Normally each week, we are quick to highlight players who win tourneys on multiple days, or “multi-tablers” who pile up a bushel basket full of grand prizes in a single day. This week, though, we lead with a single-tourney performance that was so remarkable that it deserves top billing.

When the week began, Tony Zhou was in 29th place in the NHC Tour standings, with the Tour wrapping up on Sunday. So, quite understandably, he decided to purchase the maximum three entries for the most lucrative tourney of the week in terns on NHC points–the $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. To paraphrase Jay Trotter, Zhou had a very good day.

Zhou’s three entries came in 1st, 2nd and 24th in the 445-entry game—but the real headline was how well he did with that first entry.

Nine winners out of 10 entries—and this was no simple chalk parade. One of his winners was 20-1 Tatesfreedom ($42.40, $14.20) in the 6th at Aqueduct. His first three winners went off at 6-1, 8-1 and 9-5…and that victorious trio was on all three of his entries. In no race did he use more than two horses across his three entries.

Simply put, Zhou never gave his opponents a chance. Happily for NHC Hall of Famer Roger Cettina and Allan Schaffer, however, this was a three-seat qualifier, and so Cettina and Schaffer earned Vegas berths as well. 

(For the uninitiated, NHC rules permit a player to win no more than one seat in any given tournament.)

Now Zhou will wait for the final NHC Tour results to be tabulated. He might have earned a cash bonus if the points he received for taking the Friday game push him into the top 20 of the standings. 

He didn’t go 9-for-10, but Lawrence Kahlden also accomplished a difficult feat.

Kahlden reeled in $12,000 worth of entry fees by sweeping the week’s two 1/ST Ultimate Betting Challenge qualifiers. On Saturday, he posted 5 wins and a place topped by American Retro ($16.00, $7.60) in race 7 at Gulfstream, and on Sunday, his big race was once again the 7th at Gulfstream. That’s the race where he found Lovin the Pavels ($58.40, $23.80).

Wednesday kicked off last week’s run of 36 featured events. In the day’s featured cash game, our $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, it was James Dickson who finished first.

Dickson’s 3 winners came in the first contest race with Amazin Queen ($16.80, $7.60) in the 6th at Gulfstream, and in the final two races. He also added four place collections, and he pocketed $3,987 in a game ultimately worth a total of $8,848.

Mark Stillmock’s Wednesday was made more bubbly by Popthechampagne Ro ($29.00, $8.20) in race 10 at Parx. 

Stillmock (4 firsts, 1 second) exited with the $3,500 entry in Wednesday’s qualifier for the April 13 Keeneland Grade One Gamble.

Keith Fenton’s top Wednesday winner paid just $12.40.

Fenton pieced things together nicely, though. He accumulated 3 wins and 3 places to report home first in Wednesday’s qualifier to the $350,000 Gtd. Players Championship, the second leg of the 2024 HT Grand Slam. Kirk Rockwell (2 wins, 2 places) also earned a $2,000 seat here. At the end of the day, he toasted Popthechampagne Ro.

Popthechampagne Ro was among 3 winners selected by Ed Reidy, who also had a runner up.

Reidy is now ready for the NHC Last Chance/First Chance tournament—where Casey Dixon, Kevin Harrell, Kris Andaur, Russell “Smooth as Silk” Wilkes and Mark Wilgard will also be in the room with a $500 seat that was earned with $59.

There was also a Gulfstream-only, full-card qualifier to the NHC Eve tournament.

Congratulations to Steve “People are” Stange (6 wins, 0 places) and Traci Richards (4W, 3P). The top return for both came with Bella Future ($27.80, $10.20) in race 2.

Mails Here ($58.80, $11.00) in Thursday’s 8th race at Mahoning Valley meant “Money’s here” for Sean O’Malley (4 firsts, 1 second).

O’Malley landed the top prize of $3,888 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $8,640.

Mails Here was the last of 5 straight winners reeled off by Suresh Bowman.

Bowman finished with 6 victors out of 10 races, and that performance got him the seat in a special $125 NHC qualifier on Thursday at HorsePlayers.

