Matthew Bickey did a very good job of smoking out longshots last week—and he was rewarded to the tune of nearly $18,000.

Bickey only picked one winner on Wednesday, but it was a doozy—Skipperini ($43.80, $21.00) in race 6 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Bickey also achieved two place collections that paid like winners ($12.00 and $22.00), and he received the top prize of $3,359 in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which closed up shop with a final purse of $7,465.

That was the smallest “cash feature” of the week—but Bickey was also front and center for the biggest.

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his time—in Saturday’s $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour event)—Bickey came up with the day’s two priciest winners. They were Erlen ($26.80, $11.80) in race 8 at Tampa and Black Belt ($23.40, $9.00) in the 10th at Gulfstream. These two winners plus two other visitors to the winner’s circle and two runners up brought Bickey a Saturday windfall of $14,553 in a tourney that paid out a total of $32,340.

Bickey’s triumphs marked but two of 37 featured events—a number that was bulked up not just by the addition of Monday (Presidents Day) to the weekend, but by a dizzying array of NHC Last Chance/First Chance qualifiers. 

In all, there were 11 NHC Eve play-ins last week, with the first two taking place on Wednesday.

The 2018 Horseplayers World Series champ Bob Montgomery (3 wins, 3 places) and John “The Clocker” Nichols got the $500 spots in the Gulfstream-only version on Wednesday. The best return for both came via Acamar ($21.80, $8.00) in race 4.

Meanwhile, there were six who advance to March 14 in Wednesday’s multi-track counterpart. Congratulations to Stephen McNatton (3 firsts, 3 seconds), Traci Richards, Dave Cichy, Zack Erhardt, Michael Caposio and Myles Richards.

The victory podium was less crowded in Wednesday’s qualifier to the second leg of the 2024 HorseTourneys Grand Slam, the $350,000 Gtd. Players Championship here on April 6-7.

Nick “48 Hrs.” Noce (2 wins, 2 places) and Dr. Ron Tang (3W, 1P) came away with the $2,000 entries in this one. Noce hit it big with Skipperini. Tang’s big horse was more modest—New Rome ($13.60, $8.00) in race 9 at Gulfstream.

On Thursday, the Players Championship qualifier was captured by Peter Rinato on the strength of 2 firsts and 4 seconds.

Rinato’s two winners paid $12.00 and $13.80, and they came early on in the 2nd and 3rd contest races—the 8th and 9th from Gulfstream.

Peter Rinato was also one of six $500 seat recipients in the multi-track NHC Last Chance/First Chance play-in on Thursday.

The 2018 NHC champ Chris Littlemore checked in first here with 3 firsts and 3 seconds that were topped by Sharp Aza Tack ($19.80, $5.60) in the 8th at Santa Anita. The other four winners besides Littlemore and Rinato were Kris Andaur, Evan Trommer, George “Ki-“ Bosch and Terrence Frank. 

Like Chris Littlemore, Richard Reese (4 wins, 3 places) was also on point by picking Sharp Aza Tack.

Reese earned the up-top money of $4,323 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which had a final prize pool of $$9,608.

Charley Witt turned in a notable performance on Thursday.

Witt doubled down on his nine selections in Thursday’s Gulfstream-only qualifier to the NHC Last Chance/First Chance, and he wound up taking home both of the available $500 seats.

Two days later, Witt was back for more—and better.

What’s better than an NHC Last Chance/First Chance seat (or two)? A seat to the NHC, itself, and that’s what Witt wrought in Saturday’s Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers. Witt amassed 5 winners (including 10-1 Black Belt) and 1 runner up from the 12 contest races.

On Friday, the two horses you really wanted to have were Aspirational and Order and Law, who took races 6 and 7, respectively, at the Arcadia, Calif., oval. Coincidentally, they both returned $77.80 in the win hole (though obviously just $42.00 for contest purposes). Eric “B Connected” Boyd had both $77.80 horses plus three runners up.

The five collections built the biggest score of the day, and Boyd reeled in $9,950 for capturing Friday’s HT Tour game, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which finished up with a pot of $22,111. 

Mark Wilgard (2 wins, 1 place) and Mark Stillmock were on the mark on Friday. They each came up with both Aspirational and Order and Law.

