Summer qualifiers on tap

You’re going to find this hard to believe but stay with me: Summer is right around the corner. For evidence, look no further than the new lineup of games this week on DRF Tournaments. You can now qualify for major tournaments at both Del Mar and Saratoga in games with player-friendly ratios. In fact, DRFT ratios in qualifiers are the best in the business.

The ratios in question are the number of prizes on offer in a tournament to the number of entries required. For example, in feeders for DRFT, the ratios are typically 1 in 10, sometimes 1 in 5. This means there is one prize for every 10 (or five) entries that participate. For those newer to tournaments, a “feeder” is simply a qualifier to a qualifier – a way to participate in a bigger game by winning your way in.

Players competing in feeders will not have as good a deal in terms of takeout as those buying directly into a qualifier, but they get two important things in return for the extra round of rake. For one, they get a day of action playing the horses for a limited cost. For another, they get a chance to end up swinging at a very big prize – potentially their share of $1 million in an event like the World Championship of Handicapping – for very little risk. In fact, sometimes no risk at all. Every Wednesday and Thursday are free games where you can win into a WCH feeder and start along the path to the WCH.

The first Saratoga qualifier is scheduled for May 12 and will cost $410 to play. The qualifier will award winning packages to one out of every 10 entrants. These packages are worth $3,500, including a $1,000 entry to the Saratoga contest on Friday, Aug. 9, a $2,000 entry to the Saratoga contest on Saturday, Aug. 10, and $500 in travel.

Players can compete to win their way into the qualifier daily for $95 in Round 1 events where 1 in 5 will advance to the May 12 game or for $11 where 1 in 10 will move forward to a future Round 1.

The first Del Mar qualifier will run on Preakness Day, May 19. That costs $495 and 1 in 20 players will win a package worth $9,000 that includes a Del Mar entry and $500 in travel. On April 28, there will be a Round 1 game that costs $114. From that event, 1 in 5 entries will win into the Preakness Day game.

Speaking of the Preakness, there was an interesting new wrinkle added this week to qualifying for the World Horseplayers’ Tour/Santa Anita Preakness game. The WHT/SA game is a prize-money-added, no entry fee, live-bank contest that will be filmed for a television pilot.

The player who handles the most money in WHT/SA events on the DRF Tournaments site between April 25 through May 12 will receive a free $1,090 entry into the final WHT/SA qualifier, the Big Money Last Chance on May 13, where 1 in 5 entries will win $5,000 Santa Anita seats. This bonus will go to a player who hasn’t already qualified, and in the event of a tie, the seat will go to the player with the best finish in a $458 direct qualifier.

Qualifying for the SA/WHT game is available exclusively at tournaments.drf.com. You can find a full list of all the games happening at DRF Tournaments this weekend, including direct qualifiers for the World Championship of Handicapping, the upcoming Belmont Stakes Challenge, the WHT/ SA Preakness event, and Monmouth’s Pick Your Prize contest on June 2.