People who are skillful enough to win a HorseTourneys “major” seem to have one thing in common: They do a lot of winning. That trait was on full display last week at HorseTourneys.

Last August, Anthony Spinazzola won $210,000 in the Spa & Surf Showdown. Presently, it seems he has his sights set on winning back-to-back “Tourney Triple” events.

Spinazzola (3 wins, 2 places) was one of three players on Thanksgiving Day to earn entries into the $250,000 Guaranteed Flo-Cal Faceoff here on January 20-21. Joining him in the field then will be the two who finished ahead of him on Thursday, Ivar Cuellar (3W, 3P) and Dennis Clark (3W, 1P).

Of course, if having one $1,500 entry in the Flo-Cal Faceoff is nice, having two is nicer.

Spinazzola shook off the tryptophan coma from Thursday and came right back on Friday to gain his second Flo-Cal seat in as many days. Here, he finished second—in between fellow seat winners Joseph Karabaich (4 wins, 2 places) and R. Paul Capone (also 4W, 2P). The big Black Friday horse for both Karabaich and Spinazzola was Colonel Vargo ($25.80, $9.60) in the 8th at Aqueduct.

As it turned out, Spinazzola was just one of three winners of HorseTourneys majors to strut his stuff during Thanksgiving week.

Back in the summer of 2020, when the pandemic had put a temporary kibosh on his thriving sports camp business in Long Island, Scott Fiedler made the best of things by firing up his computer and winning $248,000 in that year’s Spa & Surf Showdown. This windfall won’t compare to that one, but Fiedler did collect $7,124 last Saturday for capturing the day’s $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks Pick & Pray, which wound up paying out a total of $10,177. Noble Union ($21.20, $7.40) in the 4th at Del Mar was Fiedler’s biggest star among 4 winners and 1 runner up.

Roughly 10 months ago, David Wolff got his 2023 off to a flying start by raking in $187,000 in the Flo-Cal Faceoff. Wolff did more raking on Sunday.

Wolff (a lawyer) picked 6 winners out of 12 contest races, including the two biggest prices of the day—Constitutionlawyer ($24.40, $11.40) in the 8th at Aqueduct and One of These Days ($25.40, $12.80) in race 9 at Del Mar—to increase his 2023 winnings by $12,206. That was the grand prize up for grabs in Sunday’s HT Tour event, our $20,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray, which ended up with a final pot of $27,125.

The featured-tourney week began, as usual, on Wednesday—and while David Nelson and Dr. Ron Tang haven’t yet taken one of the HorseTourneys “majors,” they both certainly do a lot of winning around here. That was on display yet again in Wednesday’s Flo-Cal Faceoff qualifier.

Thanks in part to Never So Lucky ($15.00, $6.80) in race 7 on the opening day card at Tampa Bay Downs, Nelson finished first to grab a $1,500 entry…and Tang reported home second to get the other available berth for January 20-21.

Between now and then, Nelson has a trip to Texas in his future (the very near future).

Nelson completed a two-victory week by leading the way in Saturday’s qualifier to the Fall Simulcast Betting Challenge at Lone Star Park, which is now just six short days away.  Nelson (4W, 3P) won under wraps by more than $30.00. Race 4 Del Mar winner Noble Union, at 9-1, supplied Nelson with his biggest return. John Macklin, meanwhile, had Comparative ($15.00, $6.40) in the 8th at Aqueduct. The Brad Cox trainee was Macklin’s heaviest lifter during a second-place performance that also earned him a $1,000 spot in the on-track contest this Saturday.

Rewinding back to Wednesday, the first cash feature of the week went to Michael Marlaire (4 firsts, 2 seconds).

In the final contest race, the 9th at Tampa, Marlaire hit paydirt with Castagno ($23.80, $10.20. The 10-1 winner catapulted Marlaire from 11th place to 1st in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which finished up with a total purse of $6,566. Marlaire’s share of that came to $2,955.

In the marquee cash game on Thanksgiving Day, it was Sam “Hear Me” Raur (4 firsts, 2 seconds) who had the eye of the tiger.

Raur connected on both of the day’s $20+ winners to collect the up-top money of $9,576 in Thursday’s special $15,000 Gtd. HT Tour event, which paid out a total of $21,280.

Like Raur, Siva Shankar Vellanki also had both of the top-returning horses on Thanksgiving.

Vellanki (4 wins, 3 places) got the Vegas seat after taking Thursday’s $125 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Thursday’s qualifier to the Fall Simulcast Betting Challenge at Lone Star Park went to Jesus “Two Weeks” Severance (2 firsts, 2 seconds).

