Jay Johns, the 2022 NHC Tour champion, had an excellent start to the featured-tourney week. The recently retired president of IHOP also had a rooty tooty fresh n’ fruity finish to it.
On Wednesday, Johns picked four winners, including Escape Key ($19.60, $8.80) in race in the 9th at Tampa Bay Downs.
Jay’s grand slam…err…four bagger…got him a $2,000 entry into the $350,000 Gtd. Players Championship here on April 5-6.
Johns enjoyed another sumptuous and filling experience to close out the week on Sunday.
Johns hit what was by far the biggest price of the day in Clarina ($33.40, $8.80) in the first contest race, the 2nd at Santa Anita. He supplemented that main course with one other winner and four place payoffs to capture the $10,000 seat in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.
While Johns had to wait three days between victories, Gary Blair was not so patient.
Blair’s best return on Thursday came in the day’s final contest heat, the 9th at Gulfstream, with Light Forever ($14.80, $6.80). The late score shot Blair to the top of the standings in the day’s Players Championship qualifier.
The next day, Blair focused on the Keeneland Grade One Gamble.
Again, the final contest race was good to Blair. That’s where he found his only winner, a 7-2 shot. Prior to that, though, he recorded four place collections, including a pair of max $22.00 payoffs. It all added up to $67.40 and a $3,500 berth in the popular April 12 tournament.
Like Gary Blair, Ilan Cuellar also emerged victorious on back-to-back days.
Also like Gary Blair, Cuellar (3 wins, 2 places) will now be competing in the Keeneland Grade One Gamble. That after defeating all but Tim Darnell (4W, 1P) in the Saturday play-in to it. Darnell’s big horse was Flood Zone ($31.60, $10.80) in the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct. Cuellar’s was Capture the Flag ($35.80, $13.20) in the MacDiarmida Stakes at Gulfstream.
The second step in Cuellar’s two-step path to success was an appropriate one.
It came in Sunday’s qualifier to the April 5 Texas Two Step Championship at Sam Houston Race Park, which is not far from Cuellar’s home. Cuellar authored a complete-game, two-hitter here. The two “hits” were Clarina plus one runner-up. Apparently the wind was blowing in for this one as Cuellar was the only player among the 13 competitors to turn a flat-bet profit.
It was a hectic time around here last week with 32 featured tourneys (plus another 12 NHC Last Chance/First Chance qualifiers). The first of those features took place on Wednesday.
Bob Schreiter (3 wins, 5 places) had a deeply gratifying experience in the 8th at Gulfstream with Soulmate ($18.80, $10.60). Schreiter pocketed the up-top money of $3,515 in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, which closed with a final purse of $7,811.
Last year’s Pick & Pray Classic champ (and HT Grand Slam series champ as well) Mark Stillmock hit a big one on Wednesday with Runandscore ($60.20, $21.40) in the 9th at Parx.
That’s how Stillmock (3 firsts, 1 second) earned a $3,500 spot in the April 12 Keeneland Grade One Gamble. His score of $112.00 was the day’s best.
On Thursday, Thomas Piotrowski reeled off five consecutive winners.
He finished the day with 6 firsts and 2 seconds, and he snagged the $4,417 grand prize in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a pot of $9,815. Piotrowski’s top return came with Khali Magic ($15.60, $5.70) in race 7 at Aqueduct.
Another Khali Magic backer was Chris Goodall.
Khali Magic was the last of four winners picked by Goodall in Thursday’s special $125 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. Goodall began the day in style by nailing each of the first three contest races.
Friday’s NHC qualifier, a $75 affair at HorsePlayers, was won via tiebreaker.
The happy $69.60 scorer was Henry Conte, whose 4 wins and 2 places included Better Than Better ($13.00, $6.80) in the 6th at Gulfstream and Strapped ($17.00, $5.40) in the 6th at the Big A. The unhappy $69.60 scorer was Matt Malley, who had two winners to Conte’s four.
Brian “BC” Chenvert also smoked out both Better Than Better and Strapped.
Chenvert (3 firsts, 2 seconds) earned a seat on Friday to…what else?…the BCBC in the Low Ratio qualifier held at HorsePlayers.
Rafael Lopez picked 6 winners on Friday, headed by Better Than Better.
Lopez failed to see the merits in Strapped, but at least he won’t be strapped for cash. Lopez was the victor in Friday’s HT Tour test, our $15,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray, which ultimately paid out a total of $22,942. Lopez’s winner’s share came to $10,324.
Neither Joseph Zuer (2 wins, 2 places) nor 2023 HT Tour champion Ed Peters (2W, 1P) missed out on Strapped.
Zuer and Peters claimed the $2,000 scholarships in Friday’s entrance exam to the Players Championship.
Dr. Ronald Tang (1 win, 2 places) hit a 7-2 winner at the end and a $22.00 max place collection before that.
Tang was the only player to show a flat-bet profit in Friday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier, and he came away with the $2,000 entry for it.
It took triple-digit scores to succeed in Saturday’s Pick Your Prize play-in.
Rick “I-65” Broth (5 wins, 1 place) and NHC Hall of Famer Dennis Decauwer (3W, 2P) were the only two players to reach those heights. They both connected with Capture the Flag ($35.80, $13.20) in race 14 at Gulfstream, the MacDiarmida Stakes. (All 12 contest races on Saturday were stakes.)
