Mark Stillmock is not an NHC Hall of Famer. His name is not synonymous with the placing of massive, five-figure bets at the end of a Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. Within the realm of online tournaments, however, he is as feared a player as there is. This is what one HorseTourneys regular told me after a recent victory.

“I thought I was doing well, so with a few races left, I checked the leaderboard,” he said. “That’s when I saw the one name I didn’t want to see—Mark Stillmock. I don’t know who he is, but that guy is a bold player.”

The 65-year-old Stillmock isn’t a scary-looking guy, per se—but around here, scary is as scary does. Indeed, the Omaha, Neb., resident was plenty fearsome last weekend, winning $158,331 in the first-ever Pick & Pray Classic—a $300,000 Guaranteed, two-day competition that ultimately boasted a final purse of $411,997.

There was an added aspect to Stillmock’s Pick & Pray Classic triumph in that it propelled him to the top of the final standings of the 2024 HorseTourneys Grand Slam series. As a result, he will receive paid entries into all four of the HorseTourneys Grand Slam events in 2025 (the Flo-Cal Faceoff, Players Championship, Spa & Surf Showdown and Pick & Pray Classic). Grand Slam series runner up Dennis Tiernan gets seats in two such events of his choosing next year, and third-place finisher Christian Orscher earns one.

What was the key to Stillmock’s victory last weekend? The Pick & Pray Classic required players to make 20 mandatory $2.00 win-and-place selections on Saturday and another 18 on Sunday. All picks had to be in prior to each day’s first race. As with any mythical tournament, victorious longshots have a great impact on the outcome, and there were three such horses in this affair—Cicciobella ($43.60, $13.00) in Saturday’s 8th at Aqueduct, Call Sign Seven ($75.80, $26.80) in race 9 on Saturday at Del Mar and Golden Skull ($54.40, $17.40) in Sunday’s 8th at Gulfstream.

Remarkably, Stillmock hit all three.

Which isn’t to suggest that Stillmock simply bombed away all weekend on high-morning-line horses. He had eight winners (plus three runners up) on Saturday and two of them paid $3.00 and $4.00, respectively, in the win hole. He also played various other favorites that just didn’t do much running.

Here’s a look at Stillmock’s Saturday selections:

Thanks in large part to Cicciobella’s 20-1 victory in the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Aqueduct, Stillmock built up a nice little lead for himself halfway through Day 1.

Five races later, though, Matthew Weisenburger had wrested the lead from Stillmock, and there was a veritable three-way logjam at the top with Peter Kovic in third and 2022 NHC Tour champion Jay Johns not too far behind them in fourth.

Weisenburger, Kovic and Johns catapulted themselves into contention by having the 4th-highest-price winner of the weekend (and the biggest one that eluded Stillmock)—Smithwick’s Spice ($33.00, $11.40) in race 10 at Gulfstream.

A key moment in the tourney came at the end of Day 1 when 36-1 shot Call Sign Seven went from the also-eligible list to the winner’s circle of the 9th at Del Mar.

Stillmock and Johns both played Call Sign Seven (#12). So did Rob Henie, who thereby shot himself all the way to 4th place. And that’s how Day 1 ended. Stillmock pocketed the $10,281 bonus for having the top Saturday score—which was just a buck more than that of Jay Johns, who picked up a $6,169 honorarium for having the next best score. Previous leader Matthew Weisenburger wound up in third-place, which was good for a $3,084 day-money bonus. He was 40 cents ahead of Henie ($1,028) in fourth.

On Sunday, after the first six heats of the 18-race menu for the day, Stillmock was still nursing a very slim lead over Johns.

Then came race 8 at Gulfstream.

The winner of the $8,000 claimer was #8 Golden Skull ($54.40, $17.40). Again, Stillmock managed to smoke out a big price, and, this time, Matthew Weisenburger had it too. 

Now Stillmock had some breathing room. He was suddenly ahead by nearly $60.00. Eleven contest races had yet to be run, however. There was still “a lot of game” left.

For Stillmock, those next 11 races were both his worst enemy and his best friend. On one hand, he didn’t hit a blessed thing in the 11 remaining heats…not even a runner up. On the flip side, the top winner during that span was a 7-1 shot, so it wasn’t easy for opponents to make up ground. 

However, Weisenburger kept chipping away—and chipping up. 

With two races remaining, he had cut the deficit to just $16.70. Also within range in third-place was reigning NHC champion Mike Gillum…with Jay Johns not too far behind him.

Happily for Stillmock, the final two races at Del Mar turned out chalky with 2-1 and 5-2 horses prevailing. Johns, who had the 2-1 winner, was the only player in the top four to do any scoring over the final couple of races—which meant the $148,050 grand prize went to Stillmock, who had three winners on Day 2.

After playing a terrific tournament throughout, Matthew Weisenburger wound up in second place, earning a hefty consolation prize of $59,220. The 2-1 winner for Jay Johns moved him up into third place, which was good for $29,610. Mike Gillum won’t be getting his picture taken with Tom Rooney or the RTN Girls for finishing fourth…but a $22,208 cash prize still represents a pretty successful weekend playing the races.

Here’s a look at who the money winners were and where they finished:

Actually, there is one more money-winner to report. His name doesn’t show up on the list above.

William “23” Sadoo is sort of a poster child for the practice of offering day-money bonuses. He had a pretty dreadful Day 1, recording just one winner and three runners up for a paltry total of $23.20. 

Sunday was clearly a different story, though. Sadoo put up an 18-race Day 2 tally that was more than $40.00 better than the next best score, which came from Terry Jerge. 

Jerge, Samantha Reidy and Darren Schweiger each got Day-money bonuses for their Sunday exploits, and all three landed in the overall top 20—which meant more money. They finished in 11th, 5th and 16th, respectively.

True to his nickname, Sadoo ended the tournament in 23rd place and got the middle of a donut for that finish. Sadoo did reel in $10,281 for having the best Sunday score, however. So after a rough start, it turned out to be a profitable weekend for him as well.

Of course, no one raked in more profits last weekend than Mark Stillmock. Come back to this space tomorrow and we’ll meet the first-ever Pick & Pray Classic champion (and the 2024 Grand Slam Series champ too).