Plenty of free advice for Kentucky Derby bettors

For years, I have dedicated a column the week before the Kentucky Derby to list many of the special events offered in the valley. This is an offshoot of suggestions I got from some out-of-town readers. They wanted to know what’s going on in advance of arriving in Las Vegas so they could make plans accordingly.

There are so many Kentucky Derby handicapping seminars, and the best part is they’re free. Here they are in chronological order:

■ On Thursday, the Palace Station will host a seminar at 6 p.m. featuring handicapper Gordon Jones, Richie Saber of Gaming Today and Ralph Siraco, host of the radio show “Race Day Las Vegas.”

■ On Friday, five seminars will be offered.

At 4 p.m., Sam’s Town will have a seminar panel of Jerry Jacovitz of Jerry J’s Power Page, Jon Lindo of the Lindo Report, Siraco and Mike Willman, Santa Anita Park publicity director.

At 6 p.m., the South Point will feature John Kelly of eog.com, Patrick McQuiggan of cashiersline.com and the house handicapper at the South Point and Toby Turrell, a noted Southern California clocker.

At 6 p.m., Sunset Station will host a panel starring Brian Blessing of the “Sportsbook” radio show, noted author Steve Davidowitz, Siraco and Dave Valento of The Track Phantom sheet.

At 6 p.m., Gordon Jones and casino horse racing host Tony Vega will share their ideas at Boulder Station.

And at 6:15 p.m., Jerry Jacovitz will be doing a one-man show at Texas Station.

I will be at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn. It will be my 10th year serving as a guest handicapper for the casino’s Kentucky Derby ballroom party. I will be handicapping the Churchill Downs card with Mike Mutnansky, a popular on-air sports personality for WEEI Radio in Boston.

I am aware of two Kentucky Derby ballroom parties on May 2 in the valley. The Orleans and South Point parties have free admission, plus food, drink and gifts can be earned from betting throughout the day.

Station Casinos will offer enriched Twin Quinella pools on Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby days. On May 1, the Twin Quinella will be $10,000, and on May 2, it will be $20,000. You can bet that the Derby will be the second leg of that wager.

There will be giveaways all over the valley of Kentucky Derby hats, shirts and glasses, but they are too numerous to list. I suggest you ask a race book supervisor for giveaway details.

I am sorry to report that the popular Pick the Ponies handicapping tournament will not be offered next week. Hopefully it will return for the Breeders’ Cup this fall.

Meanwhile, Treasure Island will host three separate one-day qualifiers on May 1, 2 and 3 for the 2016 Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship.

On each day, Treasure Island will award to the top four finishers an expenses-paid entry into the 2016 NHC at Treasure Island. A caveat is the winning player must be an NHC Tour member. An NHC Tour card costs $50.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick.