There are many things that can make you feel like you were punched in the gut during a tournament—losing a close photo…watching your horse receive a poor ride…getting taken down…etc., etc. An underrated kick in the teeth, though, is failing to enter a mandatory contest pick.

When misfortune strikes, it’s quite common to feel like you are now “chasing” the money/points you felt you should have had—and, of course, that can lead to even more bad developments. At least with photos and takedowns, however, you can eventually…theoretically…tell yourself that you were simply the victim of bad racing luck, and that someday that luck will turn in your favor.

Missing picks is different. Whether a function of getting distracted or losing internet service prior to having entered a selection, missed picks are almost always our own fault—and every contest player knows that winning is hard enough as it is without us beating ourselves. As painful as narrow defeats or DQs are, sometimes nothing says, “This is not your day!” more than a missed pick.

That’s what makes Hesham Ragab’s weekend so incredible.

With 5 wins and 2 places, Ragab collected $12,751 for capturing our richest tourney of the week, Saturday’s $25,000 gtd. tourney, which paid out a total of $28,336. Somehow, though, Ragab didn’t put a pick in for the 8th at Gulfstream—and, since this was a Live-format game, Ragab had to deal with the emotional fallout from his omission throughout the final two-thirds of the contest. Still, he prevailed.

Having made a mistake like that typically makes one vow, “I’ll never let that happen again!” But—as Woody Harrelson said to Rosie Perez near the end of “White Men Can’t Jump”—it happened again…just 24 hours later.

This time, it was race 1 at Del Mar on Sunday that Ragab omitted, yet he won again, taking home the $2,500 seat in the day’s Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge qualifier and…

…the $7,124 top prize in Sunday’s $10,177 Big Bucks game.

Make no mistake, hitting a 36-1 shot in the final contest race can make up for a multitude of sins. And maybe Ragab wouldn’t have had that bomb at the end if he hadn’t put himself in a hole early on.

Still…

A seasoned contest player making the exact same mistake two days in a row is kind of hard to believe in and of itself. Doing so in three different tournaments and winning all three absolutely strains the outer reaches of credulity. 

At any rate, congratulations to Hesham. And to those who wonder if perhaps he has unlocked a hidden secret to contest success, all we can say is, “Kids, don’t try this at home.”

Unfortunately for Jay Johns, Ragab’s feats bumped Johns from the early paragraphs. However, the 2022 NHC Tour champion accomplished a highly rare feat in his own right—he won two NHC seats in one day.

The $165 qualifier here at HorseTourneys was extremely competitive. Johns and fellow seat winner A.J. Benton both connected with late-tourney longshots Ski Country ($53.50, $14.60 in the 9th at Saratoga) and Omaha Girl ($74.60, $21.40 in the 4th at Del Mar). Look at the scores, though, posted by 3rd- and 4th-place finishers Terrence Frank and John Hayes. They finished 60 cents and $2.20, respectively, behind Benton—each with scores over $150—and neither got so much as a breakage refund.

Getting back to the rare double by Johns, it isn’t often that the NTRA elects to offer two qualifiers here on the same day, but on Sunday they scheduled a Low Ratio game at HorsePlayers along with the $165 counterpart at HorseTourneys.

Thus, in the span of 2 1/2 hours, Johns went from no seats at the 2025 NHC to two (although he already had enough NHC Tour points to be virtually assured of at least one seat next March).

The featured-tourney week began on Wednesday, when Michael Santiago only managed to pick one winner.

Happily for Santiago, that victor was Saisir Le Jour ($45.40, $17.00). That big price along with two place collections allowed Santiago to seize the day, indeed. He won $2,765 in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, which wound up with a final purse of $5,530. 

On Thursday, Kenneth Arnerich had a very different day, stylistically at least, than Michael Santiago. 

Instead of one big hit, Arnerich compiled 5 winners—none paying more than $8.50. To that quintet, Arnerich added one runner up, and he pocketed the up-top money of $3,670 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray, which paid out a total of $8,156. Arnerich got the job done despite missing the day’s lone double-digit winner, a 7-1 shot.

Two days later, Arnerich didn’t overlook the day’s biggest-priced winner.

Arnerich had Bingo’s Boy ($24.40, $9.00) in the 8th at Monmouth among his 3 firsts and 2 seconds. This cash-game victory for Arnerich was worth $5,699 in a $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks battle that closed its doors with $8,142 in the kitty.

There were a couple of notable-in-hindsight performances on Friday. One of those was turned in by Ivar Cuellar in the day’s Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC qualifier.

Cuellar authored the complete-game victory, going all 10 frames with 4 firsts and 2 seconds. His best return came courtesy of September Magic ($19.80, $9.80) in race 3 at Del Mar.

Two days later, Cuellar’s triumph was made a bit ironic by that of his brother Ilan’s in a qualifier to the very same event.

Ilan joined his brother in the October 12th Keeneland field. Ilan’s hero was Villain ($42.40, $19.00) in the 9th at Monmouth. That was one of two winners for Cuellar–though even his lone runner up played like a winner. It returned $21.60 in the place hole.

Jumping back to Friday, Dale Hatfield (5 wins, 3 places) and Christian Orscher (4W, 2P) came away with the $2,000 berths in our qualifier to the inaugural Pick & Pray Classic, a $300,000 Gtd. event here on Nov. 23-24.

Hatfield and Orscher both profited from the selection of R.B.’s Tiger ($30.80, $11.00)  in the first contest race, the 1st at Del Mar. (It was a later-than-usual Friday slate of featured-tourney races due to very rainy conditions in the East.)

On Sunday, Orscher came back to grab some cash on the barrelhead to go with his $2,000 Pick & Pray Classic seat.

Orscher came up with both 20-1 Villain and 36-1 Omaha Girl—plus 3 other winners and 1 runner up to rake in $12,206 in Sunday’s $20,000 Guaranteed tourney, which finished up with a purse of $27,125.

One Friday performance was extra notable without having to look forward to subsequent victories.

The HT Tour leader coming in to the week was Neal Thomas—and he extended that lead on Friday by capturing our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray. Thomas (5 wins, 2 places) hit R.B.’s Tiger early and caught a max $22.00 place payoff late with 37-1 runner up John Dunbar in race 8 at Del Mar. For Thomas, it all meant a first prize of $9,276 in an HT Tour event ultimately worth a total of $20,615.

Three players won seats in Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Congratulations to NHC Hall of Famer Dennis Decauwer (6 wins, 0 places), Edward Barengo (2W, 3P) and Robert Mack (2W, 3P). They all got off to fast beginnings with R. B.’s Tiger. Barengo and Mack both had John Dunbar in the finale.

Another R.B.’s Tiger fan was Steven Meier (3 firsts, 2 seconds)

Meier exited with the $2,500 entry in Friday’s qualifier to the September 7 Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge.

September Magic was the heavy lifter on Friday for David Nelson.

Nelson (3 wins, 1 place) picked up a $750 entry for taking Friday’s play-in to the BCBC Last Chance Tourney here on Breeders’ Cup Eve, October 31. 

Saturday’s tourneys had a poor beginning for Ronald Tang and a delightful finish.

Tang whiffed on his first 6 plays, but he amassed 3 winners (all paying double-digits) and 1 runner up en route to a come-from-behind victory in Saturday’s Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge.

The same “slow-early, fast-late” selections also got Tang first place in Saturday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier.

Tang will be joined in the starting gate of the fourth and final leg of the HorseTourneys Grand Slam by runner up James Lisowsky (4 wins, 0 places). The top earner for both was Night Jumper ($23.60, $10.00) in race 9 at Gulfstream.

Greg Vishnevsky also had Night Jumper.

Vishnevsky recorded 3 firsts and 1 second en route to victory in Saturday’s BCBC Last Chance Tourney qualifier.

The 2021 The BIG One champion Ken Seeman picked three Saturday winners, and they were the day’s three biggest.

Seeman parlayed the winning efforts of Bingo’s Boy, Night Jumper and Naughty Rascal ($18.00, $6.40 in the 10th at Gulfstream) into a $3,500 entry into the October 12 Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge.

The two players to eclipse the $90.00 mark were the two to emerge with $4,000 entries in our first qualifier to the August 31 Del Mar Pacific Classic Challenge.

Craig Siedler led the way with 5 wins and 1 place. He and runner up Jim Colbert (also 5W, 1P) each hit Night Jumper. For Colbert, Night Jumper began a run of 5 winners over the final 6 contest races.

All four of Rocky Hardy’s winners paid double digits.

Hardy (4 firsts, 2 seconds) was a narrow, $2.40 winner over Jeff Bussan in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers. Hardy came away with the $10,000 entry, while Bussan received a $5,000 partial entry for finishing second. 

The other Saturday feature at HorsePlayers was a $165 NHC qualifier that was restricted to those who had yet to secure a seat to the 2025 event.

Jeff Arthur won the Vegas seat on the strength of 3 wins and 4 places. His final place collection—a $4.00 return in the contest nightcap—allowed Arthur to retain his lead over a hard charging Ellen Patrick-Leavell, who had the 2-1 final-race winner.

Damian Roncevich seems to really zero in on any Del Mar qualifiers that we offer, and Sunday’s Pacific Classic Challenge qualifier was his latest conquest. 

Roncevich won the $4,000 seat by a whopping $50.80, thanks to 4 winners that included toteshakers Ski Country at Saratoga and Omaha Girl at Del Mar.

Jared Quigley also hit Omaha Girl at the end.

Quigley (3 wins, 1 place) now has a paid-up $2,000 entry into the $300,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic.

Villain turned out to be a much-loved horse as far as John Rice was concerned on Sunday.

The 20-1 Monmouth race 9 winner was a springboard to success for Rich (2 firsts, 2 seconds) in Sunday’s qualifier to the October 31 BCBC Last Chance Tourney.

Over at HorsePlayers, Thomas Michael Abinanti counted 25-1 Ski Country among his 3 wins and 3 places.

Abinanti earned the $10,000 scholarship in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier.

Featured-tourney action resumes on Wednesday, and we’ll be back next Monday with more recaps. In the meantime, may most of your horses run well—and may all of your contest selections be entered on time!