When last we met, I was telling you how Andrew Walker had won $13,092 for emerging victorious in the Sunday, July 14, HT Tour cash game. 

Little did we know, he was just getting started.

On Friday, Walker (3 wins, 1 place) rode a pair of 24-1 winners to a triumph worth $9,201 in the day’s $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which finished up with a purse of $20,448.

Then, on Saturday, Walker did something I don’t believe has ever been done before. He won a third consecutive HT Tour game.

This time, Walker’s biggest winner was a mere 8-1 shot, but he piled up 6 winners in all, and he took home another $16,493 for annexing our richest tourney of the week, our $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which wound up paying out a total of $36,652.

For the back-to-back, Friday-Saturday wins, Walker raked in a total of $25,694. Going back to his July 14 victory, Walker earned $38,786.

Could Walker possibly off a fourth straight HT Tour heist??

Obviously not—or else I would have included such a feat in the headline of this blog! All kidding aside, kudos to A.J. Benton (6 wins, 0 places) for snapping Walker’s streak and collecting $13,485 in the process. That was the winner’s share of Sunday’s $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which offered up a final pot of $29,968. As a cherry on top for Benton, this was his second Sunday HT Tour triumph of 2024–which means a $500 bonus for him.

As for Walker, his failure to “Four-peat” was not for a lack of effort. He played two entries in the tourney won by Benton. Alas, Walker’s entries finished 59th and 89th. Shameful. We do, hope, however, that Walker busts out of this funk that he is mired in, and comes back to try again this Friday.

Another streak of sorts was on display at the beginning of the featured-tourney weak on Wednesday.

Dave “Gambling Actuary” Nichols trusted his tables and the results were victories in both our Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier and our $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney. Nichols received $2,550 in the cash game, which closed with a pot of $5,668. Nichols played the same 4-win, 2-place selections in both games, and his winners were topped by Deck of Cards ($20.80, $7.40) in race 7 at Saratoga.

Thursday’s cash-tourney star was Geoffrey Schutt (3 firsts, 1 second).

All three of Schutt’s winners paid double-digits, including Proctor Street ($36.80, $12.60) in the 9th at Saratoga. He was rewarded to the tune of $3,950 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which carried a final purse of $8,778.

For Matthew McJunkin, the heavy lifter on Thursday among 6 winners and 2 runners up was CFV Texas Red ($20.40, $8.00) in race 5 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

For those eight cashes, McJunkin was able to put a $2,500 Spa & Surf Showdown seat in his trunk. The $400,000 Gtd. event takes place here on August 3-4 (now less than two weeks away).

Friday was the beginning of a very nice weekend for NHC Hall of Famer Brett Wiener.

Wiener (4 wins, 2 places) was already double-qualified to the 2025 event, so he won’t get a seat for finishing first in Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. However, he should get a whole lot of NHC Tour points for this effort. He was in 17th place heading into last week. Look for that position to improve significantly once the standings are updated.

As for those who DID get seats in the $75 Friday get-together, congratulations the the 2nd-, 3rd- and 4th-place finishers Lorne Weiss (3 wins, 2 places), Allan Weston (3W, 2P) and Mark Heider (2W, 3P). They each had both Moha ($50.00, $13.40) in the 8th at Monmouth and Aunt Yola ($51.80, $12.80) in race 10 at Saratoga.

Getting back to Wiener, he had a quiet Saturday, but then came back strong on Sunday.

Wiener counted Kahuna Magic ($35.60, $10.40) among his 2 firsts and 3 seconds on Sunday. His total of $83.80 was good enough to land a $2,000 seat in our very first qualifier to our very first Pick & Pray Classic (November 23-24). 

Wiener wasn’t done.

The same picks also earned him a $750 spot in our BCBC Last Chance tourney on October 31 and a $2,500 berth into the September 7 Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge. 

Hopping back to Friday featured-tourney action, a couple of notable contest performers filled the top two spots—and earned $2,500 seats— in the day’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier.

Longtime contest stalwart Mike Labriola led the way with 5 wins and 1 place. The 2013 BCBC champ Peter Behr (4W, 1P) was the other contestant to crack triple figures. Labriola hit Moha. Behr painted a pretty picture with Aunt Yola.

Another $100+ scorer got the coveted $3,500 spot in Friday’s play-in to the October 12 BCBC/NHC Challenge.

That was Jeff Bussan, who compiled 4 winners (including Moha) and 1 runner up.

Aunt Yola paved the way for Chris Grutsch (2 wins, 2 places) on Friday.

Grutsch came away with the rich, $10,000 berth in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray.

There was also a Low Ratio Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers on Saturday, although this one was pegged to the NHC.

The winner was Haley Tinebra, who picked 5 straight winners late and 6 in all. Tinebra’s biggest hit came early with Full Screen ($18.20, $6.10) in race 8 at Saratoga.

