This weekend saw an uptick in participation in the Grade 1 qualifier for the World Championship of Handicapping, DRF’s $1 million, no-takeout online contest. After a couple of months of two players winning into the WCH out of each Grade 1, three players advanced this Saturday: Ed Reidy, Ken Taylor, and Al Roehl.Reidy was best in the field of 32 with a final score of $82.60. He cashed in eight of the 12 races with his two biggest prices being Thewayiam ($19.80 win-place combined) in Gulfstream’s ninth and Sapphire Kid ($18.40) in Santa Anita’s sixth.Taylor ($82.40) finished just 40 cents behind, from seven cashes. Things started strongly for him as he hit with double-digit returns in the second, third, and fourth events, the longest of which was Code Blue ($18) in Gulfstream’s eighth. Sapphire Kid secured his position in the penultimate contest race and then he topped up with Itsinthepost ($10.40) in the anchor leg.Al Roehl ($62.60) prevailed in a tough battle for third, though no match for the winners. He cashed in five of the first six races and looked to be in good position before going cold. But after whiffing in four straight races, Sapphire Kid gave him the points needed to get position for his $5,000 WCH seat.Also on Saturday, Steve Kinnison ($67.80) won a seat to the Horse Player World Series, a mythical-money Las Vegas contest taking place at the Orleans on March 8-10. Kinnison chipped away with eight collections, the best of which was Quinn Murphy ($15.20) in Santa Anita’s opener. Itsinthepost put him over the top late.Contest action returns to DRFT on Wednesday for an extended week of action because of the Martin Luther King holiday. Be on the lookout for more qualifying opportunities for the Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge. There will be feeders each day leading to a last-chance qualifier for the event on Monday. For that one, players will put up $960 and one in 15 will win their $12,000 buy-ins for the Pegasus contest, a money-added, no-entry-fee, live-bank spectacular taking place Jan. 26-27.In other Pegasus news, it had initially been stated that players choosing to play offsite via Xpressbet would have to pay a $1,000 supplemental fee. It was announced today that the fee will be waived for players purchasing two entries to the event.The World Championship of Handicapping is also rapidly approaching. It’s taking place exclusively online at DRF Tournaments Feb. 3-4. Every operating day there will be Round 1 events for the WCH where players put up $95 and one in seven advance to the Grade 1 qualifiers, the next of which occurs on Monday.For a full list of everything happening at DRF Tournaments, check out tournaments.drf.com.