Actually that's kinda a huge misconception about contests- that you need big time racing to make them worthwhile. It actually the opposite of that. Wide open claiming and allowance races are what makes contests so good. Not Grade 1s with 7 horse fields. There have been contests oragnaizers (I'm not pointing the Prairie Meadows people out... nope not them lol) that don't understand this either.
Contests can be run 2 ways IMO- 1 way is to let the individual bettor pick the races he is to bet on (and sometimes even the type of bet and the amount)
The other is for the contest organizers to pick the races, as long as they are finding wide opend races with big fields.
Keeneland runs theres as kind of a mix between the 2, but they do it right- They give you about 10 different tracks you can bet on, any race, and they say "you're making 10 mythical $2 WP bets on any race you want". But only 1 horse per race...
Hoosier's July 4th weekend contest runs theirs like the 2nd example. They pick each race that you'll do (everyone in the contest does all the same races), but they pick good, wide open affairs.
So seriosuly, the calibur of racing might suck in December. But as long as you can find a few wide-open claiming evets, that's all you need to runa good contest. If you're just into betting graded stakes races, I'd say most contests aren't for you.
For additional info, go to DRF.com or you can go to the specific track's webpage to figure it out. As for keeneland they throw in a kick-ass buffet and free drinks (not sure if booze is free, but coffee and soda are).
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