Perhaps unfortunately for the other 600 or so competitors in this weekend’s NHC, Dave “Gambling Actuary” Nichols is coming in hot to Vegas.
We make no guarantees or warranties as to how Nichols will fare at Horseshoe Las Vegas, but we can promise that his couple of months thereafter will be fun and busy. That was assured after this past weekend.
On April 5-6, Nichols will be competing for a purse of at least $350,000 right here at HorseTourneys in the Players Championship. That’s a result of Nichols racking up 5 winners—including Royal Event ($49.80, $15.60) in the 10th at Aqueduct—plus 1 runner up in Saturday’s qualifier to the second leg of the 2025 HorseTourneys Champions Series. Nichols got a seat as did second-place finisher—and fellow Royal Event supporter—Phil Hoedebeck (3 wins, 2 places).
The same picks also brought Nichols a second $2,000 seat—this one to the May 31 Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge.
The only player to top Nichols here was the only other one to crack the century mark, Joe “Tex” Scanio (5 firsts, 1 second). He, too, came up with Royal Event.
It would have been a profitable weekend (and week) for Nichols had he stopped right there. The Gambling Actuary, however, pressed on.
Making optimal use of his many actuarial tables, Nichols picked 4 winners and 3 runners up to take the $1,500 entry in our first qualifier to the March 29 Florida Derby Challenge. His big horse on this day was Horse Be With You ($21.00, $13.60) in the 9th at Aqueduct.
The Horse(s) were also with Nichols in Sunday’s Players Championship qualifier.
Nichols grabbed his second Players Championship in as many days by besting all except Jason Alonzo. The biggest win price all day for Alonzo was a modest $10.20. However, Alonzo made up for that lack of flash by systematically rattling off winner after winner. In all, he had eight!
The featured-tourney week began on Wednesday—when the star of the day was Scott Galica.
Curlins Cruzin ($24.80, $12.40) in the 10th at Parx was among 5 wins and 2 places put up by Galica en route to a victory worth $2,986 in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash game, which closed with a final purse of $6,636.
The same picks also earned Galica an engagement with Dave Nichols, Jason Alonzo, Phil Hoedebeck and others.
That’s because Galica also finished first in Wednesday’s qualifier to the Players Championship—where Galica will get to showcase his All Optional Live skills.
The other marquee game on Wednesday was a Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier.
The recipient of the $3,500 entry here was Seth Morris (5 wins, 1 place). Morris got his sweetest return from Ms. Tart ($16.00, $5.80) in the 8th at Gulfstream.
Thursday’s Players Championship qualifier went to Frank “Plaster of” Paros.
Paros spread out 4 winners plus another smooth layer of 4 runners up on the way to his $2,000 berth. His best decision was Bob’s Decision ($18.80, $7.80) in race 4 at Turf Paradise.
There were lots of mid-priced winners out there on Thursday. One such was Ginger N Speightsy ($21.40, $11.20) in the 9th at Gulfstream.
Kevin Harrell (5 firsts, 1 second) nailed Ginger N Speightsy while accumulating the high score of the day—$104.60. Harrell pocketed $3,732 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final pot of $8,295.
There was a big, final push last week for seats to the upcoming NHC. The first of last week’s eight qualifiers to the big dance was Thursday’s $125 Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers.
Terrence Frank reeled in the seat in this one, thanks to Ginger N Speightsy plus 3 other winners and 2 runners up.
Friday’s NHC qualifier was a $75 affair at HorsePlayers.
On a day in which the biggest win price was $11.00, William Holobowski booked a late passage to Vegas by firing off 5 straight winners at the outset. Later, he got a max, $22.00 place collection from Masterwork, the 46-1 runner up in the 8th at Aqueduct, Holobowski finished with 6 wins and 2 places to carry the day.
Masterwork represented the biggest return of the day for Tim Gavin (2 wins, 3 places).
Gavin accounted for the other Friday feature at HorsePlayers, a $500 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray. His 2 winners came at the very end.
Peter Duca (4 wins, 1 place) and last year’s Pick & Pray Classic champ Mark Stillmock (3W, 3P) garnered the $2,000 entries in Friday’s qualifier to the Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge.
The high-yielder for both players was Makeit to Cheyenne ($11.00, $5.80) in race 8 at Gulfstream.
Scores were low in Friday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier.
The two available $3,500 berths went to Danny Edwards (5 wins, 1 place) and Max Schnepf (3W, 1P after whiffing on the first five races). The heavy lifter for each was Clubhouse ($7.40, $5.50) in race 8 at Aqueduct.
Tom O’Connor (3 wins, 4 places) and Bernard Reilly (4W, 3P) were the two who departed with $2,000 entries in their pocket at the conclusion of Friday’s Players Championship qualifier.
O’Connor’s best payoff came from the Masterwork second-place finish. Reilly’s single biggest push was provided by Clubhouse.
Friday’s HT Tour event was our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which wound up paying out a total of $21,280.
Rich Constantine grabbed the up-top money of $9,576 thanks to his 5 winners and 1 place. His big horse was Makeit to Cheyenne…the day’s 9-2 “bomb”.