The other Saturday feature at HorsePlayers was a barn burner that required the assistance of the HorseTourneys stewards (located just down the hall from the HorsePlayers office suite) to determine a victor.

Jim Herron and G.T. Nixon finished this $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier deadlocked at $81.90. After carefully studying all evidence at their disposal, the ROAP-accredited stewards found that Herron had picked 6 winners compared to 4 for Nixon, and the $10,000 seat would, therefore, go to Herron.

Sharp-eyed readers may have noted higher up that Alaska shipper Howard Welsh (fresh off a whale-watching expedition) got $2,565 for finishing 4th behind Andrew Walker in Saturday’s $36,652 Pick & Pray. Welsh (3 wins, 2 places) also pocketed $9,973 for taking Saturday’s $7,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a purse of $14,248. 

The victory was the second of the week for Welsh. Previously, he had captured a crab-leg-eating competition in downtown Ketchikan.

Saturday was our first qualifier to the recently-announced BCBC Last Chance tourney to be held here on Breeders’ Cup Eve—Thursday, October 31.

The two to secure $750 seats to the inaugural “BCBCLC” were George “Lorne” Henning (6 wins, 0 places) and Alfred Dagostini (3W, 2P). Henning’s biggest strike came with Tigerhon ($14.60, $6.60) in the 3rd at Del Mar. Dagostini’s largest profit came from Get Smokin ($20.20, $9.80), who won the United Nations Stakes over the Monmouth turf.

Saturday’s highest score could be found in our 29-entry Kentucky Downs King of the Turf qualifier.

Lyle Nordby did the honors ($133.30) with 5 wins and 3 places that included Get Smokin. Stephan Gravina (who won a Spa & Surf seat last week) came on strong to finish 2nd. He swept the final 5 races to wind up with 6 winners during the day. It was the same number of winners that Gravina picked en route to the Spa & Surf Showdown seat he earned 10 days earlier.

Get Smokin was common to the scorecards of John Gilpatrick (6 wins, 2 places) and William Claunch (4W, 1P).

They were the two to exit with Vegas berths at the conclusion of Saturday’s $165 NHC Pick & Pray. Gilpatrick’s day was largely the converse of Gravina’s. Gilpatrick recorded 6 firsts and 1 second over the first 8 contest races.

The champion of the 2016 The BIG One, Joe Pettit, was atop the leaderboard following Saturday’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier. 

Tigerhon was the headliner among Pettit’s 5-win, 3-place day. Also securing $2,500 seats for a week from Saturday were David Lupo (4W, 1P) and Jimmie O’Nail (4W, 0P). Lupo and O’Nail both O’nailed Full Screen.

The weekend winning wasn’t over for Pettit. On Sunday, he was best of 6 in our $6,106 Big Bucks game.

Pettit’s best collection across 3 firsts and 3 seconds came with Hush of a Storm ($16.80, $8.70) in race 11 at Saratoga.

Another player who, like Pettit, had a good Saturday and also a good Sunday was NHC Hall of Famer Bill Shurman.

Shurman (4 wins, 1 place) bagged a $3,500 Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge seat thanks in part to having 6-1 Tigerhon at Del Mar.

That $3,500 seat was small potatoes compared to the $6,000 entry he won in Saturday’s Del Mar Summer Challenge qualifier.

In this one, Shurman bested all except another Tigerhon fan, Daniel Kaplan (6 wins, 2 places).

Twenty-four hours late Shurman ensured that he would be competing at Del Mar with a very strong hand.

Moore’s Law ($30.40, $9.50) in the 10th at Saratoga was the star of the Shurman Sunday stable—which contained 2 winners and 3 runners up.

Another decorated contest player, Cheryl McIntyre, tasted Sunday success.

The 2016 NHC Tour champion counted Kahuna Magic ($35.60, $14.60) in the 6th at Del Mar among the 3 wins and 2 places that she put up in Sunday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge qualifier. She receives a $3,500 entry for October 12.

Four players punched their ticket on Sunday to the Spa & Surf Showdown.

Congratulations to Sunday’s high scorer Christian Orscher ($151.80 on 5 wins and 0 places), Clint Littlejohn (3W, 1P), Mike Lazarus (3W, 4P) and Anthony Laurino (3W, 2P). Orscher, Littlejohn and Lazarus all came up with Kahuna Magic. Laurino adhered to Moore’s Law.

I’ll be taking a few days off next weekend, so the next “recap” blog will come your way on Monday, August 5, following the Spa & Surf Showdown. Between now and then, McKay Smith will pen a blog about the new Pick & Pray Classic in November. Among other things, he will examine a bit of the history of the “set-it-and-forget-it” format that has proven highly popular around these parts.

Thanks for playing last week, and good luck to you over the next couple of weeks.