Dave “Gambling Actuary” Nichols picked 4 winners and 1 runner up across the 12-race featured schedule on Sunday. One of his victors was a whopper—Go Jocelyn Go ($52.00, $26.80) in the 9th at Tampa Bay Downs. The final scoring total for Nichols was $101.20.
That total wasn’t the highest of the day. A small handful of players did better. But no one accomplished more with what they had, thanks to Nichols’s aggressive multi-tabling.
The biggest prize for Nichols came in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers. It was far from his only prize, however.
Dave Nichols and Kevin Willett (5 wins, 3 places) ran one-two in Sunday’s Tampa Bay Downs Last Chance/First Opportunity qualifier. So the two of them will be on the apron in Oldsmar, Fla., on Feb. 21-22.
Willett took an unconventional route to Sunday success. He missed out on cap horse Go Jocelyn Go. Instead, he pieced things together with 5 wins and 3 places that were highlighted by Ghost Stalker ($12.80, $4.60) in race 7 at Tampa.
Nichols and Willett were separated by $34.40…yet they finished first and second yet again in Sunday’s qualifier to the $250,000 Gtd. Flo-Cal Faceoff (now just a couple of weeks away).
This was a “five-seater” in which Nichols and Willett led a group of $1,500 seat winners that included Chris Bertolucci (6 wins, 0 places), Bruce Rossi (4W, 2P) and—by 20 cents—2020 Spa & Surf Showdown champion Scott Fiedler (3W, 2P).
One of the few who outscored Nichols on Sunday was Jay Coatta.
Coatta’s only winner among five collections was Go Jocelyn Go. He finished with a tally of $104.20 in Sunday’s Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship qualifier, which also saw Nichols and two-time NHC Tour champ Joseph “Kevin” Costello garner $6,500 packages for this Saturday.
Another whose “tables” were even sounder than those of the Gambling Actuary on Sunday was Bryan Millang (5 firsts, 2 seconds).
Go Jocelyn Go helped propel Millang to a score of $116.60, which was best in Sunday’s HT Tour event, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which ultimately paid out a total of $28,656. Millang received $12,895 of that pool, but it was still another good result for Nichols, who received $5,158 for reporting home in second place.
It may have seemed like a rounding error on Sunday for Nichols, but he also got a $500 NHC Last Chance/First Chance seat during the day. All together, Nichols amassed $24,658 in cash and seats—to the BCBC, Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship, Flo-Cal Faceoff, Tampa Bay Downs Last Chance/First Opportunity Contest and NHC Last Chance/First Chance Tournament.
Now if Nichols can have another strong day or two from among those five upcoming challenges/championships/chances/opportunites, then he’ll really have reason to look back on January 19th as a day to remember and cherish.
For Brandon Leigh, such a day might turn out to be Saturday, January 18.
Whether you are an NHC rookie or an NHC fixture like Sally Goodall or David Stiles, the day in which you qualify for a given year’s NHC is always special. And so it was for Brandon Leigh (7 wins, 1 place), who swept the final four races and captured Saturday’s NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers—a game restricted to those who had yet to nail down a 2025 seat.
What made Leigh’s Saturday truly noteworthy, though, is that he accomplished something that I bet not even Goodall or Stiles have done—he won two NHC seats in one day.
That is, of course, no knock on Goodall or Stiles (each an NHC Hall of Famer). In fact, NTRA rules make it close to impossible to do so, since you can win no more than one seat in any given qualifier. However, there is no rule against winning seats in two different qualifiers in one day—and that’s certainly easier to do online on one set of races, as Leigh did by virtue of finishing second to Francis Drew (6 wins, 1 place) in Saturday’s open, $210 NHC play-in at HorsePlayers.
It goes without saying that whenever the NTRA elects to schedule more than one online qualifier in a single day, they are increasing the likelihood of someone winning two berths in one fell swoop.
Just ask Michael McEvoy.
Even before the leftover champagne in the Leigh household had a chance to go flat, McEvoy achieved the very same feat! Similar to Leigh, McEvoy finished second (to Razorback Tanya Taylor) in one NHC qualifier, an open $165 battle, and first in the other, which was a Low Ratio test at HorsePlayers. Unlike Leigh, McEvoy (3 wins, 2 places) used the exact same picks in both of his victories.
The featured-tourney week began on Wednesday—back when Brandon Leigh and Michael McEvoy had no NHC seats–and when Rich Constantine woke up $3,203 poorer than he went to bed that night.
That’s the amount that Constantine (3 wins, 2 places) collected for taking Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which closed with a final purse of $7,119. His top return came courtesy of Eddie W ($21.80, $8.20) in the 9th at Parx.
