It might be my imagination, but John “The Clocker” Nichols always seems to heat up around here at this time of year—and 2024 has been no exception.

And why shouldn’t that be the case? If you’re a Churchill Downs morning-workout gatherer like he is, this is sort of your time to shine, and shine Nichols did last week at HorseTourneys.

In addition to grabbing a late seat to the Keeneland Grade One Gamble on Friday, Nichols also earned a $3,000 berth that day in what would figure to be one of his favorite contests of the year, the Kentucky Derby Challenge.

The big Friday horse for Nichols among 5 firsts and 1 second was Suncroft ($16.76, $7.24) in the 8th at—where else?—Keeneland.

Nichols came right back on Saturday and landed entry #2 to the Kentucky Derby Challenge.

Here, Nichols (3 wins, 4 places) ventured out of state to get his top yielder. It was Scat Tu Tap ($31.60, $12.20) in race 10 at Gulfstream. Finishing closest to Nichols was last year’s HT Tour champ Ed Peters (2W, 4P), who also garnered a Derby Challenge spot.

In addition to the Kentucky Derby Challenge, Nichols is also a regular at the NHC—and he will be again in 2025.

Nichols saw to that by using the same Pick & Pray selections to finish first in Saturday’s Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

In Saturday’s first-of-the-year qualifier to the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown, Nichols and his 3 wins and 4 places bested all except Geoffrey Schutt (4W, 1P).

Schutt shut the door on his foes by coming up with not just 14-1 Scat Tu Tap in the 10th at Gulfstream but also Epona’s Hope ($32.20, $11.40), who triumphed an hour earlier at the Hallandale, Fla., oval. Dan Soukup reported home third, and he also pulled in an early $2,500 seat to the third leg of the HorseTourneys Grand Slam on August 3-4.

For Schutt, the $2,500 Spa & Surf Showdown entry was one of two seats he won on Saturday.

The other was to the NHC. Schutt and Robert Grace (7 firsts, 0 seconds) punched early tickets to the 2025 event on Saturday in a $165 qualifier. Like Schutt, Grace came up with Epona’s Hope in race 8 at Gulfstream.

On Sunday, the big star of the day was Drew Keaton.

Buoyed most by Tina Ballerina ($71.40, $30.80) in the 7th at Gulfstream, Keaton compiled 3 firsts and 4 seconds to pick up a Kentucky Derby Challenge berth.

The same picks also got Keaton some cash.

It was $7,124.25 to be exact. That’s how much Keaton collected for capturing Sunday’s $10,177 Big Bucks game.

That money should help Keaton buy some future contest entries, though he won’t have to purchase a seat to be in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.

Keaton’s name was at the top of the leaderboard in the Low Ratio play-in on Sunday at HorsePlayers. Wendy Long completed the exacta, and she got a $5,000 partial BCBC entry.

Drew Keaton didn’t finish first in Sunday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier—but he also didn’t go home empty-handed from it.

The winner was last-week’s Players Championship victor Matthew Bickey. His three winners included both of the day’s bombs—Tina Ballerina and Lady Emily Kathryn ($45.54, $16.00) in the 7th at Keeneland. Bickey had told us that Monmouth was the next big tournament that he was pointing tom and he now has two seats for it. Meanwhile, Drew Keaton finished second to cap off a terrific $22,124 day, and John Kostin (4W, 3P) also reeled in a $2,000 seat for June 1 by checking in third.

Justin Kelly got the featured-tourney week off to a winning beginning on Wednesday.

Kelly had the somewhat-oddly-named Boys and Bullets ($170.40, $66.20) in the 8th at Parx, and that winner plus 2 others and a runner up…ahem…shot Kelly to the top in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which ultimately paid out a total of $6,981. Kelly’s share of that was $3,141.

The Thursday cash-game feature, a $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, went to John Kasarjian (4 firsts, 4 seconds).

Rock Star Doctor ($12.28, $5.94) was a rock star for Kasarjian. The Keeneland race 9 winner got Kasarjian up for a final-contest-race victory worth $3,857. The final pot in this one came to $8,571.

Similar to the case on Thursday, big prices were rather scarce on Friday—but Matthew White (4 wins, 3 places) had the largest of the day in Suncroft ($16.76, $7.24) in the 8th at Keeneland.

White received $8,004 for finishing first in Friday’s HT Tour event, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $17,788.

