It’s obviously very early still in 2025, but key pushes in the HorseTourneys Tour standings can absolutely come at any point in the year. Take, for example, the exploits this past week of Darryl Lacy.
Lacy counted Pure Elegance ($40.00, $13.40) in the 6th at Tampa among the 4 wins and 1 place that earned him $9,351 in Friday’s $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray—an HT Tour event that closed with a final purse of $20,781.
Twenty-four hours later, Lacy showed that he can do well in Live-format games too.
Lacy picked three winners on Saturday. In the win hole, they returned $52.00, $39.20 and $27.20. The best of the bunch was Petite Treat ($52.00, $13.20) in the opener at Santa Anita. Lacy’s gaudy trio brought him another big payday—this one worth $17,186—in our richest tourney of the week, our $25,000 Guaranteed game, which was ultimately worth a total of $38,192.
Lacy will no doubt appreciate the 20-plus points he shall receive in the HT Tour standings for his twin victories. We bet he will appreciate even more, however, the $26,537 now sitting in his HorseTourneys account.
Lacy didn’t win all of last week’s HT Tour events. Sunday’s was captured by Gary Machiz.
Machiz nailed half of the races in our 12-heat, $20,000 Guaranteed tourney. The biggest price in his six-pack was Magnolia Prime ($19.20, $7.80) in race 8 at Gulfstream. That’s how Machiz collected the winner’s share of $12,796 in an HT Tour battle that closed with a pot of $28,437.
It truly was a Super Sunday for Machiz.
He also led the way in the day’s qualifier to the $350,000 Gtd. Players Championship here on April 5-6. Joining Machiz in Leg 2 of the 2025 HorseTourneys Champions Series will be the second- and third-place finishers Brandon Leigh (6 wins, 4 places) and 2024 Flo-Cal Faceoff champion Michael Solakis (6W, 3P). Like Machiz, Solakis backed Magnolia Prime. The best return for Leigh—who has been white hot of late—came via a max $22.00 place payoff.
Our featured-tourney week commenced on Wednesday. Similar to Darryl Lacy on Saturday, Mike Lazarus selected three winners during the day—and they all paid boxcars.
Lazarus (3 firsts, 1 second) hit Beautiful Score ($43.20, $9.00) in the 7th at Mahoning Valley, plus winners that returned $38.00 and $26.40. That prowess gave Lazarus the beautiful score of $148.40—and $3,017—in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, which closed its doors with $6,705 in the kitty.
Thursday’s featured cash game went to Michael Slanina (4 wins, 2 places).
Slanina’s winning total was most powerfully fueled by Mobil Memory ($16.60, $6.40) in race 7 at Mahoning Valley Race Course. His victory was worth $3,919 in a $6,000 Guaranteed game that finished up with a prize pool of $8,709.
On Friday, William Haliziw (4 wins, 0 places), Matthew Filios (3W, 1P), Steven Meier (2W, 1P) and Sam “Split” Sample (3W, 0P) became the first four players to win qualifying spots in the $350,000 Gtd. Players Championship.
All four players nailed 19-1 Pure Elegance in race 6 at Tampa Bay Downs.
As a matter of fact, all of our Friday grand-prize winners had Pure Elegance on their scorecards.
First-place finisher Larry David (5 wins, 4 places), runner up Mike Elsass (4W, 3P) and 4th-place contestant Spencer Multack (5W, 0P) earned Vegas berths in Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. Third-place finisher G.T. Nixon did not receive an NHC seat because he was already double-qualifier…not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Tim Kindlon picked 4 winners in the other Friday feature at HorsePlayers.
Kindlon picked up an early $10,000 seat in Friday’s Low Ratio qualifier to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.
Back here at HorseTourneys, three players landed $3,500 entries in Friday’s play-in to the April 12 Keeneland Grade One Gamble.
Congratulations to Stephen Lerma (4 double-digit winners, 0 places), Curtis Meyer (4W, 0P) and 2023 Spa & Surf Showdown champ Anthony Spinazzola.
Time is drawing short to qualify for the Tampa Bay Downs Last Chance/First Opportunity beginning a week from Friday on-track in Oldsmar, Fla.
Larry Smitley (2 wins, 2 places) and John Nespolini (2W, 1P) will both be there as representatives of the Pure Elegance Fan Club. Perhaps Margo Flynn can arrange a barn visit for them.
A big winner on Saturday was Jose Giron.
Giron (3 wins, 1 place) scored big with Win With Faith ($40.80, $14.00) in the final contest race, the 12th at Gulfstream. Giron thereby earned a $1,000 seat in Saturday’s Tampa Bay Downs Last Chance/First Opportunity qualifier.
Giron also put his final-race fireworks on display over at HorsePlayers.
Here, Giron punched his ticket to Vegas by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in Saturday’s NHC Low Ratio qualifier—a tourney that was restricted to those who had yet to earn a 2025 seat.
