Despite lots and lots of Pick & Prays, there were very few people who won multiple grand prizes during Belmont Stakes week…only three to be exact. The long list of the week’s happy—and skillful—featured-tourney winners began, as per usual, on Wednesday.

There were plenty of boxcar win prices last week, but the biggest that could be mustered on Wednesday was $12.20. That’s what Diamond Solitaire returned for taking the 7th at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Robert “Amazing” Grace had Diamond Solitaire plus 5 other winners and a runner up en route to securing a $2,500 entry in Wednesday’s qualifier to the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown here on August 3-4.

Jose Sahagun also saw quite a bit of luster in Diamond Solitaire.

Diamond Solitaire was one of 7 Wednesday winners selected by Sahagun, and he took home the $2,675 top prize in the day’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash game, which was ultimately worth a total of $5,944.

Thursday’s cash-tourney hero was Dan Brockman.

Brockman turned his day into overdrive by coming up with Teta’s Trotter ($54.50, $17.80) in the 8th at Saratoga. That winner along with one other allowed Brockman to take care of business in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which paid out a total of $8,986. Brockman’s share of that came to $4,043.

The 2022 NHC Tour champ Jay Johns whiffed on his first 4 plays, but connected on 3 winners and a runner up from his next 6, and he came away with the $2,500 entry at the conclusion of Thursday’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier.

The heaviest lifter for Johns was Whatintheliteral ($29.00, $11.60) in the Astoria Stakes at Saratoga.

Speaking of past champions, our 2020 Spa & Surf Showdown winner captured Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio play-in.

That would be Scott Fiedler, whose 2 winners and 2 places included Daniel’s Magic ($35.80, $12.00) in the 7th at Santa Anita.

Daniel’s Magic was on the scorecards of Bob White (5 wins, 1 place), Lorne Weiss (4W, 4P) and Stephen Luca (5W, 2P).

They were the three at the top of the leaderboard of the other Friday feature at HorsePlayers, the three-seat, $75 NHC qualifier.

Another Daniel’s Magic fan was Bruce Dagostini.

Daniel’s Magic was one of four Friday winners for Dagostini, who prevailed in the day’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier. 

Terry Jerge came up with Daniel’s Magic plus 5 other winners and 2 place collections.

Jerge will have paid-up action this coming Sunday in the Santa Anita Closing Day Challenge.

Rich Gesiakowski (3 wins, 2 places) also used Daniel’s Magic as a springboard to success.

Gesiakowski earned the $1,000 entry in Friday’s play-in to the Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge on June 29.

Pretty much everyone who won a nice prize on Friday had Daniel’s Magic—everyone except Max Schnepf.

Schnepf (5 firsts, 0 seconds) generated a little magic of his own by hitting nice prices in a couple of Saratoga stakes races—Future is Now ($22.80, $5.00) in the Intercontinental Stakes and Didia ($20.60, $8.70) in the New York Stakes. Schnepf won $10,174 for capturing Friday’s HT Tour event, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $22,610.

The other Friday feature was a qualifier to the June 22 Delaware Park Handicapping Contest.

James Cosenza (4 wins, 0 places) came out on top in this one, thanks in part to Daniel’s Magic.

The very next day, Cosenza came back and collected his second $500 entry for June 22 at Delaware.

Here, Cosenza (1 win, 2 places) defeated all but Kenneth Magner (2W, 0P). They both prospered with Downtown Channel ($44.00, $17.00) in race 13 at Saratoga.

To do well on Belmont Stakes Day, you wanted to have either Dornoch ($37.40, $17.60) in the big race or Downtown Channel in the Saratoga follow-up to the Belmont Stakes. Dave Duncan had Dornoch—and Chris McDonald had ‘em both.

Duncan recorded 8 winners on the day, including 5 in a row at one point, to put up the highest score of the day, $131.50. McDonald’s pair of “Spa bombs” represented 2 of his 3 Saturday tallies. Duncan and McDonald finished one-two in Saturday’s $165 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Downtown Channel was the star for Patrick Casale (5 firsts, 1 second).

Casale was the king of the hill in Saturday’s other featured tourney at HorsePlayers, our Live-format, $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge play-in.