Capture the Flag was a popular pick among those who won NHC seats on Saturday.
Tom Boyd had the MacDiarmida winner among his 5 wins and 2 places in Saturday’s $165 Pick & Pray here at HorseTourneys.
Derek Dickson (4 wins, 3 places) had Capture the Flag over at HorsePlayers.
Dickson took Saturday’s $210 NHC qualifier with a score of $100.70 in the field of 80.
The winning score was even higher in Saturday’s 26-entry, Low Ratio NHC qualifier.
Noel Kudla (6 firsts, 1 second) posted the gaudy score of $108.40 in scooping up this seat. He, too, had Capture the Flag.
Tom O’Connor not only had Capture the Flag…he also came up with Flood Zone ($31.60, $10.80) in the Gotham Stakes.
O’Connor banked the first-place money of $15,523 in our richest tourney of the week, our $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour event), which closed its doors with $34,496 in the kitty.
Troy Cameron (2 wins, 3 places) and Dale Hatfield (3W, 3P) got the $2,000 seats in Saturday’s Players Championship qualifier.
Cameron scored nicely with Flood Zone. Hatfield had Capture the Flag. However, to get up for second, Hatfield needed 3-5 Big Cap winner Locked in the final contest heat.
Michael Caposio’s lone Saturday winner among four collections was Flood Zone in the Gotham.
Caposio pocketed $7,836 for capturing Saturday’s $11,195 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.
Sunday was another day of frenetic, eleventh-hour qualifying for the NHC.
Jose Giron hit Clarina ($33.40, $8.80) in the 2nd at Santa Anita plus 2 other winners and 3 runners up to earn passage to Vegas in Sunday’s $165 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.
Giron used the same picks to land one of the three available seats in Sunday’s Players Championship play-in.
Giron finished behind Steven Meier (3 wins, 4 places) and just ahead of Paul Fishman (2W, 1P). Like almost all of Sunday’s successful selectors, Meier, Giron and Fishman all used Clarina.
Steven Meier didn’t score as highly in Sunday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier…but he took home a seat in that battle as well.
Meier (2 wins, 2 place here) bested all except Michael Simon (3 wins, 3 places). Simon’s three winners (including Clarina) came in the first three contest races.
Sunday’s most well compensated Clarina backer was Rob Henie (4 wins, 3 places).
Henie bagged $13,682 for prevailing in Sunday’s HT Tour skirmish, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which wound up paying out a total of $30,406.
Clarina helped Pat Camacho secure a late NHC seat.
The Santa Anita race 2 15-1 shot was part of a 3-win, 1-place day for Camacho in Sunday’s $210 qualifier at HorsePlayers—an event restricted to those who had yet to obtain a 2025 NHC seat.
Finishing a close second (and third) to Camacho was Cara Yarusso. She had better luck in the day’s Low Ratio NHC qualifier.
Boy, did she ever! Yarusso (5 wins, 3 places) not only posted the top score among the three Sunday NHC qualifiers in this 31-entry play-in, she put up the highest score ($103.50) of the entire day. So often, these Low Ratio games seem to showcase higher scores than one might expect given the entry count.
In Sunday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier, Jeff Higgins (4 wins, 1 place) and Todd “American” Faro (3W, 4P) walked off with the $2,000 berths.
Faro’s second-place finish is extra notable here. He was the only player to earn a grand prize on Sunday without having Clarina. Faro’s best return of the day came with Corruption ($16.80, $8.40) in the 10th at Gulfstream.
We’ve now reached the point where we can say that the NHC is coming up THIS month. So is the NHC Last Chance/First Chance Contest. During the past seven days, another 43 seats to the NHC Last Chance/First Chance Contest were earned. Here are the latest to advance to NHC Eve via $59 qualifiers here:
Monday: Angelo Partipelo III
Tuesday: Mike Gillum, Devanathan Murugesan
Wednesday: Jeff Tracy, Mark Richards, William Claunch, James Lafferty, Gary Gristick and Sean O’Malley.
Thursday: Mario St. Pierre, Steve Hendricks, Jeff Tracy, Steven Schmidt, Kevin Engelhard and Dave Ramold
Friday: Craig White, John Behnke, Joseph Zuer, Ed Peters, Dave Ramold, Dino Herrera, William Inman and Jimmie O’Nail
Saturday: Noel Kudla, Dan Richards, Phil Hoedebeck, Steven Schmidt, Bob Montgomery, Mike Abernathy, Gary Johnson, George Novick and Karol Mannarino
Sunday: David Alexander, Karen Richards, Kris Andaur, Joseph Rumfolo, Joe Kasperski, Raul Sanchez, Robert Grace, Frank Polk, Mark Rudy, Joseph Zuer and Tyler Smith
After a long year, next weekend is the final one in which to qualify for the NHC and the NHC Last Chance/First Chance Contest. So enter now or forever hold your peace (until the 2026 NHC anyway). In the meantime, we’ll also offer our usual array of cash games and qualifiers to other important tournaments. Whether you play this coming week or not, we thank you very much for being a part of the week just completed.
