DRF, Gulfstream Park offer rich Feb. 28 tournament

Daily Racing Form and Gulfstream Park have announced a new live-bankroll tournament that they will be running in partnership – the $100,000 Raise Your Game Handicapping Challenge at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, Feb. 28, a day highlighted by three graded stakes races.

Players can either qualify for the contest online, exclusively through the DRF family of tournament sites, or buy in directly. The Raise Your Game buy-in costs $3,000, with $1,000 going to the prize pool – which will be 100 percent returned to the players in the form of cash and seats to major tournaments – and $2,000 as a live bankroll. Players keep all funds remaining in their bankroll at the contest’s end.

Raise Your Game will require players to wager at least $200 per race on eight live races at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 28. The remaining $400 must be wagered in minimum increments of $200. Players can bet up to their entire bankrolls at any time during the contest. Permitted wagers are win, place, show, exacta, and trifecta.

Based upon 100 entries, there will be $53,500 in cash prizes, five spots to the National Handicapping Championship, two full $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entries, and three partial $2,500 entries to the BCBC awarded. Up to 200 entries will be allowed, so those prizes could double if there is full participation.

Online qualifying starts this weekend at BCQualify.com, with contests Saturday and Sunday with a buy-in of only $80. A minimum of two full $3,000 Raise Your Game entries are guaranteed each day in the BCQualify contests. Entries are limited to two per player, and you can sign up now here.

“We’re excited about giving players an exclusive opportunity over the next two months to qualify into what promises to be a great event at Gulfstream Park,” said Ken Kirchner, administrator of the DRF Tournament sites. “With a substantial prize-pool combination of cash and spots into the NHC and BCBC, the online qualifiers will give many players the opportunity to win their entire entry fee for a fraction of the $3,000 buy-in.”