In some respects, the week gone by ended the same way it began—with triumphs by Jim Cuzzupe.

The Mid-Atlantic native landed a spot in next month’s $400,000 Gtd, Spa & Surf Showdown on Wednesday by putting up 4 straight winners and 5 winners and 2 places for the day. His top victor went off at 5-1. The other seat winner in this Wednesday play-in was William “23” Sadoo, who took the opposite approach. Sadoo recorded 2 firsts and 5 seconds, with one of those winners being Diamond Solitaire ($22.80, $7.60) in race 7 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Four days later, Cuzzupe closed out the month of June by adding a $1,000 Haskell Handicapping Challenge berth to his portfolio.

Again, Cuzzupe didn’t have the biggest winner of the day, but his 5 wins and 4 places did include Turnsandconditions ($17.40, $4.60) in race 10 at Monmouth (which, by the clock, turned out to be the next-to-last contest race on Sunday). The other $1,000 seat earner was runner up Ted “Forbidden” Apple (5W, 1P). The champion of the 2020 The BIG One did come up with the biggest price available to him—Alpine Thunder ($26.60, $6.60) in the 9th at Monmouth.

Rewinding back to Wednesday action, Will “Pink” Loyd (5 wins, 2 places) smoked out the biggest price of the day in Win Me Over ($27.80, $12.40 in the 8th at Horseshoe Indy) and that allowed him to win over the Wednesday cash-game feature.

Loyd collected $2,861 for taking Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, which closed with a final purse of $6,359.

Diamond Solitaire was the most lustrous selection by Gregory Lewis on Wednesday. 

That flawless pick plus 4 other winners and 2 places brought Lewis the $1,000 entry in Wednesday’s Haskell Handicapping Challenge qualifier.

On Thursday, the only name you needed to know was Michael Goodrich.

“The Coach” (2 firsts, 3 seconds) nailed River Boy ($34.60, $16.20) midway through the day in the 5th at Horseshoe Indy, then he held off Evan Trommer by 50 cents at the end to bag $3,701 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed its doors with a final pot of $8,225.

The same selections also put Goodrich atop the leaderboard in Thursday’s other featured event.

Goodrich will now be in action on August 3-4 with a paid-up $2,500 spot in the third leg of the 2024 HorseTourneys Grand Slam, the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown.

Friday was a good day for past winners of HorseTourneys “majors.”

Last year’s Flo-Cal Faceoff champion, attorney David Wolff, hit up HorseTourneys for $9,426 worth of billable hours after taking Friday’s HT Tour event, our $15,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray, which paid out a total of $20,947. Wolff (5 wins, 1 place) had a sweet hit with Forever Chocolate ($25.50, $7.80) in race 6 at Monmouth, then he closed things out with winners at 4-1 and 7-1 in the final two contest races.

The winner of Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier was our 2022 Spa & Surf Showdown champ.

That would be Tim Hughes, whose 4 firsts and 2 second included Forever Chocolate and also Pacific Rose ($17.00, $7.00) in race 8 at Monmouth.

Forever Chocolate was common to the scorecards of Chris “Hoss” Inman (5 wins, 2 places), Ryan Tyreman (5W, 1P) and Lawrence Kahlden (5W, 2P).

Inman, Tyreman and Kahlden got the three cut-rate berths in Friday’s other featured tourney at HorsePlayers, our $75 NHC qualifier.

John Northern quilted together an assortment of 6 winners and 1 runner up on Friday.

Northern saw his name in lights after he captured Friday’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier. Joining Northern in the Showdown starting gate will be qualifier runner up Brian Graziano (6W, 1P). Northern and Graziano both scored at the end with 7-1 Pacific Rose in the 8th at Monmouth.

The two players to reach the $80.00 mark were the two to exit with $1,000 entries in Friday’s play-in to the July 20 Haskell Handicapping Challenge. 

Congratulations to Tyler Hoffman (3 wins, 1 place) and David Browning (3W, 0P). They both benefited from 11-1 Forever Chocolate in the 6th at Monmouth.

The star of the day on Saturday was “Pistol” Pete Acocella, who fired off two victories plus a third seat-winning effort.

Acocella compiled 4 wins and 1 place to lead the way in Saturday’s Haskell Handicapping Challenge qualifier, which also saw Nick “529” Fazzolari (3W, 1P) and John W. Matviko pick up $1,000 entries. The trio all bagged John the Bear ($30.80, $7.60) in the 7th at Laurel. 

