Saturday seemed like one of those days where you just needed to remain patient—because if you missed the longshot that just came in, another one was going to hit shortly.
Five of the day’s 12 contest winners paid $20.00 or more in the win hole—and since this was a Pick & Pray weekend around here, it meant that if you were hot, you could have an extra nice day. Just ask Thomas McClenin.
McClenin registered the highest score of the day—and week—and, fittingly, he captured our richest tourney of the preceding seven days…our $25,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray, which wound up with a final purse of $32,956. Along the way to what was a payday of $14,830, he somehow came up with four of the five $20.00+ horses, including Bold Advance ($54.20, $17.00) in race 8 at Gulfstream.
The high-odds-yet-high-strike-rate day also yielded McClenin a seat in next month’s NHC.
Also landing a Vegas package in this $210 Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers was runner up Rick Bengson (4 firsts, 2 seconds).
You’d think that Bold Advance would have been the day’s most common springboard to success, but that wasn’t the case. That “honor” belonged to Tiznow Mama ($40.80, $16.60) who took the final contest race of the day, the 6th at Santa Anita. Bengson nailed both Bold Advance and Tiznow Mama.
And so did Vineet Sharma.
Sharma picked 3 winners on the road to victory in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers.
That same swift trio also put Sharma in the winner’s circle of Saturday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier.
Also earning a $3,500 Keeneland seat here was runner up Curtis Meyer. Like Sharma, Meyer also correctly predicted the outcome of three races. Meyer’s “chalkiest” winner paid $26.40.
McClenin and Sharma weren’t the week’s only double victors. Lone Star Park’s Brandon Leigh has been on a tear of late. Not long ago, he capitalized on the NTRA’s high-volume scheduling to grab two NHC entries here in one day. On Presidents Day, Leigh certainly had to feel like a commander-in-chief…or at least a boss…by adding two more high-end seats to his portfolio.
Cold weather around the country turned our Monday featured schedule into a Santa Anita, single-track deal. For the first nine races on the Arcadia, Calif., 10-race card, the highest winning odds were 7-2. The nightcap, however, was taken by Got Soul ($38.80, $6.20), making that horse a veritable prerequisite for Monday success. Leigh (3 wins, 2 places) managed to get Got Soul, and he bagged the $10,000 entry in the day’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.
In Monday’s qualifier to the Players Championship, Dylan Donnelly (5 wins, 1 place) and Leigh each backed Got Soul at the end.
That brought them both $2,000 entries to the second leg of the five-leg 2025 HorseTourneys Champions Series. The Players Championship, to be contested in All-Optional Live format, is a $350,000 Guaranteed, all-cash event here on April 5-6.
The featured-tourney fun got started on Wednesday, when Ed Fletcher accounted for the first featured cash game of Presidents Day week.
Fletcher (3 wins, 4 places) can afford many, many rides on the subway after doping out Change at Jamaica ($20.00, $10.00) in the 9th at Gulfstream. Fletcher pocketed $2,955 for showing the way in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, which closed with a final pot of $6,566.
Michael Caposio (3 wins, 2 places) played Change at Jamaica, but for Dr. Ronald Tang, the big Wednesday horse was E Miner ($15.20, $6.40) in race 9 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Tang (4W, 2P) and Caposio ran one-two, and each snagged $2,000 scholarships in Wednesday’s qualifier to the Players Championship.
David Nelson smoked out both Change at Jamaica and E Miner.
Nelson (5 firsts, 3 seconds) posted what was comfortably the highest score of the day in taking Wednesday’s play-in to the April 12 Keeneland Grade One Gamble.
Craig Amundson (2 firsts, 3 seconds) will be in Oldsmar, Fla., this Friday and Saturday.
Bolstered by Change at Jamaica, Amundson won Wednesday’s Tampa Bay Downs Last Chance/First Opportunity Contest by 60 cents over a hard-luck Gregory Lewis.
Gloria Kahlden didn’t suffer any hard luck on Thursday.
She reeled off five consecutive winners that culminated with Miavana ($29.00, $14.40) in the 9th at Gulfstream. The hot run earned Kahlden $3,701 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final prize pool of $8,225.
Friday’s marquee cash game was a $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour event) that was captured by Turner West with 4 firsts and 2 seconds.
West’s heavy lifter was Sheshimaintenance ($18.60, $10.60) in the 9th at Gulfstream. The winner’s share came to $9,201 in a game that was ultimately worth a total of $20,448.
Sheshimaintenance was completely tolerable for Jerome Linderman (3 wins, 3 places).
Linderman exited with the $10,000 seat at the conclusion of Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier.
Myles Richards (5 wins, 1 place) and Rafael Lopez (6W, 1P) earned the $2,000 entries in Friday’s Players Championship qualifier.
Richards found Sheshimaintenance to be delightful. Lopez’s best pick came at the end with Era ($9.20, $5.40) in the 9th at Tampa.
Joel Wincowski (7 wins, 1 place) also enjoyed the Era tour.
Wincowski earned the hefty $6,000 entry in what turned out to be the week’s lone qualifier to the 1/ST Ultimate Betting Challenge on March 1.
Daniel Edwards whiffed on the first five Friday races, but he was nearly perfect on the final five.
Edwards racked up 4 wins and a place during the “late pick 5” to score a last-to-first victory in Friday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier. John Kostin (2 wins, 3 places) also secured himself a $3,500 entry for finishing second. Kostin’s two best returns came from place collections on runners up.
