Tourney Talk- Saturday’s Santa Anita NHC Qualifier

As I type this, I am supposed to be landing at Midway Airport in Chicago to compete in the Friday and Saturday NHC qualifiers at Hawthorne while seated at a table with adequate electrical outlets alongside July Hawthorne contest winner Steve Decaspers.  But as you may have noticed from recent social media posts of mine, the destructive, debilitating virus that took me out of commission for five days last month, and which never fully went away, has resurfaced in recent days and I am once again confined to my home with a nagging cough, horrible head congestion, and certain death on the horizon.  Women say men are extremely pathetic when we get sick, but they don’t understand how an illness of this nature can destroy our mood, our spirit, and our lives.  Sickness is worse for men than women.  It’s a medical fact.  But I digress.

Since I’m not traveling to Chicago, I have decided to enter Saturday’s Santa Anita NHC Qualifier via Xpressbet.  Here’s how it works:

$1,500 entry fee.  $1,000 returned to your tournament bankroll.  You make exactly ten $50 win and $50 place bets ($100 per race) on Saturday’s races from Santa Anita and Races 8-11 from Gulfstream Park.  You pick the ten races.  One NHC seat is awarded for every 15 entrants.  Cash prizes to the Top 5.  You keep all the cash you have left after the $1,000 is wagered.

Personally, I love this format.  Do I need to worry about Jonathon Kinchen hitting a $15,000 cold double?  Nope.  Do I need to worry about walking away with nothing if I earn a return of +25% on the wagers but can’t match Rich Nilsen or Doc Trezza’s +200%, like in a mythical $2 WP contest?  Nope.  This format is the bomb.  I wanted to compete in the one at Fair Ground last month but, again, I was in bed with Bubonic Plague and unable to move my arms.

I strongly suggest everyone with the means to enter do just that.  Play at Santa Anita or Xpressbet.

Time to start handicapping.  Then off to buy more cold medicine and Kleenex.