For the second straight day, Kris Andaur picked up a $500 NHC Last Chance/First Chance entry.

Andaur (4 wins, including Mails Here, 1 place) led a group of four seat winners in Thursday’s multi-track qualifier. The other three were Todd “American” Faro, last year’s Spa & Surf Showdown champ Anthony Spinazzola and Ellen Patrick-Leavell.

In the Gulfstream-only version of the NHC Last Chance/First Chance play-in, Erik Christensen (6 wins, 0 places) and Mike Gillum (4W, 1P) were the two beneficiaries.

The best pick for Christensen was Citizen K ($18.80, $6.60) in race 2.

Dr. Ron Tang took over the lead with Mails Here in the next-to-last contest race of Thursday’s Players Championship qualifier. Then he had to sweat out the final race.

Tang came up empty in the nightcap (the 9th at Gulfstream), while Steven Meier had a 20-1 shot that finished 2nd. Unfortunately for Meier, the place payoff was $11.00—and he wound up 40 cents short of Tang.

Tang won another tourney on Friday, though this time the margin wasn’t close.

Tang’s 2 wins and 2 places included Datesfreedom ($42.40, $14.20) in the 6th at Aqueduct, and he went on to capture Friday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier by $33.30 over Pete Acocella.

Kenneth Arnerich also came up with Datesfreedom, but in order to succeed, he had to hit 9-5 Tenbo in the final race, the 4th at Santa Anita.

And he did. Arnerich bagged $10,099 in Friday’s HT Tour event, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed its doors with $22,443 in the pot.

In Friday’s Players Championship qualifier, Tyler Hoffman swept the first three races, then took the rest of the afternoon off.

Hoffman still won, hanging on for a $7.20 victory over Menas Philippides (2 wins, 3 places) who also garnered a $2,000 entry for the $350,000 Guaranteed tourney here on April 6-7. Hoffman and Philippides both scored with Stolen Base ($18.20, $6.50) in the 5th at Aqueduct.

Not surprisingly, Tony Zhou compiled Friday’s highest score ($153.40), but Dave Ramold wasn’t too far off that mark.

Ramold picked 6 winners, and led an octet of $500 seat winners in Friday’s multi-track NHC Last Chance/First Chance qualifier. The others were Alexa Zepp, Traci Richards, Steve Arrison, Myles Richards, Joseph Destito, 2018 HorsePlayers World Series champ Bob Montgomery and Buck Waller.

There were two winners in the Gulfstream-only version.

Congratulations to James Zaccagnino (2 wins, 1 place) and Howard Johnson (2W, 4P).

The star of the day on Saturday was Eric “B Connected” Boyd, who recorded two very nice victories.

Boyd amassed 5 winners—highlighted by Whittington Park ($27.20, $8.80) in the 8th at Aqueduct—and 1 runner up to claim the grand prize of $15,246 in the richest tourney of the week (and an HT Tour game), Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed tilt, which paid out a total of $33,880.

Boyd used the same picks en route to the winner’s circle in Saturday’s qualifier to the Players Championship.

Like Boyd, Hayden Leibrock also picked Whittington Park, and Leibrock got the other available $2,000 entry for April 6-7. Leibrock was also 2nd to Boyd in the cash feature, picking up second money of $6,098…so those were some nice-paying second-place finishes for Leibrock

Brett Wiener became the first to win an entry for the Monmouth Pick Your Prize contest on June 1.

Wiener’s best play was his first play—American Retro ($16.00, $7.60) in race 7 at Gulfstream.

The high score of the day on Saturday was found in our Keeneland Grade One Gamble play-in. 

Kevin Willett authored the $115.30 tally, which was built on 6 winners, including Whittington Park.

Rafael Lopez got off to a fast start with double-digit win payoffs in the first two Saturday contest races.

Lopez went on from there, finishing with 5 wins and a place and earning $7,124 in Saturday’s $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks Pick & Pray, which wound up with $10,177 in the kitty.

The 2016 NHC Tour champion Cheryl McIntyre (5 firsts, 2 seconds) led a procession of six winners in Saturday’s multi-track NHC Last Chance/First Chance qualifier.

