When the week began, Eric “B Connected” Boyd was less than half a point behind leader Neal Thomas in the 2024 HT Tour standings. When the updated standings come out later today or tomorrow, there may well be a new leader.

Boyd had Western Grit ($19.20, $8.20) in the 4th at Del Mar among his 4 wins and 2 places on Friday. The half dozen collections earned Boyd the winner’s share of $8,603 in Friday’s HT Tour game, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $19,118.

For Boyd, the best was yet to come.

On Sunday, Boyd (5 firsts, 1 second) came up with Fields of Green ($27.20, $11.20) in the first contest race (GP7). Two races later at the Hallandale, Fla., oval, Boyd was buoyed by Cindylouwho ($24.80, $9.20). Even Boyd’s runner up played like a winner. It paid $20.60 to place. The result was a victory worth $11,320 in Sunday’s $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which paid out a total of $25,156. The two HT Tour victories this week were Boyd’s 7th and 8th of 2024, and they brought him a total of $19,923.

Boyd didn’t win all the cash games around here, however. The first of the week came on Wednesday, when it was Curtis Adams who prevailed.

Adams picked 3 winners and 2 runners up to claim the top prize of $2,892 in Wednesday’s $5,000 guaranteed tourney, which closed with a pot of $6,428. His top return came via Backed by Gold ($23.00, $10.20) in race 7 at Saratoga.

The other Wednesday feature was a qualifier to this coming Saturday’s Monmouth BCBC/NHC contest. 

Qualifiers to this upcoming, Brian Skirka-run competition were popular last week. Seventeen seats at $800 each were fought for between Wednesday and Sunday. The first three of those 17 went to Thomas Kolschowsky (4 wins, 3 places), Jerry McClenin (2W, 3P) and David Browning (5W, 0P).

Craig Popowcer got the up-top money of $3,888 in Thursday’s cash feature—our $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which was ultimately worth a total of $8,640.

Popowcer’s big horse was Here Comes Braylon ($60.80, $20.60) in race 6 at Del Mar.

Steven Meier (2 wins, 2 places) and “Pistol” Pete Acocella (1W, 2P) both saw Here Comes Braylon coming.

Meier and Acocella were the two winners in Thursday’s qualifier to the $300,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic here on November 23-24. The inaugural Pick & Pray Classic serves as the final leg of the 2024 HorseTourneys Grand Slam series.

Friday was a doubly good day for John “The Clocker” Nichols.

The best Friday winner for Nichols (3 wins, 3 places) was Mixologist ($10.20, $5.40), who was elevated by the stewards from 2nd to 1st following the running of the 10th race at Saratoga. The move-up helped Nichols reel in the $2,500 entry in Friday’s qualifier to the Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge.

As alluded to earlier, that was one of two victories for Nichols on Friday.

The same selections also supplied him with a $2,000 spot in November’s Pick & Pray Classic.

For Edward “Wright Stuff” Wright (4 wins, 2 places), the heavy lifter was Western Grit ($19.20, $8.20) in the 4th at Del Mar.

Wright came away with the $1,000 berth in our very first qualifier to the September 14 Woodbine Mile Challenge.

Edward also had the Wright stuff in Friday’s Monmouth BCBC/NHC qualifier.

Wright came in third here and was one of five to exit with $800 entries. The others were NHC Hall of Famer Dennis Decauwer (4 wins, including Western Grit, and 4 places), Gregory Lewis (4W, 3P), Tyler Hoffman (3W, 1P) and Nick “529” Fazzolari (3W, 0P).

In Friday’s 7th race at Monmouth, Robert Dawson’s prayers were answered by St. Anthony ($21.20, $8.40).

To that victory in the first contest race of the day, Dawson added 3 more winners and 3 runners up. He earned the $750 berth in Friday’s qualifier to the October 31 BCBC Last Chance Tourney.

Stephan Gravina (4 firsts, 3 seconds) also gave thanks to St. Anthony.

Gravina grabbed the $3,500 scholarship in Friday’s play-in to the October 12 Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge.

David Brownfield (4 wins, 2 places), Nicholas “Magilla” Shirilla (4W, 2P) and Michael Odorisio all had St. Anthony.

The Monmouth race 7 winner helped Brownfield, Shirilla and Odorisio find the victory podium at the conclusion of Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Last week, we wrote of how Ilan Cuellar and his brother Ivar each won Keeneland Fall Challenge seats. This past week, Ilan was back in the winner’s circle.

Ilan (4 wins, 1 place) used St. Anthony as his inspiration in winning Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier. There were enough entries in this one for two $10,000 seats to be awarded. The other one went to runner up Ryan Petrunyak (4W, 2P). Petrunyak’s four winners came consecutively, and they included 8-1 Western Grit at Del Mar.

After winning three tourneys the previous week, Hesham Ragab (5 wins, 2 places) stayed hot by capturing Saturday’s HT Tour event, our $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $29,260.

One of Ragab’s winners was Grayosh ($17.60, $5.10) in the Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga. Ragab used a novel approach in this one. He entered selections in all 12 contest races on the way to the $13.167 grand prize. In Ragab’s three victories (over two days) the week prior, he missed a pick in each.

