This could be you in 2025: Dr. Ronald Tang with last year’s Global Tote King of the Turf Championship Belt. Courtesy Dr. Tang
As did defending champ, now is the time to buy low to gain $2,500 entry into the KY Downs’ King of the Turf Challenge
Dr. Ronald Tang: “Feeders can allow more players to play Kentucky Downs and experience one of the best turf tracks in the country.”
Kentucky Downs Release
FRANKLIN, Ky. —Dr. Ronald Tang is prepared to defend his Turf.
The Pasadena, Calif., oncologist won a recent qualifier on horsetourneys.com to earn a free spot in Kentucky Downs’ Sept. 6 King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge, presented by Race Lens. Tang blew away the field to win last year’s competition, earning the distinction as King of the Turf, the title of National Turf Handicapper of the Year and the coveted Global Tote King of the Turf Championship Belt.
The King of the Turf has emerged as one of the country’s most popular live-money tournaments. The $2,500 buy-in covers $1,500 for the player’s bankroll and $1,000 toward the prize pool. However, players such as Tang try to earn their seats for a much smaller price by competing in qualifier and feeder tournaments at horsetourneys.com. Tang put up $197 to play in one of the recent direct qualifiers that give the winner an entry-paid seat in the King of the Turf. By winning the qualifier, Tang had a free roll to defend his crown, or in this case, belt.
Last year, Tang got into King of the Turf at an even cheaper cost, winning a horsetourneys.com feeder tournament with a $46 buy-in to earn a free seat in the $197 direct qualifier that subsequently landed him in the main event.
“I made a specific goal to qualify again as this is one of my favorite live tournaments of the year,” Tang said via email. “I am looking to repeat!”
Tang, a married father of young children, praised Kentucky Downs for providing relatively inexpensive ways to qualify for King of the Turf.
“I rarely pay the list price of getting into a big tournament, and I only play in live-money events if I qualify for the feeders,” he said. “From an economic standpoint, it allows me to invest a small budget to play a high-price contest. Also mentally, when I am in a live-money contest, I think of my bankroll as ‘play money’ in that I am willing to play a large double and exacta, as I did not invest $2,500 dollars but only invested a couple of hundred dollars. Therefore, I am playing the contest with house money.”
Tang says he’s not alone, and having cheaper ways to qualify allows more players to participate. That, in turn, only helps the contest, with more participants meaning more prizes can be offered.
“Feeders can allow more players to play Kentucky Downs and experience one of the best turf tracks in the country,” he said.
As for the King of the Turf belt, patterned after boxing’s championship belts, Tang has it in a place of honor in his home office where he said he admires it on an almost nightly basis.
“It allows me to reflect on one of my best live-money tournament performances to date,” he said. “I can’t wait to play again this year!”
Here’s another way to qualify for well below the $2,500 buy-in: Kentucky Downs again will stage a pair of online, live-money play-in tournaments on the track’s Thursday Aug. 28 and Sunday Aug. 31 cards, with $300 and $400 entry fees, respectively. Race Lens also is the presenting sponsor of those competitions.
Of course, the $2,500 buy-in always remains an option for the lucrative tournament. A lot of tournament players just enjoy the qualifiers because, well, they like playing in handicapping tournaments.
Evan Trommer, a prominent contest player and racehorse owner, won the first horsetourneys.com direct qualifier into the 2025 King of the Turf.
“Love Kentucky Downs,” Trommer, a former Lexington, Ky., resident who now lives in Florida, said by phone. “The racing is incredible, the purses are incredible. It’s fun to play in the contest, and it’s fun to be a spectator.
“I’ve never become King of the Turf, but I always enjoy it,” he said. “A lot of people play those feeder tournaments to work their way in. It’s a great way to get a lot more people involved at a bargain price. This is definitely one of the contests my fellow competitors look forward to playing. With the quality of the racing and horses coming in from overseas, that makes the degree of difficulty a challenge, but that’s a good thing. That’s what we do our sport for — it’s like chess.”
Trommer hopes to someday win what Tang already has: the Global Tote King of the Turf belt. The personalized belt is presented to the King of the Turf/National Turf Handicapper of the Year at the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) awards dinner in Vegas.
“The belt is a big deal,” Trommer said. “I know players where the most important thing to them in that contest is trying to win the belt.”
The first-place King of the Turf finisher — determined by having the largest bankroll at the contest’s end — will receive a prize package to the 2026 National Horseplayers Championship(NHC) next March in Las Vegas or an entry into the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge(BCBC) in November, worth $10,000. The winner also receives more than $25,000 cash (based on 100 entries), as well as retaining his or her winning bankroll.
At least five NHC packages (NHC seat, flight reimbursement capped at $400 and hotel stay) and two BCBC berths are guaranteed to be awarded to the King of the Turf’s top finishers. Additional prizes will be awarded based on the total number of entries. The tournament host takes no money from entry fees, with 100 percent going to the prize pool and players’ bankrolls.
The King of the Turf tournament is played online only through Xpressbet, TVG, 4NJBETS and HPI (Woodbine Entertainment Group’s advance deposit wagering platform).
Email King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge Tournament Director Brian Skirka at bskirka@monmouthpark.com with questions and to register for the King of the Turf and the Aug. 28 and Aug. 31 play-in tournaments.
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