The Breeders’ Cup race results were a bit…sedate…this year. Cap-horse winners weren’t in short supply—they were altogether out of stock. So the challenge this year was to find the few double-digit win prices that WERE lurking out there and maybe mix in a nice place price or two. The person who did the best job of this in our two-day, Breeders’ Cup-races-only tourney was Brian Graziano.

There are few names I’ve typed more in recent weeks than “Jason Lancaster”. He’s been on a roll of late. Many successful players around here do a good job of hunting longshots to rocket up a leaderboard. Lancaster seems to take the opposite approach.

We’ve reached the point in the year when the NTRA sometimes schedules more than one NHC qualifier on a single day at HorsePlayers. That happened on Sunday—and Mike Lazarus became the latest person to parlay one set of selections into two Vegas entries.

If you’re lucky—and skillful—one day here can change your whole year. That was the case for two different players last Friday.

Thanks in part to 15-1 Baseball Lady in Thursday’s 5th race at Belmont, Dr. Ronald Tang was in a…league of his own…here last week.

Glen Gottlieb began woke up on Saturday thinking it would be nice to win a seat to the NHC someday. He did that last weekend…and more.

No Del Mar racing last week. No NYRA racing either. That made it sort of a “tweener” week around here, but there was still plenty of action—and, on Friday, New Englander Geoffrey Schutt took full advantage.

HorseTourneys is pleased to confirm that we will once again offer tournaments on Breeders’ Cup weekend in 2026.

Following extensive discussions with Breeders’ Cup, we were able to reach an agreement that allows HorseTourneys to continue offering contests involving Breeders’ Cup races. As part of that agreement, however, this year’s events will operate under several parameters requested by Breeders’ Cup.

First, all tournaments involving Breeders’ Cup races will be conducted in Pick & Pray format. Players will therefore be required to submit selections for all tournament races prior to the first scheduled race.

Second, Breeders’ Cup has requested that HorseTourneys not offer guaranteed prize pools in conjunction with these events.

Finally, entry fees for Breeders’ Cup tournaments will generally be limited to a maximum of $600, with an exception for head-to-head contests.

These changes mean that our Breeders’ Cup schedule will be somewhat more focused than in previous years. Our three primary events will be:

• $600 Two-Day Breeders’ Cup Pick & Pray — Championship races on Friday and Saturday
• $395 Breeders’ Cup Friday Pick & Pray — all Breeders’ Cup Friday races
• $600 Breeders’ Cup Saturday Pick & Pray — all Breeders’ Cup Saturday races

Additional events, including winner-take-all and other tournament formats, will also be offered throughout the weekend.

We recognize that many HorseTourneys customers have made our Breeders’ Cup tournaments an annual tradition, and preserving the ability to offer meaningful tournament play on Breeders’ Cup weekend was important to us.

Although the format will look somewhat different in 2026, we’re pleased to continue giving HorseTourneys players an opportunity to compete on the sport’s championship weekend.

Additional tournament details and the complete Breeders’ Cup schedule will be announced closer to the event.

We all remember where we were when we made the biggest score of our horseplaying career. In Mike Yurczyk’s case, he was working the cash register at the Bo Diddley’s sandwich stand at Canterbury Park. That’s where he spent most of last Sunday anyway.

The final margin of victory wasn’t much—just 24 cents—but that scant difference delivered a monstrous payday of $196,057 to Mike Yurczyk in the 8th annual Spa & Surf Showdown here at HorseTourneys.