of the wager for the total bet cost. The Belmont Stakes itself will be the last race in the contest – Saturday night’s two walkout races will not be included.

Players get to keep any money in their bankrolls at the tournament and there are no maximum bets – players can go all-in at any time. Players can play up to two entries and may play those how they wish. However, collusion of entries among horseplayers is prohibited.

Players interested in purchasing entries should contact Dominic Labetti at dlabetti@ nyrainc.com or at (718) 659-2229 to make a payment. Entries close at 4:59 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday.

For more information, go to www.nyra.com/belmont/ racing/handicapping-challenge.

To sign up for Sunday’s lastchance qualifier, go to tournaments.drf.com.