On Saturday, money went to money.
This time it was our $10,177 Big Bucks Pick & Pray that Constantine commandeered. His 4 firsts and 2 seconds were led by General Banker ($14.00, $6.30) in the 8th at Aqueduct. After pocketing $7,124 here for a two-day total of $16,700, Constantine may, indeed, have some general banking of his own to do in the upcoming days.
General Banker also supplied the best Saturday return for Joe “Kramer vs.” Kramer (3 wins, 3 places)
Kramer won his case in a restricted, Low Ratio NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers, and he will now present his arguments in a bigger venue…the NHC itself.
Matthew Blanchet swung and missed on the first five contest heats before connecting on a pair of winners and another pair of runners up.
Blanchet got the spot in Saturday’s $210 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. On his scorecard was Royal Event ($49.80, $15.60) in race 10 at Aqueduct.
Another Matthew won the day’s cash feature.
That would be Matthew Trommer, who counted Royal Event among his 2 wins and 2 places. Trommer collected $16,077 for taking Saturday’s HT Tour competition, our $25,000 Guaranteed tourney, which closed its doors with $35,728 in the kitty.
Brian “In like” Flynn is now in the NHC field.
Flynn had 4 winners, including Royal Event, plus 2 places in Saturday’s $165 NHC play-in here at HorseTourneys.
Royal Event was the highest common denominator in the scoresheets of Robert Turner (4 wins, 2 places) and Gary Blair (3W, 0P).
Turner and Blair each picked up $3,500 entries in Saturday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier. Turner’s final score ($111.60) was the day’s best.
Royal Event was one of two Saturday winners for Ron Ferrise.
The Las Vegas resident earned the $10,000 entry in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers.
Our last three NHC qualifiers prior to the 2025 event were offered on Sunday.
It was a case of better late than never for Francis Boustany (5 wins, 1 place) in Sunday’s $210 qualifier at HorsePlayers–an event restricted to those who had yet to secure a 2025 seat. Boustany was rewarded for putting his faith in Horse Be With You ($21.00, $13.60) in race 9 at Aqueduct.
Another believer in Horse Be With You was Nisan Gabbay (4 wins, 2 places).
Gabbay led the way in Sunday’s $165 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.
There were enough entries signed on for two Vegas spots to be distributed in Sunday’s Low Ratio NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.
Stephen Spinelli started fast with 4 straight winners, and he finished the day with 6 wins and 2 places. His best return came courtesy of Atomic Drop ($10.20, $6.40) in the 3rd at Santa Anita. Runner up Donald Wildermuth (4W, 2P) also got a late Vegas seat. He was one of the many Horse Be With You disciples who had a pleasant Sunday.
The other Sunday feature at HorsePlayers was a Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier that was taken by Chris Podratz.
Podratz put up 5 firsts—highlighted by Atomic Drop—and 4 seconds.
Horse Be With You helped Bernard Reilly (5 wins, 3 places) land his second $2,000 seat of the week.
On Friday, it was the $350,000 Gtd. Players Championship, and, on Sunday, it was the Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge for which Reilly earned himself a berth.
Horse Be With You was also with Marc Stateler (5 firsts, 1 second).
Stateler finished atop the leaderboard in Sunday’s qualifier to the April 12 Keeneland Grade One Gamble.
John Kokakis failed to cash in only two of Sunday’s 12 contest races.
Happily for Kokakis, seven of his 10 productive horses were winners—led by Padiddle ($9.20, $4.20) in the 7th at Gulfstream. That’s how Kokakis was able to bank $12,501 in Sunday’s HT Tour battle, our $20,000 Guaranteed tourney, which was ultimately worth a total of $27,781.
Online qualifying is now complete for Thursday’s NHC Last Chance/First Chance Contest in Las Vegas. Here are the players who landed the 43 seats that were awarded from Wednesday to Sunday of the contest week just completed.
Wednesday: Dave Ramold, Phil Jorgensen, Seth Morris, Rex Robinson and Dylan McIntosh
Thursday: Dennis Tiernan, Kris Andaur, Gary Wright, Anthony Rallo, Ciaran Thornton and Frank Paros
Friday: Josh Thorpe, Jason Avila, Dave Ramold, John Vail, Jim Sebes (2 seats), Mike Elsass, Rich Gesiakowski and Ellen Patrick-Leavell
Saturday: Josh Citron, Jason Matron, Luke Peltz, Steven Schmidt, Patrick Runyan, Siva Shankar Vellanki (2 seats), Kevin Cornett and Victor Pasquariello
Sunday: Dan Richards, Scott Cavalieri, Eddie Inman, Bernard Reilly Dave Nichols, Randy de la Gardelle, Raymond Gallant Jr., Paul Kloeker, Siva Shankar Vellanki, Sean O’Malley, Vincent Easley, Don Allen, Patrick Cronin and John Vail
To the many, many HorseTourneys players who will be competing this week at the NHC, we sincerely wish you good luck and good fun. Bring back some money!
And when you get back, we’ll be ready with some qualifiers for 2026. Safe travels to all.