Dr. Ronald Tang (3 wins, 0 places) and Nathaniel Gines (4W, 2P) both enjoyed big finishes with Win With Faith.
Tang and Gines ran one-two in Saturday’s Players Championship qualifier—a competition that also saw third-place finisher Kevin Engelhard (3 wins, 4 places) pick up a $2,000 entry. Engelhard’s big horse was Ridgewood Runner ($39.20, $20.40) in race 8 at Aqueduct. Ridgewood Runner was only the third-highest win price of the day on Saturday behind 25-1 Petite Treat and 19-1 Win With Faith. However, Ridgewood Runner provided the best overall win-place return for HT contest purposes thanks to his hefty place price of $20.80.
William “23” Sadoo also enjoyed the robust place (and win) returns of Ridgewood Runner.
Sadoo picked 5 winners in all en route to a triumph worth $7,836 in Saturday’s $11,195 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.
Becky Mulligan came up with both Ridgewood Runner and Win With Faith.
Mulligan earned a low-cost Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entry in Saturday’s $179 qualifier at HorsePlayers.
It was a busy Saturday at HorsePlayers with three featured tourneys. The one we haven’t gotten to yet was an open, $210 NHC qualifier.
Patrick “Gino” Gianforte (3 wins, 3 places) and Daniel Fischer (2W, 1P) came away with the Vegas packages in this one. Gianforte had Win With Faith at the finish. Fischer’s two winners were of the bookend variety—Petite Treat at the beginning and Win With Faith at the end.
Big prices were in less abundance on Super Bowl Sunday. True bombs were nowhere to be found (similar to the Kansas City offensive line). The largest win payoff of the day was provided by Magnolia Prime ($19.20, $7.80) in the 8th at Gulfstream. Kevin Willett played Magnolia Prime…
…and Willett (5 wins, 2 places) earned the $10,000 entry in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier.
Rick Leoni (3 wins, 2 places) also smoked out Magnolia Prime.
Leoni got himself a place in the big dance by prevailing in Sunday’s NHC Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.
The two players to crack the $90.00 plateau were the two to exit with the Vegas spots in Sunday’s $165 NHC qualifier here at HorseTourneys.
Congrats to Daniel Bergen (7 wins, 2 places) and Tim Gavin (5W, 1P). The biggest payoff for Bergen during his impressive display of consistency came from Cajun Gem ($14.40, $6.80) in the 8th at Tampa. Gavin took the somewhat more conventional route of having Magnolia Prime.
NHC Hall of Famer Steve Wolfson Jr. (4 wins, 3 places) and Mike Klodnicki (4W, 2P) were the $1,000-entry recipients at the conclusion of Sunday’s Tampa Bay Downs Last Chance/First Opportunity qualifier.
Wolfson connected with Magnolia Prime, while Klodnicki’s Sunday star was Cajun Gem.
Magnolia Prime was the first of four consecutive winners picked by Rich Pawlowski.
To that quartet, Pawlowski added three runners up, and he took the top spot in Sunday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier. Second place—and the other $3,500 seat—went to the only other player to top the $80.00 mark (or the $70.00 mark, for that matter), Evan Trommer. For Trommer, the high-yielder of the day among 6 firsts and 2 seconds was Up Her Sleeve ($13.40, $6.80) in race 9 at Tampa.
The roster of entrants in the NHC Last Chance/First Chance Contest increased by 42 last week. Here are the most recent players to have their reservations confirmed for the big room on NHC Eve in Las Vegas:
Monday: Myles Richards, Matt Weikel
Tuesday: Mike Gillum, Louie Ucciferri
Wednesday: Robert Fry, Gregg Kingma, Chick Matties, Stanley Bavlish and Myles Richards
Thursday: William Inman, John Vogel, Rafael Lopez, Brian Chenvert and Myles Richards
Friday: Curtis Meyer (3 seats), Kenny Peck, Daven Turner, Devanathan Murugesan, Mark Richards, Michele McSweeney and Kris Andaur
Saturday: Christopher Ahl, Jose Giron, Anthony Rallo, Mark Heider, Russell Wilkes, Paul Kloeker (2 seats), Myles Richards and Edward Wright
Sunday: Evan Trommer (2 seats), Joe Johnson, Kevin Spain, Dan Piazza, Gregg Kingma, John Foster, Phil Hoedebeck, Robert Dawson and Joshua Taarud.
It is interesting to note that Myles Richards earned $500 NHC Eve seats on four different days last week—right on the heels of him earning $27,000 for finishing 3rd in the Flo-Cal Faceoff. And on one of the rare days last week when Myles failed, his brother Mark succeeded.
Racing is often more enjoyable when it’s a family affair. But even if you’re the only member of your clan interested in racing, we’re glad that you’re part of the HorseTourneys family. We’ll set a place for you at the table this week in case you’d like to drop in again. It will be an extended holiday weekend coming up with Presidents Day on Monday. So that means the next “Weekly Recap” will come your way on Tuesday. Until then…good luck!
