While Steven Wells was winning six figures in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, quite a bit of money was also changing hands right here at HorseTourneys via the always-much-loved, mythical $2.00 win-place format. 

The biggest winner here among many was Kevin Cox.

During our two-day cash game that only included the 14 BC races, another “BC”—the “Brooklyn Cowboy”—compiled 3 wins and 4 places to earn the grand prize of $42,966 first prize in a game that ultimately paid out a total of $107,415. 

Cox didn’t pick any winners on Friday. However, he hit upon a couple of pricey runners up in Arizona Blaze and Iron Man Cal that paid like winners in the place hole and put him in a solid position heading into Day 2.

Cox obviously did the majority of his scoring on Saturday, and most of that damage was done in the first race and final race when Soul of an Angel came from way back to take the BC Filly & Mare Sprint at 19-1 and Full Serrano parlayed a nice stalking trip into a 13-1 triumph in the BC Dirt Mile. There were also a couple more double-digit place payoffs along the way to Cox’s big result.

Here’s Cox celebrating in the HorseTourneys 2-Day Tourney Winner’s Circle—joined by Full Serrano’s rider Joel Rosario, whom Cox graciously invited into the area to share in all of the post-tourney hoopla.

We don’t have a photo to prove it, but Curtis Meyer undoubtedly had a similar moment with Hector Berrios on Saturday morning at around 10:25 am Pacific time. 

That’s because Berrios guided the Meyer-backed, off-the-also-eligible-list Tisquantum ($54.20, $22.00) to a victory in the first race of the day at Del Mar. That gave Meyer a lead he would never relinquish in Saturday’s $80,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray.

Meyer went on to add 3 more winners and 4 runners up to pocket $37,075 in an HT Tour competition that closed with a final purse of $92,688.

Another big-money cash game on Saturday was our Live-format, $50,000 Guaranteed tourney, which went off with a takeout to players of 4.1%.

The recipient of the $22,500 winner’s share was NHC Hall of Famer Steve Wolfson Jr., who recorded 5 wins and 1 place on the day. Although this battle, like Meyer’s, was contested over all 12 of Del Mar’s Saturday races, all six of Wolfson’s collections came during the actual Breeders’ Cup races. In fact, once Wolfson got the unproductive undercard formalities out of the way, he went from zero to sixty in about 2.1 seconds, hitting 19-1 Soul of an Angel in the Filly & Mare Sprint followed in short order by Starlust ($69.20, $27.20) in the Turf Sprint.

There were two lucrative cash tourneys (both HT Tour events) on Friday as well.

Our 2023 HT Tour champion, Ed Peters, boosted his standing in the 2024 standings by taking Friday’s $25,000 Gtd., Live-format tourney, which paid out a total of $31,395. The two big hits for Peters among six winners were Magnum Force ($27.00, $12.60) in the Juvenile Turf Sprint and Citizen Bull ($33.80, $13.20) in the Juvenile. The competition was comprised of the full 10-race card at Del Mar, and the reward for Peters was $14,127.

Friday’s $40,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray was just Part 1 of a big, Texas-sized day for NHC Hall of Famer David “Trey” Stiles. 

Like Ed Peters, Stiles (5 wins, 1 place) connected on both Magnum Force and Citizen Bull. Stiles finished the day with a Friday-best score of $149.60, and he earned the up-top money of $23,640 in this HT Tour event that closed with a final prize pool of $59,101.

Part II for Stiles came in the $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. 

Stiles was virtually assured of making a record 23rd consecutive NHC appearance in March because he had a ton of Tour points, but this victory (using the same picks as those in his cash-game win) cinched it. Finishing in 2nd place and also nailing down a coveted spot in Vegas was fellow Hall of Famer, the Million-Dollar Man, Michael Beychok (seen recently on CNN waxing poetic in a documentary about James Carville). Beychok’s strategy in this one was, “It’s the price horses, stupid!” Like other Friday landslide victors, Beychok hit Magnum Force and (the Bob Baffert-trained) Citizen Bull. We imagine that Beychok may hold his nose a bit when selecting a Baffert horse, but when it comes to contests, Winning is Everything, Stupid!

With Breeders’ Cup fever still running rampant, our featured-tourney week began on Wednesday when Alistair Wallbaum captured the day’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash feature.

Wallbaum plucked 2 winners and 1 place off the shelves, topped by Commander Storm ($35.80, $12.40) in the final contest race, the 9th at Horseshoe Indy. Wallbaum’s prize was $2,500.

On Thursday, the headliner was our $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray.

Somdat Bachu (4 wins, 2 places) emerged with the $3,110 grand prize in this game that was worth a total of $6,912. His best return came via Game Warrior ($64.80, $19.40 in the 6th at Del Mar, which served as the final race of the tourney.

Congratulations also to Travis Pearson, who on Thursday finished atop the leaderboard in our first-ever BCBC Last Chance Tourney—which sent Pearson and 14 others in the field of 175 on to the next day’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.

In addition to all of the highfalutin games surrounding Breeders’ Cup Saturday, we also hosted one of our “old reliables” that day—a Big Bucks Pick & Pray.

The winner was Kirk Tesar, who had to suffer through 121 Chicago White Sox losses in 2024. Unlike Garrett Crochet, who typically called it a day after 4 innings, Tesar stuck around for all 12 races in this $9,159 game. He had two winners (including Soul of an Angel) and one runner up to walk off with the $6,411 grand prize.

On Sunday, there was a bit of a “Breeders’ Cup hangover” on display in our $20,000 Guaranteed tourney, which took in just enough in entry fees to cover the guarantee. That meant that the game had no takeout to players.

The primary beneficiary of this no-rake game was Samantha Reidy, whose 4 winners and 4 places included Highwayman ($30.00, $9.60) in the 7th at Laurel. Reidy’s 8 collections earned her an even $9,000.

Steven Meier (2 wins, 4 places) also played Highwayman.

Meier nailed down a $3,000 seat for himself to the November 30 Del Mar Fall Challenge.

Highwayman was one of 4 Sunday winners picked by Dave Ramold. 

Ramold will now be playing a paid-up, $1,000 entry in the December 7 Lone Star December Betting Challenge, held on-track at the Grand Prairie, Tex., oval.

Sunday’s high scorer ($127.70) was Dan Piazza.

Piazza (6 wins, 0 places) went deep early in the game with Highwayman. Then he closed things out with winners in each of the final three contest heats to capture a Vegas seat in Sunday’s $165 NHC qualifier. Logger Don Allen (4W, 2P) chopped down everyone in the field other than Piazza, and he got the other available NHC spot.

Allen had Highwayman…and so did Damian Terenzio (3 firsts, 1 second).

Terenzio locked up a $2,000 seat for himself in Sunday’s qualifier to the $300,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic here on November 23-24. The Pick & Pray Classic serves as the fourth and final leg of the 2024 HorseTourneys Grand Slam.

The lone feature at HorsePlayers on Sunday was a $165 NHC qualifier that was restricted to those who had yet to earn a 2025 seat.

Fabian “Island” Sultan ruled this event thanks to 4 winners and 3 runners up. All four of Sultan’s winners paid double digits, returning $30.00 (Highwayman), $20.60, $10.80 and $15.40.

The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge is obviously now in the books, but we spice things up around here next weekend with our first qualifiers to the Hawthorne Thanksgiving Contests. 

Win, lose or draw, we hope you had an enjoyable Breeders’ Cup Weekend. Thanks to all of you for making it a fun one around here. We’ll be back in this space again next Monday with more tourney recaps. Until then, good luck!