If, at this time last week, you had offered to bet me that there wouldn’t be a single heat-related cancellation last week, I would have taken all the action you wanted to give me. I’m glad you didn’t.

It isn’t often that Hallandale Beach, Fla., represents the “mild” section of the country, but that’s why there was so much Gulfstream in our schedules last week. It seemed like one of the safer meteorological bets out there.

One person who is happy that things played out the way they did was Neal Thomas—and on Saturday, his prognostications turned out to be pretty safe bets too.

The HT Tour leader coming into the weekend, Thomas only improved his HT points tally (if not his place in the standings) on Saturday. He finished first—and second!—in our richest game (and HT Tour event) of the week, our $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which paid out an ultimate total of $29,876. For winning, he received $13,444. For finishing second with an entry that contained just one “discrepancy,” he collected another $5,975, making it a $19,419 day for him.

That total just covers his cash winnings. There were other winnings too.

In Saturday’s Haskell Handicapping Challenge qualifier, Thomas (4 wins, 2 places on his “good” ticket) again occupied the first two positions, though this time he reaped the full rewards for both, garnering a pair of $1,000 entries. Happily for Kenneth Magner (2W, 1P), Thomas didn’t play three entries. Like Thomas, Magner prospered with Simple Souvenir ($29.40, $8.20) in the 8th at Monmouth.

Thomas also added a $2,500 Spa & Surf Showdown seat to his Saturday satchel.

Here, Thomas shared the podium with John Farrar (4 winners) and Keith Simon (6 winners). Thomas and Farrar had Simple Souvenir. Simon did not, but he overcame that omission by sweeping the final three contest races to get up late for 3rd by just 40 cents.

Thomas’s Saturday domination was clearly a ruthless display of capitalism. On Sunday, the competition between Steven Meier and Sean O’Malley more closely resembled socialism.

In Sunday’s qualifier to the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown, Meier nailed the day’s three biggest winners—which paid $33.00, $46.80 and $25.40, respectively—and he triumphed over O’Malley, who put up 2 wins and 3 places. They both got Showdown seats, however.

Meier and O’Malley also each got seats in Sunday’s $165 NHC qualifier, though this time, Meier was kind enough to allow O’Malley to take first place.

Such a generous display of sharing was made possible by Meier letting 11-1 Oh Darlin drop off his scorecard here. Again, though, there were plenty of riches to go around for both to be happy.

O’Malley got even happier after the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Meier sat this one out, and that allowed O’Malley—who utilized the same Pick & Pray selections across all three of his profitable tourneys—to run roughshod over the proletariat.

On the first day of the featured-tourney week, we foolishly thought that we needed to “beat the heat”…so our featured schedule on Wednesday was made up of evening races at Mountaineer and Penn National. The horse you really wanted to have that night was Elusive Motion ($45.20, $9.80) in race 2 at the Chester, W. Va., oval. The 21-1 shot wasn’t elusive for Mike Lazarus.

Lazarus landed on Elusive Motion plus 4 other winners and 1 runner up to lay claim to the $2,706 grand prize in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, which closed with a final purse of $6,013.

Laura Arth (4 firsts, 1 second) also connected with Elusive Motion.

The Mountaineer longshot allowed Arth to enter the winner’s enclosure following Wednesday night’s qualifier to the Spa & Surf Showdown here on August 3-4.

Speaking of the Spa & Surf Showdown, last year’s champion was Anthony Spinazzola—and he’ll be in the 2024 field as well.

After hitting $15.00 and $31.00 winners earlier in the day, Spinazzola cashed in with Bettrluckythangood ($25.20, $10.80) in the final contest race, the 9th back East at BAQ, and he earned himself a paid-up attempt to defend his 2023 title.

The other Thursday feature was our $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray which had a final pot of $7,672.

Tony Calabrese reeled in the up-top money of $3,452 thanks to 3 winners and 3 placers. His returns were topped by Princess Becca ($15.00, $6.80) in the 7th at BAQ. Princess Becca was one of three collections that Calabrese received from alternate selections.

On Friday, Zachary Agamenoni was a two-time winner.

His 2 firsts and 2 seconds resulted in a score of $56.20 and a victory in Friday’s 22-entry Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier. His highest payoff came on a max $22.00 place return from Comanche Peak, the runner up at 56-1 in race 9 at BAQ.

Agamenoni’s $56.20 score also held up in Friday’s 42-entry Haskell Handicapping Challenge qualifier.

Anthony DeCaspers (1 win, 5 places including Comanche Peak) finished 2nd and grabbed the other $500 entry.

We mentioned earlier that Neal Thomas holds a strong hand thus far in the 2024 HT Tour competition…but don’t count out the 2022 champion, Travis Pearson.

Pearson picked 5 winners and 2 runners up topped (narrowly) by Irish Rill ($11.60, $4.80) in the 7th at Monmouth. (That was one of two horses he won with that had “Irish” in their names.) The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for Pearson amounted to $9,950 in this $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray that had a final prize pool of $22,111. 