As a result, Wilgard and Stillmock will have their $3,500 entries covered when they compete in the April 13 Keeneland Grade One Gamble.

Bill Redman had Aspirational while Basil DeVito used Order and Law.

They were the two Friday earners of $2,000 entries in the day’s Players Championship qualifier.

Cheryl Knepper will likely move up in the NHC Tour standings (wrapping up this Sunday) after prevailing in last Friday’s $75 NHC play-in at HorsePlayers.

Knepper was in the strike zone with Order and Law plus five other winners and two runners up. Second-place finisher Trey Stiles was already double-qualified and, thus, shooting for NHC Tour points. That left the second and final available seat to Bill “BC” Chenvert, whose two winners were Aspirational and Order and Law.

What’s a featured-tourney day around here right now without a couple of NHC Last Chance/First Chance qualifiers?

Noel Kudla (4 wins, 2 places) and Christopher Coleman (4W, 0P) each got seats in the Gulfstream-only version.

Coleman was also one of nine to pick up $500 spots in the Friday multi-track counterpart. The others were Britton Smith (2 wins, 0 places), David Browning, Mike McIntyre, Crystal Andaur, Mark Richards, Kevin Harrell, Jim Colbert and Kris Andaur.

Two more Last Chance/First Chance games were offered on Saturday.

The 2018 champ Chris Littlemore got his second $500 entry of the week by running second to Jeff VanDrie (3 wins, 3 places) in the multi-track play-in. Also advancing to March 14 were Kevin Willett, Mike McIntyre, David Brownfield, Evan “Mr.” Littman, “The Admiral” Steve Nemetz, Keith Simon and Matthew Thomas.

Floridian Traci Richards (4 wins, 2 places) came in first in the Florida-centric qualifier.

Finishing closest behind Richards and also grabbing NHC Eve entries were Rafael Lopez, and Joe Davidson. All three of the winners picked This Dude a Breeze ($33.20, $16.20) in race 2.

Black Belt ($23.40, $9.00) in the 10th at Gulfstream was the heaviest lifter on Saturday for Dylan Donnelly.

A key lifter for him, though, was Precision Strike who gave Donnelly a $10.20 place payoff that got him up and over the goal line at the end of Saturday’s qualifier to the Keeneland Grade One Gamble. Curtis Meyer (3 firsts, 2 seconds) got the other Keeneland spot. His top winner paid $13.80.

Robert Schintzius Sr. hit both Black Belt and Erlen ($26.80, $11.80) in race 8 at Tampa.

Schintzius pocketed $9,261 in Saturday’s $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks Pick & Pray, which obviously blew past its guarantee. The total pot in the $1,150-buy-in game came to $13,230.

Over at HorsePlayers, the winner of Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Pick & Pray was John “Detlef” Schimpf.

Schimpf connected on 3 winners, including Black Belt, and 3 runners up. He also had effective blocking protection at the end with 6-1 Caribbean King at Santa Anita.

Dennis Desenberg (5 wins, 3 places) defeated all comers in Saturday’s $165 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. His top return came via Security Code ($13.80, $5.80) in the 9th at Aqueduct.

Brook Hawkins placed second to get the other available Vegas seat.

There were three winners in Saturday’s qualifier to the $350,000 Gtd. Players Championship, second leg of the 2024 HorseTourneys Grand Slam.

Congratulations to Ryan Leeper (5 wins, 1 place), Matthew White (also 5W, 1P) and Jeff Bussan (5W, 0P).

And congratulations again to Jeff Bussan—because he got another Players Championship entry on Presidents Day.

Bussan got Players Championship seat #2 by checking in 2nd behind Craig “Home Sweet” Hom (4 wins, 2 places). Hom and Bussan both felt like stars after selecting Hollywood Jet ($20.20, $10.00) in the 9th at Parx.

Using the same picks, Bussan led the way in Monday’s multi-track play-in to the NHC Last Chance/First Chance convention (rumored to be moving to Allegiant Stadium if entries continue to move at their current pace).

Paul “Morning” Kloeker got two $500 seats for finishing both 2nd and 3rd. Also moving on were Kris Andaur, Tyler Smith, Tory Cameron and Kevin Willett.

