It can happen on almost any given day around here, and last week it happened on Friday—when Terence Channon had an afternoon that could turn out to be a “yearmaker” for him, enjoying four rich triumphs.

The most lucrative of the four came in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Channon selected 6 winners out of 10 races—topped by Bossmakinbossmoves ($28.20, $11.60) in the 6th at BAQ. Channon took home the $10,000 seat…and Mike Sylvester got a $5,000 partial entry for besting all the rest.

A boss move for Channon was playing the same picks back in three other Friday tourneys.

Winning seats is always great but immediate gratification in the form of cold, hard cash is obviously the end-game for all of us, and that’s what Channon did it Friday’s HT Tour game, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which was ultimately worth a total of $19,617. Channon’s share of that was $8,827.

Channon also landed an NHC seat on Friday.

G.T. Nixon finished closest to Channon, but Nixon was already double-qualified and, thus, playing for NHC Tour points. That left the other available 2025 Vegas package to 3rd-place contestant Fred Meseke, whose 3 firsts and 1 second also included Bossmakinbossmoves.

Victory number 4 for Channon came in Friday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge qualifier. 

This tally added another $3,500 to Channon’s cash/seats winnings for the day—which were well north of $25,000. Joining Channon in the Keeneland competition on October 12 will be Stephen Berdar, who also connected with Bossmakinbossmoves. 

Gary Blair got his featured-tourney week off to a fast start.

Blair (3 firsts, 1 second) got his three winners consecutively, beginning with Whiskey Prize ($84.60, $25.00) in race 10 at Parx. The suburban Philly bomb was a springboard to victory for Blair, who pocketed the $2,799 top prize in Wednesday’s $5,000 guaranteed cash tourney, which closed its doors with $6,221 in the kitty.

Gary Blair’s featured-tourney week also contained an Alcoa fantastic finish.

Blair captured one of the final features of the week by putting up 3 wins and 1 place in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Championship Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers. There were enough entries here for us to award a second $10,000 berth and that one went to Tom Lenberg (2W,1P). The big hit for both came with Not Too Late ($24.20, $9.80) in race 9 at Laurel Park.

Rewinding back to Wednesday, the 2022 Spa & Surf Showdown champion Tim Hughes led the way in our Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge play-in.

Like Gary Blair, Hughes posted 3 winners that included cap horse Whiskey Prize and also added a place collection.

There were no cap horses out there on Thursday. Instead, 9-1 shots ruled the day.

Mark “Santana” Tabakman (3 wins, 3 places) grabbed the winner’s share of $3,266 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a purse of $7,258. Tabakman prospered with a selection that was Rambo Approved in the 8th at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Actually, that was the name of the horse—Rambo Approved ($21.60, $8.40). A few races earlier, Tabakman drew first blood with Midnight’s Girl ($20.20, $9.00) in the 5th at Hawthorne. 

Stephan Gravina (4 wins, 0 places) also got lucky with Midnight’s Girl.

Gravina thereby secured himself a $2,000 entry into the inaugural edition of the $300,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic here on November 23-24.

Taking a look at the few Friday features not won by Terence Channon…

…chalk up another tourney victory for the ultra consistent Hesham Ragab. He had 3 straight winners including Bossmakinbossmoves, and also added one runner up, to earn a $500 seat in the September 28 Delaware Park Handicapping Contest.

The 2022 NHC Tour champion Jay Johns was the winner of Friday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier.

Johns (3 wins, 2 places) hit with Les Reys ($14.60, $8.90) in the final contest race, the 9th at BAQ, to score a 40-cent, come-from-behind victory.

For G.T. Nixon (4 wins, 0 places) and Matt Weikel (4W, 1P), the top return of the day came with 13-1 Bossmakinbossmoves in the 7th at BAQ.

Nixon and Weikel each nailed down $750 spots in the BCBC Last Chance Tourney here on October 31.

We noted earlier that 2022 Spa & Surf Showdown champ Tim Hughes won Wednesday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge qualifier. On Saturday, the 2023 Spa & Surf Showdown winner added his name to Keeneland’s roster of participants on October 12.

That would be Anthony Spinazzola—who blanked on the first 7 contest races before recording 2 wins and 2 places over the final 5 heats. That got him a total of $49.20 and the $3,500 Keeneland berth. His best pick was Victory Dash ($16.80, $8.60) in race 11 at BAQ.

