It’s Travers Week and Week 6 of 7 in the $10,000-added Xpressbet Fun in the Sun Handicapping Tournament. Just two Saturdays remain to qualify for the September 2 final table. Saturday’s final 5 races at Saratoga and first 5 races at Del Mar once again make up the contest, and this time includes the Travers Stakes as headliner.
Last week, Greg Knepper took the top prize of $1,113 with a top bankroll of $260. Steve Echolds finished second ($463.75 prize, $252.50 bankroll) while third place went to William Tilley ($278.25 prize, $251 bankroll). Tilley came within $9 bankroll of winning Fun in the Sun for the second straight week after scoring top honors in Week 4. Tilley became the first player to earn multiple seats at this year’s Final Table. Joining that trio in last week’s top-5 and earning seats to the Final Table were Jeff Falconio ($248.50 bankroll) and Christopher Cupples ($233.50).
Fun in the Sun offers its Final Table format for the fifth straight year and the progressive contest jackpot for 2024 stands at $14,275 with $10,000 seeded by Xpressbet. So far, 25 of 35 seats have been filled.
Qualifying Weeks (Saturdays)
July 20, 27
August 3,10,17,24,31
Final Table
September 2 (Monday)
The weekly contest format includes a $100 buy-in and $25 entry fee, which includes the tournament’s 10 weekly $10 win bets from Saratoga (last 5 races) and Del Mar (first 5 races). The Top-5 finishers by earnings each of the seven qualifying weeks earn berths into the Final Table. With 100% of tournament fees paid back to players, weekly prize pools compromise of 70% paid out to the Saturday leaderboard, while 30% rolls over to the Final Table (in addition to the $10,000 seed from Xpressbet).
Last year, Joe Tambasco topped Week 2 of the contest and later earned the $8,911 first prize at the Final Table, which had a prize pool in excess of $16,000.
Fun in the Sun Final Table Winners
2020 Robert Rosen
2021 Wayne Tam
2022 Kevin Saunders
2023 Joe Tambasco
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