Tyler Okasaki got a five-figure payday on Sunday.

Okasaki accumulated 5 firsts and 1 second to collect $13,190 in Sunday’s HT Tour event, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which paid out a total of $29,312. He had the day’s biggest price horse in Holdtheflight ($19.20, $9.40), the winner of race 7 at Aqueduct. 

Sunday’s other cash feature went to Jayson “Radio City” Rockett.

Rockett stockpiled 6 winners and 3 runners up, and he took home the grand prize of $6,411 in Sunday’s $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks game, which closed with a final prize pool of $9,159. His biggest “winner” was a runner up—Majestic Frontier—who returned $16.20 to place for coming in second in the 7th at Aqueduct.

If you haven’t noticed by now, there weren’t a lot of pricy horses out there on Sunday. Loren Rice’s highest-paying winner on Sunday returned $4.90, and yet she won a $6,000 seat!

Of course, it helped that she picked 8 winners out of 12 races, thereby making up for that stray 8-1 winner that got away. Rice will have paid-up action in the March 2 1/ST Ultimate Betting Challenge, a contest playable at Gulfstream, Santa Anita or Xpressbet.

Jon “Hurricane” Hurd’s top Sunday winner also paid $4.90—and that didn’t stop him either.

Hurd came thundering down the lane with 8 wins and a place to secure a $3,500 place in the April 13 Keeneland Grade One Gamble.

Sean Nolan and Albert Tiernan each selected 4 winners and 3 runners up on Sunday.

They both finished the day having earned seats to next month’s NHC. The second available seat went to Tiernan in 3rd place as per NTRA rules, which dictate that a player may only earn one NHC entry in any given qualifier.

Nolan also finished first in the multi-track play-in to the March 14 NHC appetizer.

Holdtheflight was Nolan’s top pick. He will be joined in the NHC Last Chance/First Chance field by David Nelson, William “Hoss” Inman, Jeffrey Banks, Jay Johns, John farer, Jay Johns (again), Britton Smith, Chris “Hoss” Inman and Stephen Spinelli.

The Gulfstream-only qualifier to the intimate NHC Last Chance/First Chance get together was won by Noel Pink, with Thomas Keenan reporting home second and Karen Richards checking in third.

You might be impressed by Pink’s 8-win performance. Be aware, however, that this was only the second-best showing on Sunday for “The Pink Sheet.”

Out of 12 contest races in the NHC Low Ratio qualifier for those who had yet to earn a 2024 seat, Pink recorded 9 firsts and 2 seconds. (Shamefully, he came up totally empty in race 7 at Aqueduct.) 

Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray was a nice cap-off to what had been something of a frustrating week for Brandon Leigh.

The Texan finished one place out of a seat in two different NHC qualifiers earlier in the week. This time, though, Leigh got it done—and he left nothing to chance at the end. After hitting Holdtheflight in the early going, Leigh closed things out with 5 straight winners, giving him a total of 8 on the day.

The three players who managed to reach the $50 mark were the three to exit with $2,000 entries in Sunday’s Pick & Pray play-in to the $350,000 Gtd. Players Championship.

Congratulations (and good luck on April 6-7) to Mike Elsass (5 wins, 1 place), Kirk Rockwell (5W, 2P) and Jim Cuzzupe (3W, 1P).

Mike Gillum celebrated Presidents Day by winning lots and lots of pictures of past Commanders-in-Chief in Monday’s special $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray.

Gillum (4 firsts, 1 second) got Snarky in the final race to close out the tourney. All four of his winners came during the final five contest races, and he collected $7,406 from what was a total final purse of $16,458.

John Vail’s big horse on Presidents Day was Just Step On It ($24.20, $10.20) in race 8 at Parx.

Vail garnered the $10,000 seat in Monday’s 20-entry, Low Ratio qualifier to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.

David Lupo’s 4 Monday winners included 11-1 Hollywood Jet at Parx and 5-1 Snarky at Aqueduct.

The sharp handicapping landed Lupo a $3,500 berth in the April 13 Keeneland Grade One Gamble.

Congratulations to all of last week’s winners—and thank you to all of last week’s participants. The featured-tourney fun ramps up again on Wednesday. Hope to see you there!