The same selections also left Acocella on top of the heap in Saturday’s play-in to the Spa & Surf Showdown.

In this one, Acocella shared the post-tourney podium with the only other triple-digit scorer, Raj Satyan (3 wins, 4 places). Like Acocella, Satyan doped out John the Bear.

Acocella’s non-first-place effort on Saturday actually garnered him his most lucrative return of the day.

Acocella and his $108.00 tally placed second behind Jack Schwartz (4 wins, 1 place) in Saturday’s $165 NHC qualifier. In addition to having John the Bear, Schwartz focused in on Zapruder ($23.80, $10.80) in the final contest race, the 11th at BAQ.

Saturday’s HT Tour event, our $25,000 Guaranteed tourney was contested in All Optional Live format with players making 10 plays from 20 available contest races. The winner was our 2021 HT Tour champ Jorge Cruz-Aedo…and the victory brought a multitude of benefits for “Smooth Cruz.”

First—and most obvious—Cruz-Aedo got the winner’s share of $13,505 from the final pot of $30,012. Also, this was his second Saturday HT Tour triumph of the year for him, meaning he gets a $500 bonus (and $1,000 for any subsequent Saturday HT Tour wins this year). 

Lastly, the victory moved Cruz-Aedo up from 4th to 2nd in the mid-year HT Tour standings, which concluded on Sunday. For finishing 2nd at this midpoint, Cruz-Aedo receives $2,500. 

Meanwhile, current HT Tour leader Neal Thomas gets $5,000 and Eric “B Connected” Boyd earns $1,000 for being 3rd at this point.

The big horse of the day for Craig “Home Sweet” Hom was Into It ($23.60, $8.00) in the 10th at BAQ.

Hom, who did most of his damage late in the tourney, cashed for $9,973 in Saturday’s $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks game, which was ultimately worth a total of $14,248.

Damian Roncevich (3 firsts, 1 second) had Into It…and John the Bear before that.

Roncevich is now into the July 27-28 Del Mar Summer Challenge.

Saturday’s highest score was the $111.60 put up at HorsePlayers by George Manglaris (5 firsts, 3 seconds).

Manglaris finished with a flourish, sweeping the final 3 contest races that included a win by Zapruder ($23.80, $10.80) in the 11th at BAQ. He thereby earned a $10,000 seat in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier.

There were two All Optional Live games (our two cash features) on Sunday. In our $20,000 Guaranteed tourney, Albion “A.J.” Benton gave something of a masterclass in playing the format.

Making 10 plays from 19 available contest races this day, Benton managed to zero in on Z Dancer ($62.00, $29.20) in the 7th at BAQ (which wasn’t part of our 12-race featured schedule), Alpine Thunder ($26.60, $6.60) in the 9th at Monmouth, plus a $25.20 winner. To that trio, he added one runner up, and Benton was the recipient of the winner’s share of $11,714 in an HT Tour event that was worth a total of $26,031.

Sunday’s $7,124 Big Bucks tourney was also an All Optional Live affair.

Like Benton, Howard Welsh smoked out Z Dancer, and his reward for that plus one other winner was $4,986.

Joel Wincowski (4 wins, 5 places) and Blake Courtney (4W, 1P) were the two Sunday winners of $2,500 entries in our play-in to the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown.

Wincowski’s heaviest lifter was Alpine Thunder while the best return for runner up Courtney came with Turnsandconditions ($17.40, $4.60) in race 10 at Monmouth.

Over at HorsePlayers, Edgar “Bringer of” Rayner (5 wins, 2 places) ran off a string of 4 straight winners, capped off by Alpine Thunder.

Rayner reigned supreme in Sunday’s $165 NHC qualifier. Also earning a 2025 Vegas berth was the only other $90.00+ scorer, Michael Owens, who hit both Alpine Thunder and Turnsandconditions.

Lastly, Craig Siedler counted Alpine Thunder among his 3 firsts and 2 seconds.

Siedler was a $10,000 seat in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier. 

We have a big holiday weekend ahead. It includes a special $15,000 Guaranteed cash game on Thursday, the Fourth—and a $125 NHC qualifier (with 3 seats gtd.) that day as well over at HorsePlayers. Sounds like a day worth celebrating! Hope to see you then.