Thanks largely to the Indiana Derby Day card at Horseshoe Indianapolis, big prices were in high supply on Saturday—despite the fact that we offered just nine contest races due to a late and somewhat surprising heat cancellation at Delaware. (We say “surprising” because Delaware ran during similarly hot conditions the previous two weekends…and also just 24 hours later on Sunday, July 7.)

At any rate, two players who did an excellent job of ferreting out the Saturday prices that remained out there were Andy Asaro and Mark Wilgard.

Asaro rocketed out of the gate with two Horseshoe Indy winners that paid $21.40 and $28.40, respectively, in the first two contest races of Saturday’s HT Tour event, our $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $29,260. Asaro added one more Indy winner and four places thereafter to take home the top prize of $13,167. (It was also his second Saturday HT Tour victory of the year for Asaro, meaning he gets a $500 bonus. Any subsequent HT Tour triumphs on Saturday will earn him a $1,000 premium.)

The same selections also brought Asaro a $2,500 seat for the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown here on August 3-4. 

Like Asaro, Jeff Higgins (4 wins, 1 place) also had that early pair of winners at Horseshoe Indy. Higgins finished closest to Asaro and received the other available berth in what will be Leg 3 of the 2024 HorseTourneys Grand Slam.

On Saturday, five of the nine contest-race winners paid more than $20.00. Mark Wilgard came up with four of those winners.

Wilgard had the “early double” at Indy, followed up immediately by Sin Nombre ($68.00, $28.00) in the 7th at BAQ. He led a group of three $1,000 seat winners in Saturday’s Haskell Handicapping Challenge qualifier that also saw Matthew “Hey” Abbott (4 winners, including Sin Nombre) and Kirk Tesar (3W, 2P) punch their cybertickets to the July 20 online competition.

For Wilgard, the $1,000 Haskell seat was far from the highlight of his holiday weekend.

On Thursday, the Fourth of July, Wilgard snatched victory (or 3rd place, at least) from the jaws of defeat by doing all his scoring (2 wins, 3 places) in the final five contest races and getting up for the third and final seat by 20 cents over Donna Detro in the day’s $125 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. Those later races was clearly where the money was on Thursday. Atop the leaderboard here was Chris Weikel (3 wins, 4 places), who made collections in the final three tourney races. Finishing second was Robert Bertolucci (3W, 3P) who, like Wilgard, chipped up in each of the final five contest heats.

We were gushing earlier about all the big prices on Saturday. Wednesday was no slouch either.

Five of the 10 Wednesday winners paid more than $20.00. Four of those five returned $34.60 or more. Among his 3 hits, Michael Santiago had $34.60 and $35.60 winners—and those were his two lowest. Santiago also smoked out Marathoner ($50.80, $15.60) in the 7th at Delaware, and he pocketed the top prize of $3,297 in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, which closed with a final pot of $7,327.

Michael Caposio (2 wins, 1 place) and Craig Amundson (2W, 2P) both went the distance with Marathoner.

They were the two to merit $1,000 berths in Wednesday’s Haskell Handicapping Challenge qualifier.

The big horse for Raj Satyan was South Decatur ($36.00, $15.60) in race 7 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

South Decatur was one of two winners for Satyan en route to victory in Wednesday’s Spa & Surf Showdown play-in.

On the Fourth of July, Jim Trepinski lit up the sky with 4 winners—all of which paid double digits. 

The one of the four that brought the most “oohs and ahs” from the crowd was Professor’s Pride ($35.20, $10.40) in race 6 at Los Alamitos. Trepinski cashed for $10,249 in Thursday’s HT Tour event, a special $15,000 Guaranteed holiday Pick & Pray that ultimately was worth a total of $22,776.

Our 2020 Spa & Surf Showdown champion Scott Fiedler (4 firsts, 1 second) hit the last 2 contest races, including Professor’s Pride.

As a result, Fiedler will now have a “free” shot on August 3-4 of becoming the first-ever two-time winner of the Spa & Surf Showdown.

The top of the leaderboard was tight with one race to go in Thursday’s Haskell Handicapping Challenge qualifier. George “Ki-” Bosch (3 wins, 5 places) elevated himself from 4th to 1st thanks to a $15.00 place return from Grainne O’Malley in the 7th at Los Al.

Joining Bosch in the Haskell Handicapping Challenge starting gate will be runner up Jerald Segall, whose 2-win, 1-place day included Professor’s Pride.

Over at HorsePlayers, there was a Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray on the Fourth of July program.

The fortunes of Brian Agee (3 wins, 1 place) exploded when he connected with Hayley Levade ($25.80, $8.60) in the 5th at Los Alamitos, and he went on to capture the $10,000 entry for November.

There was also a Breeders’ Cup Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers on Friday. The winner was David “The Great” Santoni.

As was the custom for the week, all three of Santoni’s winners paid double-digits. They were topped by Condora ($20.00, $9.20) in the 7th at Gulfstream.

Friday’s biggest price was Island Fox ($31.20, $10.40) in race 9 at BAQ. All three of the 2025 seat winners in the day’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers were on that one.

Congratulations to Phil Hoedebeck (5 wins, 1 place), Jeff Bussan (5W, 1P) and 2022 NHC champ David Harrison (4W,1P), who is now double qualified in his quest to become the first two-time NHC winner.

Rickie Brouillard (3 wins, 2 places) and Turner West (3W, 3P) both scored big with Island Fox.