Eddie W was also good to Chris W.
That’s Chris Weikel, to be specific. Weikel (3 wins, 1 place) led a trio of $1,500 seat winners in Wednesday’s Flo-Cal Faceoff qualifier. Also landing spots in the big-money game here on February 1-2 were second- and third-place finishers Jim “Never” Settle (3W, 1P) and million-dollar man Michael Beychok (2W, 3P). The heavy lifter for both Settle and the NHC Hall of Famer was Chelsea Wall ($15.60, $10.00) in race 10 at Parx.
Three more players added their names on Thursday to the roster of participants in the Flo-Cal Faceoff.
Congratulations to Mark Richards (5 wins, 2 places), Ronald Guffee (5W, 3P) and Raul Pantoja (5W, 2P), who were clearly deserving seat recipients. They were the only three contestants to score in the 100s (or the 90s or the 80s, for that matter).
Richards, Guffee and Pantoja (who swept the first 5 races) all came up with Nitti ($36.00, $13.60) in race 1 at Santa Anita. So did inaugural Pick & Pray Classic champion Mark Stillmock.
Stillmock added another $4,168 to his coffers after prevailing in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final pot of $9,262.
Friday’s cash-game feature, a $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray that doubled as an HT Tour competition, went to Raj Satyan (3 wins, 1 place) by a slim, 40-cent margin.
Satyan bagged $8,603 for edging Steve “Let them eat” Cakebread, who had to settle for $3,441 out of what was a final prize pool of $19,118. The big horse for each was bomb Landauer ($80.50, $18.60) in the 9th at Aqueduct.
The same picks also landed Satyan on top of the leaderboard in Friday’s Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship qualifier.
This time, Satyan’s margin of victory was a bulky-by-comparison $5.40 over fellow $6,500 package winner Timothy “If it ain’t” Brokl (3 wins, 0 places). Rocky Hardy (2W, 1P) also got a Pegasus scholarship for coming in 3rd. After starting the day off in Mark Andrews-like fashion, Hardy made collections in each of the final three races to make his successful late push for 3rd.
Jeff Bussan (3 wins, 0 places), Kevin Engelhard (1W, 3P) and 2024 HT Tour champion Eric “Skeet” Boyd (2W, 0P) all smoked out Landauer.
That trio will be doing battle against each other (and many others) again in a couple of weeks, utilizing paid-up entries in the Flo-Cal Faceoff.
Landauer was also common to the scorecards of Shilo Merwitz (4 wins, 2 places), Chris McDonald (4W, 1P) and Brian “BC” Chenvert (3W, 2P).
Merwitz, McDonald and Chenvert were the three players to crack triple figures and the three to emerge with NHC spots in Friday’s $75 qualifier at HorsePlayers. Merwitz’s score—$119.10—was Friday’s best.
John Merola (3 wins, 5 places) snagged the $1,000 entry in Friday’s play-in to the Tampa Bay Downs Last Chance/First Opportunity Contest.
For Merola, the primary stepping stone to victory was Notmysteppingstone ($16.80, $6.80) in race 7 at Aqueduct.
Notmysteppingstone was also the high-yielder for Ciaran Thornton (4 firsts, 2 seconds).
Thornton earned a $1,000 place in the Houston Betting Championship, to be hosted Saturday on-track at Sam Houston.
Notmysteppingstone was the best of five Friday winners picked by Terrence Frank.
Frank scored a $22.40 victory in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.
Basil DeVito was a big winner on Saturday.
DeVito (6 wins, 1 place) and Chip Armbruster (5W, 1P) both hit Devil Among Us ($18.20, $4.60) in the 6th at Santa Anita en route to $6,500 packages in Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship qualifier.
DeVito was also one of five players to grab $1,500 Flo-Cal Faceoff entries on Saturday.
DeVito topped all but first-place finisher Steve “The Admiral” Nemetz, whose 5 wins and 4 places were led—and climaxed by—Shocking Grey ($19.00, $5.60) in the final contest race, the 7th at Santa Anita. Also advancing to the two-day Flo-Cal Faceoff were 3rd-place contestant Shirley Wolff (4W, 2P), the still-hot Troy Johnson (4W, 1P) and Mike Lazarus (3W, 2P). Wolff, Johnson and Lazarus also greatly appreciated the final-contest-race heroics of Shocking Grey.
One of the Houston area’s best horseplayers won a spot on Saturday in the Houston Betting Championship.
We refer to 2022 HT Tour champion (and 2024 HT Tour runner up) Jorge Cruz-Aedo, who counted Shocking Great among his 3 winners and 2 places.
