Tom Quigley, Santa Anita simulcast pre-game host and longtime handicapping contest aficionado, has been burning up social media this week ahead of his appearance in Xpressbet’s Beat the Host contest. Week 5 of the 8-week tournament gives you a chance to quiet Quigley and earn your piece of $60,000 in weekly and seasonal prizes.

Congratulations are in order to Ray Barlow, who was the weekly prize winner of $1,000 on January 28 with $132.00 in parimutuel winnings. Walter Calwell continues to lead the seasonal leaderboard with $368 earned, while 20 players remain within $100 of the top spot at the halfway mark in the contest.

So far this season, 582 players have qualified for the March 11 Beat the Host Championship round: 37 in Week 1, 336 in Week 2, 91 in Week 3 and 118 last week. The 18th season of Beat the Host runs through the end of February. Register here.

Beat the Host encompasses 10 races each contest Saturday, split between Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita. The host picks the races, which are published each Friday at Xpressbet.com. Contestants place $5 win bets on the Xpressbet platform for each of the 10 Beat the Host races, earning their parimutuel winnings as well as rising up the leaderboard and potentially topping the experts.

Beat the host’s total once to qualify for the BTH Championship (maximum 2 seats per qualifier). Weekly prizes include $1,000 to the contestant with the highest accumulated dollar total, as well as $750 to second and $250 to third. The March 11 Beat The Host Championship will pit all weekly winning players against one another in pursuit of seats in the lucrative Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge, Xpressbet Santa Anita Derby Challenge and Xpressbet Florida Derby Challenge tournaments.

A sweep the host bonus ($6,500) and season leaderboard champion (Pegasus World Cup Betting Challenge, 1/ST Ultimate Betting Challenge seats) also are in prize play. Through 4 weeks, only 14 players remain eligible to sweep the hosts. Mocked Week 5 host Quigley, “…my sole objective is to end their dream of winning a $6,500 bonus!”

So which hosts stand in your way?

Jan. 7--Jeremy Plonk (1/ST)
Jan. 14--Millie Ball (Santa Anita & XBTV)
Jan. 21—Brian Nadeau (Gulfstream Park)
Jan. 28--Jeff Siegel (1/ST & XBTV)
Feb. 4--Tom Quigley (Santa Anita)
Feb. 11--Ron Nicoletti (Gulfstream Park)
Feb. 18—Michelle Yu (Santa Anita & XBTV)
Feb 25--Eddie Olczyk (1/ST & NBC)

Registration is open: sign up today and play Saturday.