They were the two to secure $2,500 spots in Friday’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier. West got second by the slim margin of 40 cents over Aaron Reed.

Another Island Fox fan was Peter Kovic.

Kovic (3 firsts, 1 second) had Island Fox plus Amelia Bleu ($23.40, $11.40) in the final contest race (LRC5), and he got the up-top money of $9,351 in Friday’s HT Tour battle, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed its doors with a total of $20,781 in the kitty.

Matthew Walsh (4 wins, 1 place) nailed the final two winners, including Amelia Bleu at the end.

Walsh and Gary Machiz (3W, 4P) came away with the $1,000 passes in Friday’s qualifier to the Haskell Handicapping Challenge. Machiz’s top charge was Condora ($20.00, $9.20) in the 7th at Gulfstream.

We already covered the Saturday exploits of Andy Asaro and Mark Wilgard. However, the day’s highest scorer with a tally of $173.30 was Guy “Condredge” Holloway (5 wins, 1 place).

Holloway’s scoresheet in this $210 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers contained cap horse Sin Nombre ($68.00, $28.00) in race 7 at BAQ. The same could be said of runner up Michael Guadagno (3W, 4P), who will be joining Holloway at the NHC next March.

The other Saturday featured tourney at HorsePlayers was a $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Pick & Pray.

Shawn Pilar showed strength in this one, recording 5 firsts and 2 seconds. His top return on the way to his $10,000 seat came with Hoosier Daddy Now ($28.20, $11.80) in race 7 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Stephen Caso had Hoosier Daddy Now early on. Then he finished fast with four straight winners at the end.

Caso (5 winners, 0 places) grabbed the $6,500 package in Saturday’s play-in to the July 27-28 Del Mar Summer Challenge.

All of Saturday’s featured-tourney winners racked up totals in the triple digits—with the exception of Steve Duffield (2 wins, 3 places). He got the job done with a tally of $52.60.

Not surprisingly, this result occurred in Saturday’s 7-entry, $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks Pick & Pray, in which Duffield bagged the top prize of $4,986. His two winners came at the very end. One of them was Chatalas ($23.80, $9.00) in race 11, the Indiana Oaks, at Horseshoe Indy.

Unlike the previous days of the week when there seemed to be a plethora of good-priced winners around which to build one’s score, there was really only one big horse to have (and it was a doozy)—Town Kisser ($84.60, $32.00 in the 6th at Monmouth (the first contest race). That one was the only winner of the day for Sherry “Hit ‘em where they” Arndt.

In fairness to Arndt, she did add 6 runners up to that lone winner. (Aren’t you impressed now?) Arndt earned the $12,009 grand prize in Sunday’s HT Tour game, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which wound up with a final pot of $26,687.

Ed Reidy (3 wins, 4 places) and 2021 Flo-Cal Faceoff champion Alan Levitt (1W, 2P) both doped out Town Kisser. 

Reidy and Levitt picked up Vegas berths in Sunday’s $165 NHC qualifier here at HorseTourneys.

Another player who embraced Town Kisser was Shad Walton (2 firsts, 4 seconds).

Walton was the victor in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio play-in at HorsePlayers.

In Sunday’s Haskell Handicapping Challenge qualifier, Mike Lazarus (1 win, 1 place) led a group of three $1,000 seat winners that also included Peter Rogers (5W, 2P) and Kirk Rockwell (6W, 0P).

As you might have guessed, Lazarus had Town Kisser. Rogers and Rockwell did not—but they each swept the final three contest races. One of their late winners was Keep Your Coil ($11.40, $4.20) in race 4 at Los Alamitos.

The 2022 Flo-Cal Faceoff winner, David Snyder, led the way in Sunday’s qualifier to the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown.

Snyder (4 wins, 2 places) had Town Kisser, as did runner up Adam Lewis (2W, 1P). The third and final available $2,500 entry went to Frank “Plaster of” Paros, who missed on Town Kisser, but didn’t miss much thereafter. Paros compiled 7 winners (all of the single-digit variety) and 3 second-place finishers.

The highest-priced winner for Damian Roncevich (3 firsts, 3 seconds) went off at 7-2. His biggest return came from Big Hazel, who paid $14.00 to place after finishing second in the 7th race at BAQ. None of that kept him from prevailing in Sunday’s Del Mar Summer Challenge qualifier.

For Roncevich, it is already the second $6,500 package he has won here for the July 27-28 on-track event. Obviously, Roncevich will be heading into it with a pretty strong hand.

The best return for Hayden Leibrock (2 wins, 5 places) also came courtesy of Big Hazel. In fact, Leibrock’s biggest winner paid just $4.20.

No matter. Leibrock’s score of $43.90 carried the day in Sunday’s $7,142 Big Bucks tourney. Leibrock’s winner’s share amounted to $4,986.

Sunday also offered our first qualifier to the September 7 Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge.

Congratulations to the two players who garnered $2,500 entries here—Nick “48 Hrs.” Noce (2 wins, 1 place) and Rafael Lopez (6W, 2P).

Town Kisser was by far the heavy lifter for Noce, who won by more than $25.00. Lopez got it done with winners ranging in price from $2.60 to $9.60 plus a couple of small place payoffs on runners up.

Thanks to all of you for spending a portion of your holiday weekend with us. As you are probably already aware, Saratoga will join the mix starting on Thursday. We’ll also be hosting our first qualifier to the always-popular Keeneland BCBC/NHC Challenge. 

We’ll be back in this space next Monday for more happy recaps. Until then, good luck!