Robert Hannon swept the first 3 Saturday races, including a hit with Ninja Star ($14.20, $7.00) in race 6 at Gulfstream.
Hannon finished with 6 wins and a place on the day—good for a score of $94.50 and a payday of $14,691 in our richest tourney of the week, our $25,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray, which was an HT Tour event that ultimately paid out $32,648.
Saturday’s other featured cash game was our $10,177 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.
Jim Trepinski had Ninja Star plus two other winners and two runners up to claim the up-top money of $7,124.
Devil Among Us was a pillar of strength for Shawn Pilar.
Pilar put up 3 firsts and 2 seconds on the way to winning Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers.
Devil Among Us was also a springboard to success for Evan Trommer (5 wins, 3 places) in Saturday’s Tampa Bay Downs Last Chance/First Opportunity qualifier.
Second-place finisher Joe “Tex” Scanio (3W, 2P) got the other available $1,000 Tampa seat in this one. He had a big finish with Shocking Grey.
It was a nice weekend for Scanio. Amid all of the winning done by Dave Nichols, Kevin Willett, Michael McEvoy , Bryan Millang and others on Sunday, it was Scanio who recorded the day’s highest score—$123.40.
The gaudy number was built on 5 winners (including 25-1 cap horse Go Jocelyn Go) and 2 runners up, and it brought Scanio a $1,500 entry in this Saturday’s Houston Betting Championship.
Monday was a big day for 2024 NHC Hall of Fame inductee Brett Wiener.
Santa Anita was the only one of our scheduled tracks with warm enough weather to operate, and Wiener took advantage of that by having the day’s biggest-priced winner at The Great Race Place—Duran ($19.40, $11.60) in the 9th. Between Duran and Wiener’s 4 other winners and 3 runners up, it was “No mas” for his opposition in Monday’s $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray. Wiener raked in $8,154 in an HT Tour game that closed with a pot of $18,121.
Wiener also led a gang of five that earned Flo-Cal Faceoff berths.
The other four were Bruce Rossi (6 winners, including 5 in a row), Daniel Fischer (2 wins, 3 places), Larry Smitley (2W, 2P) and Max Schnepf (5W, 1P).
Time’s running out to win places in this Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship, but Ron Bowden and Rick Vasquez both got in under the deadline.
Bowden (5 wins, 0 places) and Vasquez (6W, 1P) both benefited from the victory of Knightwithlouis ($17.60, $6.60) in Monday’s race 7 at the Arcadia, Calif., oval.
It was the most robust week yet of NHC Last Chance/First Chance qualifying with 67 seats being awarded. Here are the people who added their names to the NHC Eve guest list during the last eight days:
Monday (Jan. 13): Tarik Koutchaf, G.T. Nixon
Tuesday: G.T. Nixon, Jason Phillips
Wednesday: Dave Weaver, Jim Murphy, Todd Faro, William Claunch, Jim Settle, Kevin Willett, Chris Weikel, Matt Weikel, Joseph Rumfolo and Vinny Politano.
Thursday: Zachary Agamenoni, Tim Smith, Gene Cahalan, Brandon Leigh, Dave Nichols, Michael Caposio, Matthew Blanchet, William McMillan (2 seats), Frank Story, Tarik Koutchaf and Branson Cambra.
Friday: Jeff Bussan, Michael Kavana, Pete Acocella, Ryan Tyreman, G.T. Nixon, William Claunch, Robert Vitale Jr., Dylan McIntosh, Terry Bollom and Matthew Blanchet.
Saturday: Colten Jorgensen, G.T. Nixon (2 seats), Evan Trommer, Terence Channon, Judy Wagner, Amber Pereira, Joe Scanio, Christopher Ahl, Frank Story and Ryan Tyreman.
Sunday: Joe Scanio, Dave Nichols, John Vogel, Tammy Johns, Kevin Willett, Rick Vasquez, Brett Wiener, Anthony Spinazzola, Michael Mainzer, Jason Albano and Brian Feldman.
Monday (Jan. 20): Brett Wiener, Britton Smith, Todd Faro, Larry Smitley, Chris Inman, John Foster, Jimmie O’Nail, Rick Vasquez and Steve Stange.
Congratulations to all of last week’s winners and good luck to the many HorseTourneys qualifiers who will be competing on Saturday in the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship and Houston Betting Championship. It certainly figures to be an excellent week of racing ahead. The “Weekly Recap” will be going on a one-week hiatus next week, so apologies in advance for the lack of “ink” afforded this coming week’s victors. We’ll be back with more “summaries of successes” on Monday, February 3. Hope to see you here then.
