Horse Tourneys - Ellis Park contest

The operators of Ellis Park in Kentucky are diving headlong into the NHC Tour Championship circuit, starting this afternoon with a free online tournament for one spot in the $2 million year-end event in Las Vegas.  More details are available on the Horse Tourneys website.

New tournament kicks off Sunday

Earlier this week, Ellis Park Race Course, Inc. announced that, for the remainder of the season, the track will be offering a whopping 50 seats to the 2012 National Handicapping Championship. As this equates to 10% of the 500-seat NHC (at what a source earlier this year told me was at a cost of about $5k-$10k per seat), Ellis Park deserves much credit in putting its footprints all over the 2012 NHC. 

When there is more time later this week I anticipate talking more in-depth on this topic, but for the time being the Ellis Park contest offers an attractive option, whereby contest players make an "alternate" pick for each of the 10-race card; this way, long-shot players are not necessarily defaulted to the post-time favorite - a nice feature and one that other online tournament organizers should embrace.

Here is a look at my early selections on the card (subject to change; i.e. whether my wife will let me stay home and watch...or make me go out and shop for more items for our home renovation), which I might add deviates from my typical penchant for long shots, though I've sprinkled a few in the mix:

Event	Primary Pick	Alternate Pick
1 Saratoga Race 8	6 Por Que' Te Quiero	9 Crespano
2 Monmouth Race 9	7 Gaither Draw	3 Tempted to Tapit
3 Monmouth Race 10	7 Dream	9 Coco Ecolo - MTO
4 Saratoga Race 10	2 Bank Merger	8 Trappe Shot
5 Monmouth Race 11	4 Born Bullish	3 Fan Out
6 Del Mar Race 3	2 Full Deputy	4 My Boy Luke
7 Saratoga Race 11	6 Allen's Star	13 Hurling - AE
8 Monmouth Race 12	9 Chief Operator	4 Sadler Power
9 Del Mar Race 5	5 Free Range	6 Abovetheinfluence
10 Del Mar Race 6	5 Dreamcaster (GB)	3 Cha Cha Latte