Stephen McNatton (1 win, 3 places) and Mike Abnernathy will be trackside at Tampa Bay Downs on Friday and Saturday.
In Friday’s Tampa Bay Downs Last Chance/First Opportunity qualifier, McNatton hit Sheshimaintenance while Abernathy appreciated the swiftness of Era. They both enjoyed the $18.20 place payoff they received from Latin Force, the second-place finisher in race 7 at Tampa.
It was a Happy Valentine’s Day for Justin Schwartz, Randall Panzer and “Marvelous” Neil Thornbury.
They got the Vegas packages in Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier, which guaranteed three spots. Schwartz (5 wins, 1 place) swept the final four races to lead the way. Thornbury got his seat by a mere 30 cents over a lovelorn Barbara Buckley.
Final-race fireworks were on display for Adam “Kentucky” Burgoon (3 wins, 1 place) and Albert Tiernan (5W, 2P) in Saturday’s $165 NHC Pick & Pray here at HorseTourneys.
They both connected with Tiznow Mama ($40.80, $16.60) in the contest finale (SA race 6). Burgoon topped the leaderboard thanks to having also nailed 26-1 Bold Advance earlier on.
Brian Sullivan picked three Saturday winners—all of which (including Tiznow Mama) paid at least $26.40.
Sullivan took top honors—and the $1,000 entry—in what wound up being our Last Chance qualifier to the Tampa Last Chance/First Opportunity Contest.
Jeff Higgins picked 4 Saturday winners—all of which paid at least 20 bucks.
He also added two place collections on the way to winning Saturday’s Players Championship qualifier. Dan Richards (6 wins, 1 place) also grabbed himself a $2,000 seat for finishing second. He had a big-priced winner that Higgins missed—Bold Advance ($54.20, $17.00) in the 8th at Gulfstream.
Robert Schintzius Sr. made three Saturday collections. Two of them were winners. One of those was Tiznow Mama in the last contest raced.
Schintzius took home the $7,124 top prize in Saturday’s $10,177 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.
Sunday’s featured schedule wound up being a washout. Or maybe a brownout is more accurate since a power outage forced Tampa Bay Downs to scrap the final four races on their card—and four of our 12 contest races. The four-race reduction meant we could only offer 8 of our 12 (67%) of our scheduled races, and our long-standing rules state that the minimum to go forward is 70%. I’m sure that disappointed many of you. It disappointed us too because it cost us money to ditch the multi-track features. In the long run, though, we think it’s better for all concerned that there are clearly-stated rules on the books to which everyone can refer…rather than have a bunch of people out there guessing.
As noted earlier while chronicling the exploits of Brandon Leigh, track cancellations again played a factor in our Monday games. Unlike the Tampa Bay Downs power outage, though, we could see the Monday situation coming. So 10 races were slated for Santa Anita, where the temperatures were mild, and the winds were zephyrs rather than gusts.
Prices were chalky all day at The Great Race Place until the nightcap when 18-1 Got Soul reported home first. George “Ki-“ Bosch (6 wins, 1 place), Robert Childress (5W, 1P) and Chris Goodall (3W, 4P) all had Got Soul.
Bosch, Childress and Goodall each punched their tickets to Vegas in a special $125 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers that guaranteed three spots.
Since it was a holiday, there was a special HT Tour event on Monday—a $15,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray, which closed its doors with $21,778 in the kitty.
After a Presidents Day morning undoubtedly spent in quiet contemplation of the many contributions of favorite son Benjamin Harrison, Indiana resident — and reigning NHC champion — Mike Gillum entered his picks in this featured cash game, and it paid off like a well-drawn-up picket-fence play. Gillum finished strong with three straight winners to end up with 4 firsts and 4 seconds on the day, and he received $9,800 for his efforts.
In Monday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier, Max Schnepf (4 wins, 3 places) and 2018 Horse Player World Series champ Bob Montgomery (5W, 0P) did the best among those who had Got Soul at the end.
Schnepf and Montgomery each fled the scene with $3,500 entries in their pocket—redeemable for use on April 12.
Speaking of popular tournaments another 49 seats to the NHC Last Chance/First Chance Contest were filled in the past week. Here are the latest to advance to the NHC Eve competition at Horseshoe Las Vegas:
Monday: Bronson Cambra
Tuesday: Jerome Linderman, Traci Richards
Wednesday: Michael Marlaire (2 seats), Darryl Lacy, Edward Chambers, Cheryl McIntyre, Karol Mannarino and Steve Arrison
Thursday: William Sadoo, Karen Richards, Mark Elliott, Michael Bruno, Cheryl McIntyre, Neil Thornbury and Gary Steichele
Friday: Tom Troeller, Victor Pasquariello, Evan Trommer, Robert Dawson, Ryan Tyreman, Kevin Engelhard, David Browning, Noel Pink and John Farrar
Saturday: Terry Jerge, Mark Richards, Steven Schmidt, Gregg Kingma, Dane Moore, Gary Johnson, Dennis Tiernan, Bob Montgomery, Christopher Dewey, Phil Jorgensen and Pete Acocella
Sunday: Steve Napolitano, Robert Dawson and Paul Kloeker.
Monday: Lawrence Kahlden, Myles Richards, Bob Rubin, Ken Jordan, Dylan Donnelly. Howard Johnson, Buck Waller, Robert Grace and Mickey Hopkins.
Thanks to all of you for spending a portion of your holiday weekend/week here with us. As long as the power stays on, we’ll be back starting tomorrow with more featured tourney action…and more recaps on the way Monday. Good luck!