Christopher Mauer (4 firsts, 2 seconds) had Victory Dash as well.

Mauer exited with the $750 seat following the conclusion of Saturday’s BCBC Last Chance Tourney qualifier.

Also cheering Victory Dash on was Howard Welsh.

Victory Dash was part of a 2-win, 2-place day for Welsh en route to a triumph worth $6.411 in Saturday’s $9,159 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.

Saturday’s biggest price was Kate’s Cuban Kiss ($47.00, $12.00) in the 8th at Monmouth.

David Barnier (4 firsts, 1 second) had Kate’s Cuban Kiss early on, and later he correctly predicted the outcome of the final two contest races to bag the $11,503 grand prize in Saturday’s $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour event). The final prize pool here was $25,564.

Joseph Rosen (5 wins, 1 place), Richard Pearson (4W, 2P) and Thomas Labordo (3W, 2P) each smoked out Kate’s Cuban Kiss.

Rosen and Pearson ran one-two to earn Vegas berths in Saturday’s $165 NHC Pick & Pray. Labordo, meanwhile, accounted for the $10,000 entry in the same day’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier. 

On Sunday, the NTRA offered another of its free, 4-seat NHC qualifiers—available at HorsePlayers to all current NHC Tour members in good standing (i.e. having once paid for a membership sometime in the mid-2010s doesn’t cut it).

Leading the large pack of 1,572 entrants was Daniel Jablanski. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t necessarily have to nail the day’s three biggest prices in one of these to succeed. In fact, Jablanski didn’t even have the day’s highest priced winner—Not Too Late ($24.20, $9.80) in the 9th at Laurel. Jablanski compensated for that omission, however, by firing off 9 winners in 15 races. The other three free-seat winners did all include Not Too Late in their picks. Congratulations to Sam “Hear Me” Raur (6 wins, 0 places), Bob McIntyre (4W, 2P) and George Howard (5W, 2P).

NHC Hall of Famer Brett Wiener (3 wins, 0 places) and two-time NHC Tour champ Joseph “Kevin” Costello (2W, 2P) both came up with Not Too Late. 

Wiener and Costello earned $3,500 scholarships in Sunday’s qualifier to the Keeneland Fall BCBC/NHC Challenge.

Steve Taracks and Neal Thomas (2nd in the current HT Tour standings) both smoked out Not Too Late at Laurel. 

Taracks (2 wins, 2 places) won a $2,000 seat to the $300,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic, while Thomas (also 2W, 2P) collected $4,274 for finishing first in Sunday’s $6,176 Big Bucks tourney.

Donal Lydon recorded 4 winners and 3 runners up, and he had the winners of the final two races, including a 7-1 score with Shades of Pale ($16.40, $6.00) in the 9th at BAQ.

Lydon banked the up-top money of $11,123 in Sunday’s HT Tour battle, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which wound up with a final pot of $24,718.

Lawrence Kahlden (4 firsts, 1 second) also hit the “late double” ending in Shade of Pale.

Kahlden received the $2,000 entry for capturing Sunday’s qualifier to the September 26 Canterbury NHC/BCBC Handicapping Contest.

Jeff Higgins (3 wins, 1 place) and Eddie “Hoss” Inman (3W, 3P) snagged the $750 entries in Sunday’s BCBC Last Chance Tourney qualifier.

The heavy lifter for Higgins was Not Too Late (in more ways than one). Like Donal Lydon and Lawrence Kahlden, Inman swept the final two tourney races.

Two 7-1 winners powered Jim Videtic (2 wins, 4 places) to victory in Sunday’s California Crown Betting Championship qualifier.

Videtic played Summer Cause ($16.80, $8.40) in the 8th at Monmouth and Shade of Pale ($16.40, $6.00) in the 9th at BAQ.

Next weekend is your final one in which to qualify for the Canterbury NHC/BCBC Handicapping Contest, the Delaware Park Handicapping Contest and the California Crown Betting Championship. And every weekend—and week—is a good time to win cash and seats to a wide array of high-end handicapping competitions. Good luck in all of your efforts to do just that, and we’ll be back next Monday to recap the results.