NHC Hall of Famer Bill Shurman had a very nice Saturday.

Shurman (3 wins, including Grayosh, plus 3 places) led a quartet of $800 seat winners that included the other three players to reach the $50.00 mark—Bernard Reilly (4W, 4P), Michael Guadagno (2W, 3P) and Kevin Engelhard (2W, 4P). All will be in action this Saturday in the Monmouth BCBC/NHC contest.

With the same picks, Shurman also finished first in Saturday’s play-in to the August 31 Del Mar Pacific Classic Challenge.

Thanks to high participation levels, two $4,000 entries went flying out the door in this one. The second spot went to runner up Rafael Lopez (5 wins, 5 places). The top winner for Lopez returned $8.20.

Lopez’s Saturday strategy of frequent cashing also got him a $2,000 Pick & Pray Classic berth.

Lopez bested all but Frank Fosbre (5 firsts, 1 second). Fosbre scored with both Grayosh in the Lake Placid and Power Squeeze in the Alabama.

The best return for both Steve Taracks (5 wins, 5 places) and Dean “The Dream” Malizia (5W, 4P) came with Game Warden ($12.60, $4.80) in race 8 at Saratoga.

Taracks and Malizia emerged with the Vegas berths in Saturday’s $165 NHC Pick & Pray.

Schimpf and Schnepf won on Saturday.

John Schimpf, recent runner-up (and $74,970 earner) in the Spa & Surf Showdown added another chapter to his Happy August story by pulling in a $2,500 entry in Saturday’s Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge qualifier. His portfolio of 5 firsts and 2 seconds was highlighted by Power Squeeze ($14.80, $6.80), the narrow-margin heroine of the Alabama Stakes at the Spa.

Max Schnepf, meanwhile, booked 3 early winners (including Grayosh) on Saturday.

To that trio, Schnepf added a pair of runners up, and he went on to secure the $3,500 ducat to the October 12 Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge.

Another Grayosh fan was Max Letexier (6 wins, 1 place).

Letexier was Le winner of Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers. Stu Kantor checked in second to earn a $5,000 partial BCBC entry.

Andrew Walker (3 wins, 0 places) hit Power Squeeze in the middle of the featured-tourney day in the Alabama, then finished up strong with 7-2 and 5-1 winners in the final two contest races, the 5th and 6th at Del Mar.

The late rally allowed Walker to rake in $7,836 in Saturday’s $7,000 Gtd. Big Bucks Pick & Pray, which closed its doors with $11,195 in the kitty.

On Sunday, Vineet Sharma was ultra strong.

Sharma got off to a fast start with Fields of Green ($27.20, $11.20) in the 7th at Gulfstream, and he added 2 wins and 1 place thereafter to collect $5,699 in Sunday’s $8,142 Big Bucks tourney.

The same picks also allowed Sharma to clean up in Sunday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge qualifier.

Sharma also the top dog in Sunday’s Del Mar Pacific Classic Challenge qualifier.

Sharma’s haul totaled $5,699 in cash and $7,500 worth of contest seats. Quite a day!

G.T. Nixon (3 wins, 3 places) had an extra nice day in his own right. 

The pride of Port Jervis, N.Y., defeated all but Kirk Tesar (5W, 1P) in Sunday’s Pick & Pray Classic play-in. The top two each garnered $2,000 seats. Both saw their fortunes soar with Fields of Green in race 7 at Gulfstream and with Cindylouwho ($24.80, $9.20) in race 9 at the House of Aiello.

Nixon was also one of five participants to snag $800 entries in Sunday’s Monmouth BCBC/NHC qualifier.

The other four were Anthony Mastropietro (4 wins, 1 place), Gary Sutton (5W, 0P), Joe “Tex” Scanio (3W, 4P) and—by 80 cents—Sean Nolan (3W, 1P).

Cindylouwho helped Michael Somich (4 firsts, 2 seconds) roll to a $26.40 triumph on Sunday.

The victory came in Sunday’s qualifier to the BCBC Last Chance Tourney on Breeders’ Cup Eve…or as some people call it, Halloween.

Carolyn Stovall (5 wins, 1 place) and Steven Schmidt (4W, 2P) each doped out Fields of Green, Cindylouwho and Langlee Avenue, the Laurel race 12 runner up that paid $20.60 to place.

Stovall and Schmidt were rewarded with packages to Vegas after running one-two in Sunday’s $165 NHC Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers. 

The other Sunday feature at HorsePlayers was a $500 Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge play-in.

Fields of Green and Cindylouwho were 2 of David Charlton’s 4 winners en route to victory. Brian “BC” Chenvert finished 2nd to earn a $5,000 partial BCBC entry.

Chenvert didn’t settle for any consolation prizes in Sunday’s Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge qualifier.

Chenvert counted Field of Greens among his 4 firsts and 2 seconds, and he exited with the $2,500 entry for September 7.

Congratulations to all of this past week’s winners. Since I’ll be off for a few days next week, I’ll also take this opportunity to congratulate all of this coming week’s winners…whoever you turn out to be. (Sorry in advance about the lack of ink!) 

Have an enjoyable and profitable Travers week. I’ll be back in this space on Tuesday, September 3, after the conclusion of the Labor Day Weekend tourneys.