Brett Wiener (3 wins, 2 places) and Francis Drew (5W, 2P) were the two to exit Friday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier with $2,000 seats in their pocket.

Wiener connected with Suncroft. Drew’s top winner paid $9.60.

The three highest Friday scores could all be found in the day’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

The figure to beat to win a seat here was $70.00, and the three who managed to pull that off were Todd Hartman (7 wins, 2 places), Louis Masry (7W, 0P) and Michael Rubino (5W, 2P). All three counted Suncroft among their collections.

After a two-day lull, there were several big prices out there on Saturday.

Mike Lazarus (4 firsts, 4 seconds) prospered with Epona’s Hope ($32.20, $11.40) in the 8th at Gulfstream and with Scat Tu Tap ($31.60, $12.20) in the 10th at Gulfstream. Lazarus finished with the high score of the day on Saturday, $151.02, and that earned him the top money of $14,830 in Saturday’s $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour game), that closed its doors with $32,956 in the kitty.

Brian “BC” Chenvert’s best pick on Saturday was another “BC”.

Beaute Cachée ($53.68, $17.30) was among 3 wins and 2 places for Chenvert at HorsePlayers—and that’s how Chenvert won a seat to…the BCBC.

Robert Schintzius Sr. (2 wins, 2 places) smoked out both Beaute Cachee and Scat Tu Tap.

Schintzius cashed for $8,549 in Saturday’s $12,213 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.

Two players—Phil Cleek (2 wins, 2 places) and Vincent Easley (2W, 4P)—earned $1,000 entries in Saturday’s Lone Star Spring Betting Challenge qualifier.

Cleek had Epona’s Hope and Scat Tu Tap. Easley was a fan of Beaute Cachee.

Mike Steindler made collections in each of the first 5 contest races, and he led the way in Saturday’s play-in to the Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament.

Steindler finished with 2 winners (including Epona’s Hope) and 4 runners up. The 2016 NHC Tour champ Cheryl McIntyre placed second with her 2 wins (Epona’s Hope and Scat Tu Tap) and a place. She got a $2,000 entry, as did third-place finisher Jeff Tracy, whose 2 wins and 2 places included Beaute Cachee.

Richie Bennett swept the final 3 contest races to finish Sunday with 5 firsts and 2 seconds.

One of Bennett’s two earlier winners was Lady Emily Kathryn ($45.54, $16.00) in race 7 at Keeneland. The 7 collections brought Bennett a reward of $12,206 for taking Sunday’s HT Tour event, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which had a final prize pool of $27,125.

Last week, Brian O’Kane made $16,697 for finishing 6th in the Players Championship. Already he has assured himself of a place in the next leg of the 2024 HorseTourneys Grand Slam.

Just like Richie Bennett, O’Kane swept the final three races. He finished with 4 wins and a place, and that got him the top spot in Sunday’s qualifier to the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown. David Lupo (4W, 3P) was the runner up, and he bagged the second available $2,500 berth. O’Kane and Lupo both enjoyed watching Tina Ballerina ($71.40, $30.80) win race 7 at Gulfstream. 

Speaking of the Spa & Surf Showdown, last year’s winner of it was Anthony Spinazzola. On Sunday, the Arizona resident earned an early berth to the NHC.

In back-to-back contest races, Spinazzola (3 wins, 2 places) killed it with 21-1 Lady Emily Kathryn and 34-1 Tina Ballerina. He didn’t cash a thing over the final 6 races…but didn’t need to. The other available NHC spot went to runner up Karol Mannarino. Lady Emily Kathryn was among her 4 firsts and 3 seconds. (Mannarino also earned $4,882 on Sunday for finishing second to Richie Bennett in the day’s $27,125 cash-game feature.)

Three players earned $1,000 entries in Sunday’s qualifier to this coming Saturday’s Lone Star Spring Betting Challenge.

Congratulations to Jeff VanDrie (2 wins, 5 places), Wesley Lecroy (3W, 2P) and hard-hitting Donnie Lott (4W, 1P). The top two both generated significant profits with Lady Emily Kathryn ($45.54, $16.00) in the 7th at Keeneland.

The Last Chance qualifier for Lone Star, by the way, is slated for this Wednesday—and on Saturday, we’ll host our first play-in to the Del Mar Summer Challenge.

That and more comes your way in the week ahead, and I’ll be back again on Monday to take a look back at it all. Until then…good luck!