We’ve reached Week 5 of 7 in the $10,000-added Xpressbet Fun in the Sun Handicapping Tournament as congrats go out to last week’s winner William Tilley. Fun in the Sun challenges horseplayers each Saturday over the final 5 races at Saratoga and first 5 races at Del Mar.
Last week, player totals were low as payouts were elusive. Tilley’s $181.50 winning total would not have made a top-5 in any of the previous weeks of this year’s contest. But it was good enough to bag the $829.50 weekly prize and seat at the FITS Final Table. Joining him in the top 5 and earning Final Table berths were John Wonkovich ($169.50 bankroll, $345.63 second prize), Nelson Jaramillo ($149.50 bankroll, $207.37 third prize), Gordon Maruya ($132.50 bankroll) and Joe Rotell ($130 bankroll).
Fun in the Sun offers its Final Table format for the fifth straight year and the progressive contest jackpot for 2024 stands at $13,480 with $10,000 seeded by Xpressbet. So far, 20 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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