The other five were Jeff Tracy, Chris Cox, 2021 (and possibly 2023) NHC Tour champ Joseph “Kevin” Costello, Mike Coutu and Kevin Harrell (who also won one of the seats on Wednesday).

George “Ki-“ Bosch (6 wins, 1 place) and John “The Clocker” Nichols (4W, 3P) got the two available berths in the Gulfstream-only counterpart tourney.

They both connected with Set ($16.80, $8.60) in race 12 at Gulfstream.

Over at HorsePlayers, American Retro got Jeff Bussan off to a fast start.

Bussan stockpiled 4 winners and 5 runners up to secure the $10,000 entry in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier.

Whittington Park was common to the scorecards of Jeff Sandler (5 wins, 0 places) and Guy “Condredge” Holloway (5W, 1P).

Sandler and Holloway prevailed—and punched their tickets to Vegas next month—in Saturday’s $210 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Sunday was the final day of the 2023 NHC Tour year—and so it wasn’t surprising that there was a robust turnout for the final points-getting opportunity, the $165 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. 

Edward Enborg (4 wins, 3 places), James Lafferty (3W, 1P) and Ellis Starr (4W, 2P) came away with the Vegas entries in this one. All three hit it big with Lovin the Pavels ($58.40, $23.80) in race 7 at Gulfstream.

The other Sunday feature at HorsePlayers was a $500 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio game.

Anthony Laurino (2 wins, 2 places) had Lovin the Pavels…but in order to prevail here, he had to come up with a $14.80 place collection in the final contest race with 25-1 outsider Crown That Saint in the 9th at Aqueduct.

Meanwhile, here at HorseTourneys, Jeffrey “Vince” Ferrazano had a nice Sunday.

Ferrazano had Lovin the Pavels among his 4 winners and 2 places. In fact, his four winners were the day’s four biggest prices(!) Ferrazano proved best in Sunday’s HT Tour event, Our $20,000 Guaranteed tourney, which paid out a total of an even $28,000. Ferrazano’s share of that came to $12,000. 

Sunday’s other cash feature was a $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks game, run in live format as per the Sunday custom.

Jayson “Radio City” Rockett (3 wins, 1 place) took home the winner’s share of $6,411 from the total prize pool of $9,159. His top return came via Super Curioso ($16.20, $6.60) in the 8th at Tampa.

On Sunday we hosted our first qualifier to the Houston Betting Challenge on April 6.

David Long used 7 winners and 2 runners up to come out on the long end of this battle. His one double-digit winner along the way was Just For Luck ($16.40, $7.80) in the 9th at Gulfstream.

Michael Caposio (3 wins, 1 place) took Sunday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier.

The 28-1 Gulfstream race 7 winner Lovin the Pavels certainly put the “Cap” in Caposio.

Lovin the Pavels was a feather in the cap of Christian Orscher (3 wins, 0 places), Matthew Bickey (1W, 2P) and Brian “BC” Chenvert (1W, 2P).

Orscher, Bickey and Chenvert were the three to reel in $2,000 entries in Sunday’s Players Championship qualifier.

Mark Heider (2 wins, 1 place) had Lovin the Pavels along the way to finishing first in Sunday’s multi-track NHC Last Chance/First Chance play-in.

Karen Richards, George Dacayanan, Michael Foster, NHC Hall of Famer Paul Shurman, Martin Scaminaci, Mike McIntyre and Christopher “Liberty and Justice for” Ahl got the other available $500 spots for finishing closes to Heider.

In the Hallandale-centric qualifier, Bob Montgomery (3 wins, 0 places) and Angelo Partipelo (2W, 1P) emerged with the $500 passes.

Montgomery and Partipelo each came up with Grand Maxime ($15.60, $7.00) in race 2.

Thanks to all for another fun and frenetic week. We start things back up on the featured-tourney battleground on Wednesday. There will be cash games, NHC and BCBC qualifiers, a Last Chance for the 1/ST Ultimate Betting Challenge—and, yes, another 10 NHC Last Chance/First Chance qualifiers. Happy Handicapping!