LEXINGTON, Ky. — Breeders’ Cup announces the launch of the second season of HorsePlayers Happy Hour Tour (“HorsePlayers Tour”) hosted by In the Money Media (ITMM). The Horseplayers Tour will begin on Thursday, June 2, at 2 p.m. ET, and will coincide with the popular HorsePlayers Happy Hour livestream every Thursday at 4 p.m. ET, featuring ITMM’s Matt Bernier and Peter Fornatale.
Each Thursday, fans at home can play along with the ITMM team for a chance to earn tour points and qualify for the season-ending playoffs. One $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) seat will be awarded to the player that finishes first on the regular season leaderboard and another will be awarded to the HorsePlayers Tour champion.
“Following the success of last year’s tour, we’re excited to continue to reward horseplayers for participating in our online contests and once again provide them more chances to win their way into the BCBC,” said Justin McDonald, Chief Marketing Officer for Breeders’ Cup. “The In The Money Media team does a great job enhancing the tour through our weekly livestreams, which encourage fan engagement and provide an insider’s look to each week’s contest.”
The HorsePlayers Tour kicks off on June 2 with a $20 feeder contest on HorsePlayers.com, where sign-ups are currently live. For more information and complete rules, visit BreedersCup.com/Happy-Hour-Tour.
Breeders’ Cup will donate all proceeds from the HorsePlayers Tour online contests to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and the Thoroughbred Retirement Fund. In two years, Breeders’ Cup raised over $15,000 for its charity partners through the HorsePlayers Happy Hour program.
“Breeders’ Cup has been a great partner since day one for these Horseplayer Happy Hour contests,” said Peter Fornatale, co-founder of In the Money Media. “It’s great to see an industry leader putting horses and horseplayers first.”
Each week, players participating in the designated HorsePlayers Tour feeder contest will have a chance to earn tour points and qualify for the year-end playoffs. Points will be awarded to the top 10 finishers each week, starting with 100 points to the winner and descending in increments of 10 points to each respective place below that, with 10 points awarded to the 10th-place finisher. The top eight scores for each player during the regular season will be used to calculate the final leaderboard scores. The person with the highest overall score will be declared the regular season winner and earn a $10,000 BCBC seat.
Once the regular season concludes, there will be an 80-player playoff that will consist of the top two finishers from each of the weekly HorsePlayers Tour contests, as well as the remaining top finishers on the regular season leaderboard who have not already qualified.
Playoffs will start on Oct. 6 with 80 total players and be narrowed down to 40 players the following week (Oct. 13), 20 players the next week (Oct. 20), and 10 players on Oct. 27 for the Final Table. This schedule is subject to change. Additionally, a $179 BCBC qualifier will run concurrently each week of the playoffs.
The Final Table participants will compete during a special livestream format that will be broadcast as the final show of the season, with the winner earning a $10,000 BCBC seat. Players can have up to two entries at the start of the playoffs, but only one entry can advance to the Final Table.
For schedule updates, more information, and complete rules, visit BreedersCup.com/Happy-Hour-Tour.
To participate, players must have a valid Horseplayers.com account. To sign up for a free HorsePlayers account, visit HorsePlayers.com now. HorsePlayers Happy Hour hosted by ITMM’s Matt Bernier and Peter Fornatale is livestreamed each Thursday on the Breeders’ Cup Facebook and Twitter pages.
Breeders Cup Press Release