Jim “Never” Settle had a big day on Saturday.

Settle had three consecutive winners concluding with Dornoch and finished the day with 5 wins and 1 place to capture Saturday’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier, which saw fellow Dornoch admirer Chris Weikel (4 wins, 1 place) also pick up a $2,500 entry to the 3rd leg of the 2024 HorseTourneys Grand Slam.

Those same Pick & Pray selections also held up for Settle in the week’s richest tourney.

Settle cashed for $16,632 in Saturday’s HT Tour battle, our $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a pot of $36,960.

The previous Saturday, it was Andy Asaro who was on Cloud 9, winning the cash feature plus NHC and BCBC seats. Asaro didn’t go home empty handed this past Saturday, though.

Downtown Channel was the highlight of Asaro’s 3 firsts and 3 seconds, and those 6 collections earned him a $6,500 package ($6,000 entry fee plus $500 for travel) to the July 27-28 Del Mar Summer Challenge.

Downtown Channel also gave Mark Stillmock that uptown feeling.

Stillmock (4 winners that were all at Saratoga, 0 places) pocketed $9,261 for leading the way in Saturday’s $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks Pick & Pray, which had a final prize pool of $13,230.

Stephan Gravina (4 wins, 1 place) and David Nelson (5W, 1P) were probably both whooping it up like Jayson Werth after the Belmont Stakes.

Gravina and Nelson both picked Dornoch, and they finished Saturday at the head of the class in qualifiers to the Santa Anita Closing Day Challenge and Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge, respectively.

Sunday was the final day of racing at Golden Gate Fields. The final race there (as well as the one before it) was part of our featured schedules. Neal Thomas will probably remember it for quite a while.

Thomas had Adelie ($13.00, $6.00) in that Bay Area finale, and that moved him up from 4th place to 1st at the end of Sunday’s HT Tour game, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which had a final purse of $28,218. Thomas’s winning share came to $12,698.

A big fan of cash, Thomas utilized the same selections in Sunday’s $8,142 Big Bucks tourney.

Here, Thomas reeled in $5,699 for a two-tourney total of $18,397.

Brett Wiener had two settle for 2nd behind Thomas in that $28,218 tourney, but he did no settling in Sunday’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier.

Wiener (3 wins, 2 places) and fellow $2,500 seat winner Ilan Cuellar (2W, 4P) both nailed Max’s Glory ($27.40, $10.40) in the 10th at Monmouth. And like Neal Thomas, Cuellar won with Adelie in the Golden Gate swan song.

Raul Sanchez (6 wins, 0 places) and Robert Weir (5W, 2P) were the two package winners in Sunday’s $165 NHC qualifier here at HorseTourneys.

Sanchez had Max’s Glory plus the winners of the final three contest races. Weir hit Max’s Glory and the final two contest races.

The two players to reach triple figures were the two to come away with $1,500 seats in Sunday’s Santa Anita Closing Day Challenge play-in.

Congratulations to Chris Podratz (4 wins, 1 place) and Anthony DeCaspers (5W, 2P). Max’s Glory was common to their scorecards.

Brendan Fay whiffed on the final six contest races, but before that, he posted 3 winners (including Max’s Glory) and 1 runner up.

Fay earned a $500 seat in Sunday’s qualifier to the Delaware Park Handicapping Contest.

The lone Sunday feature at HorsePlayers was a $500 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray.

There were enough entries in this one for two $10,000 seats to be awarded, and they went to the two players to scale the $90.00 mark—Tim Kindlon (3 wins, 3 places) and Curtis Meyer (also 3W, 3P). Kindlon had Max’s Glory, while Meyer was the only Sunday player to win a grand prize without Max’s Glory. Bee Eye Gee ($19.60, $10.40) came up big for Meyer in the 9th at Santa Anita.

Thanks to everyone for spending part of your Belmont Stakes week with us. The 2024 Triple Crown is now in the books, but the summer racing season is still ahead of us. We’ll do what we can to make it all just a little bit more exciting for you. More featured tourneys coming up on Wednesday—and more recaps on Monday, of course.