After a somnambulant first-half of his tourney, David Nelson came up with Irish Rill and two other winners.

Nelson prevailed in Friday’s Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge qualifier despite a low, less-than-flat-bet-profit score of $38.20. Pretty is as pretty does!

William Miller was another Irish Rill backer.

Miller compiled 6 wins and 1 place en route to a triumph worth $1,000 in bankrolls/entry fees in Friday’s play-in to the June 29-30 Hawthorne Summer Contests.

Dave “Gambling Acturary” Nichols had Lights of Broadway ($17.00, $6.20) in the 7th at Gulfstream, but in order to win on Friday, he needed to hit a 4-1 winner in the final contest race.

In all, Nichols finished the day with 3 visitors to the winner’s circle, and that sent Nichols, himself, to the winner’s circle following Friday’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier.

Friday’s gaudiest scorecard was turned in by Bob Meseke over at HorsePlayers.

Meseke had Irish Rill and Wicklow Gal ($10.60, $6.00) in the final contest race, the 10th at Gulfstream, among his 6 Friday winners and 2 Friday runners up. Meseke led the way in the day’s $75 NHC qualifier that also made 2013 Horseplayers World Series champ James Henry (4 wins, 2 places) and Mike Sylvester (5W, 3P) Vegas bound. Henry’s and Sylvester’s selections shined brightest from Lights of Broadway. 

Vineet Sharma squeezed out 3 winners and 4 places in Saturday’s qualifier to the Del Mar Summer Challenge. 

Bold Advance ($17.00, $5.40) in the 11th at Gulfstream was Sharma’s heaviest lifter on the way to a $6,500 package that includes a $500 travel stipend.

Mark Stillmock did all his scoring (3 winners, including 13-1 Simple Souvenir at Monmouth) over the first 4 Saturday contest races.

Stillmock held on from there to collect $9,261 in Saturday’s $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks Pick & Pray, which was ultimately worth a total of $13,230.

Simple Souvenir was one of four winners for Bob Gianquitti.

Gianquitti earned a $1,000 entry fee in Saturday’s satellite to the Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge on June 29 in Grand Prairie, Tex.

Over at HorsePlayers, Tim Kindlon (3 wins, 1 place) and Dave Duncan (6W, 0P) got the seats in Saturday’s $210 NHC Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers.

Kindlon had Simple Souvenir in his portfolio. Duncan’s success was backstopped by having the final three winners of the day—at odds of 3-1, 9-2 and 4-1.

Neal “Mad Bomber” Lamonica reeled in the $10,000 seat in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Pick & Pray. 

Lamonica booked 5 winners that paid between $3.80 and $11.80, and he also enjoyed 3 place collections. Leigh Van Winkle reported home second to garner a $5,000 partial BCBC entry.

There was also a qualifier on Saturday for the Hawthorne Summer Contests.

It was won by 2021 HT Tour champion Jorge Cruz-Aedo on the strength of 3 wins and 2 places. Also checking in with 3 wins and 2 places was runner up Steven Simonovic. They both benefited from Simple Souvenir at Monmouth.

As for Cruz-Aedo, he turned around on Sunday and won another $1,000 Hawthorne berth.

“Smooth Cruz” counted Have No Regrets ($46.80, $18.20) in the 10th at Monmouth among his 2 wins and 2 places. This time his partner-in-success was Ben Beychok (2W, 3P). Beychok’s best choice was Joe DiBaggio who jolted Beychok up the leaderboard by paying $33.00 to win and $11.00 to place in the 6th at Gulfstream.

Joe DiBaggio was the first of three big winners smoked out on Sunday by Eric “B Connected” Boyd (3W, 2P).

Boyd also found Have No Regrets ($46.80) and Oh Darlin ($25.40) on the road to victory in Sunday’s HT Tour battle, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a purse of $28,218. Boyd’s share of that came to $12,698. His score of $151.80 was the day’s best.

Thanks in large part to Have No Regrets, Terry Miller (3 firsts, 0 seconds) had no regrets about playing in Sunday’s $8,142 Big Bucks tourney.

Miller defeated 7 rivals and exited with the grand prize of $5,699 in the high-end, $1,150-entry-fee game.

Slow and steady won the race for Kelli Johnson in Sunday’s Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge qualifier.

Johnson chipped away with 5 winners ranging in price from $3.20 to $9.00, and she augmented that quintet with 4 place collections.

Last but not least, there were three players who captured $1,000 entries in Sunday’s play-in to the July 20 Haskell Handicapping Challenge.

Congratulations to Terry “Red Rock or Bust” Flanagan (5 wins, 1 place), Gary Wright (4W, 3P) and Dr. Ron Tang (3W, 0P). Flanagan came out swinging with Joe DiBaggio. Wright and Tang both went deep with Have No Regrets.

Thanks to all for playing. Next weekend, we’ll close out the month of June by sprinkling in a few cash features that will be run in All Optional Live format (10 plays to be chosen from approximately 20 eligible contest races). Hope to see you then!