For those playing at Lone Star on Saturday who would like a scouting report on Severance, he specializes in winners that pay $14.80.

On Friday, both Laura Arth (5 wins, 2 places) and Cara Yarusso (5W, 1P) came up with Colonel Vargo ($25.80, $9.60) in race 8 at Aqueduct.

Arth and Yarusso were the two to earn 2024 NHC spots in Friday’s always-popular $75 qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Brian O’Keefe hit Chaina ($21.00, $7.80) in the 9th at Gulfstream on Friday. However, in order to prevail in Friday’s HT Tour competition, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, he had to have Single Track Mind ($12.80, $5.20) in the final contest race, the 3rd at Del Mar.

In all, O’Keefe compiled 5 winners and 1 runner up, and he made off with the $8,603 grand prize in a game ultimately worth a total of $19,118.

The Saturday cash-game hero was Gary “Macho Man” Machiz.

It’s no surprise that Machiz (4 firsts, 1 second) had Real Macho ($19.00, $10.80) in race 8 at Gulfstream. One race later at the Hallandale oval, however, he struck again with Walks Like a Lady ($20.00, $7.60), and those two South Florida tallies propelled Machiz to a victory worth $13,998 in our $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour game) that closed with a final purse of $31,108.

Also on the Saturday bill of fare was our first qualifier to the January 27th Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship.

Earning the $6,000 seat—plus $500 travel stipend—was Brian Johnson, whose 5 winners and 3 runners up included Walks Like a Lady.

The Saturday NHC qualifier was here at HorseTourneys.

Michael Davey (4 wins, 1 place) and James Norris (5W, 1P) emerged from this one with the Vegas berths. Davey had Noble Union ($21.20, $7.00) in the 4th at Del Mar, while the most rewarding race for Norris was the 8th at Gulfstream, courtesy of Real Macho.

Four players on Saturday added their names to the roster of participants for the $250,000 Gtd. Flo-Cal Faceoff.

Congratulations to Raj Satyan (3 wins, 1 place), Myles Richards (3W, 2P), Hubert Gaffney (3W, 1P) and Dale Hatfield (5W, 1P). Satyan, Richards and Gaffney all profited with 9-1 Walks Like a Lady in the 9th at Gulfstream

Three more players entered the “Faceoff circle” on Sunday.

Jim “Never” Settle led the way in this qualifier to the $250,000 Guaranteed, all-cash tourney thanks to having the day’s two victorious 11-1 winners—Constitutionlawyer in the 8th at Aqueduct and One of These Days in the contest finale, race 9, at Del Mar. In all, Settle finished with 2 wins and 3 places. The second- and third-place finishers also came away with $1,500 Flo-Cal berths. Those two were Mark Stillmock (4W, 2P) and Joe Kasperski. They each had Constitutionlawyer.

Settle used the exact same picks in our first qualifier to the December 26 Santa Anita Opening Day Challenge…and got the exact same results.

Ciaran Thornton got the other available $1,500 Santa Anita spot (playable on-track or at Xpressbet) by settling for second to Settle.

Constitutionlawyer was the biggest advocate for Robert Childress.

Childress (5 winners) grabbed the $1,000 berth in Sunday’s play-in to the Fall Simulcast Betting Challenge this Saturday at Lone Star.

Sunday seems to be “fun day” for Barbara Small. 

On November 19th, Small got herself a seat to the Flo-Cal Faceoff. Yesterday, she landed a hefty $6,500 package for the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship. Small (3 firsts, 3 seconds) cashed big with Constitutionlawyer.

Speaking of “big,” Sunday’s $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks tourney victor was Jayson “Radio City” Rockett.

Rockett blasted into first place with One of These Days in the final contest race, race 9 at Del Mar. He earned $5,699 from what was a final prize pool of $8,142.

Over at HorsePlayers, Stephanie Davis (3 wins, 2 places) and Jay Coatta (2W, 4P) both finished strong with One of These Days.

They were the two seat winners in Sunday’s $210 NHC qualifier.

The other Sunday feature at HorsePlayers was a Low Ratio play-in to the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.

There were enough entries signed on here for two $10,000 seats to be distributed. Those went to 2022 NHC Tour champ Jay Johns (5 wins & 1 place, topped by Constitutionlawyer) and Kevin Willett (2W & 4P, highlighted by One of These Days at the end).

We thank all of you for spending a portion of your Thanksgiving weekend with us, and we trust that you were suitably discreet when you snuck away from family to check on your entries. Your secret is safe with us. 

Seriously, though, we hope that your holiday weekend was a safe and fun one. We’ll be back next Monday with more tourney recaps.