David Barnier was on a roll on Friday—and it continued right on into Saturday.

From 10 Friday contest races, Barnier landed on 5 winners and 2 runners up. All five of his winners paid double digits in the win hole. Three of the five paid $20.00 or more, including Santa Barbarian ($29.80, $12.00) in the opener at (appropriately enough) Santa Anita.

The flashy performance rewarded Barnier to the tune of $8,977 in Friday’s HT Tour competition, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $19,950. But that was just the start of the winning for Barnier.

He also captured Friday’s New York, New York Challenge qualifier.

Michael Cherello had Santa Barbarian plus two other winners to get the second spot behind Barnier, and he, too, got a $1,500 berth into the $250,000 Guaranteed event here on June 6-7.

One player—Steven Meier—managed to outdo Barnier on Friday.

Predictably, it came in Friday’s always-well-attended $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. Meier (4 wins, 0 places) was in the zone at the outset, firing off three straight winners, including Layabout ($48.40, $19.60) in race 6 at Gulfstream. Barnier elected to play the same set of picks twice here, and he wound up in 2nd and 3rd. NTRA rules, however, permit no more than one seat win by a player in any given event. There were enough entrants on board this Friday for three Vegas packages to be awarded, so the third one went to Paul Yaffee, who got up for 4th by 90 cents at the end thanks to nailing Omnipotnet ($23.20, $7.40) in the final contest race, the 7th at Santa Anita.

Barnier stayed hot on Saturday.

He connected with Love Cervere ($12.00, $6.50) in the 9th at BAQ and caught a $17.60 place payoff at the end to take Saturday’s $7,124 Big Bucks Pick & Pray. His winner’s share came to $4,986. 

He also snagged his second entry in as many days to the inaugural New York, New York Challenge.

Here, Barnier finished 3rd to fellow New York, New York “Challengers” Joseph “Kevin” Costello (5 wins, 2 places, including the final three winners) and Rick “I-65” Broth who, like Costello, had the biggest price of the day—Jody’s Pride ($17.60, $6.60) in the Ruffian Stakes at BAQ.

All in all, between Friday and Saturday, Barnier scooped up $13,963, two $1,500 seats in the New York, New York Challenge and an NHC spot.

Another who managed to perform a nice Friday-Saturday two-step was NHC Hall of Famer Brett Wiener.

Wiener made three place collections on Friday, followed by three winners, and he finished first in our qualifier to the first-ever Breeders’ Cup Pick & Pray tourney here on October 31-November 1.

He will also have action this Saturday.

Wiener took second behind Dr. Ronald Tang (3 wins, 2 places) in Friday’s two-seat Xpressbet Preakness Challenge qualifier. Tang finished strong, hitting the final two winners…Omnipotnet being one of them.

On Saturday, for the second straight day, Wiener won our Breeders’ Cup Pick & Pray tourney play-in.

Love Cervere was part of Wiener’s 2-win, 3-place effort…and so was Blue Fashion, who paid $17.60 to place after finishing 2nd in the final contest race, the 7th at Santa Anita.

The same day, Wiener also took home a $2,000 Monmouth Pick Your Prize entry.

The two who wound up in front of Wiener in this one were Kerry Bassore (4 wins, 1 place) and Brandon Leigh (5W, 4P). Bassore scored with Jody’s Pride, while Leigh’s top winner paid $8.40. Bassore, Leigh and Wiener will reconvene on May 31…either at Monmouth or in cyberspace or some combination thereof.

The featured-tourneys week began on Wednesday, and our first winner of a cash feature was Matthew White.

White put up 6 firsts and 2 seconds en route to taking Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, which paid out a total of $6,359. It was a chalky day, but White found his way to the biggest price out there—Dusty Billy ($13.00, $5.20) in the 8th at Thistledown—and he garnered the $2,861 grand prize.

Somewhat ironically, Tom Cooper made collections (6 wins, 3 places) in every single race except for the Dusty Billy race.

Cooper was the victor in Wednesday’s qualifier to this Saturday’s Xpressbet Preakness Challenge.

Frank “Plaster of” Paros didn’t miss Dusty Billy. 

Paros (6 wins, 1 place) prevailed in Wednesday’s New York, New York Challenge qualifier—a play-in that also saw runner up Terry Jerge secure a $1,500 berth.

The top return on Wednesday for Kevin Willett came on a $16.80 place payoff provided by Oh Please, the 16-1 runner up in the 6th at Horseshoe Indy.

Willett (3 wins, 3 places) was the recipient of a $2,000 entry after emerging victorious in Wednesday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge qualifier.

Thursday’s cash-game hero was Myles Richards (4 firsts, 1 second).

Richards scored nicely with Big Boy Jak ($14.40, $7.00) in the 8th at Gulfstream, and he bagged the up-top money of $3,794 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final pot of $8,433.

For Gary Blair (5 wins, 0 places) and Kevin Engelhard (4W, 2P), the big horse on Thursday was Bijou Baby ($18.20, $7.40) in race 3 at Horseshoe Indy.

Blair and Engelhard picked up the two available $1,500 seats in Thursday’s play-in to the June 6-7 New York, New York Challenge.

On Friday, Wendy Long selected 4 winners, topped by Layabout ($48.40, $19.60) in race 6 at Gulfstream.

Long earned the $10,000 merit scholarship in Friday’s Low Ratio qualifier to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Championship.

Suresh Bomman (4 wins, 1 place) also considered Layabout to be an overlay.

Bomman and Barbara Small (2W, 3P) emerged with the $2,000 entries in Friday’s qualifier to the Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge. Small’s best pick was 13-1 Santa Barbarian in the first at Santa Anita.

Joseph Maneen Jr. had a nice Saturday.

Maneen racked up 6 wins and 3 places to take our first qualifier to the Xpressbet Santa Anita Gold Cup Challenge on May 26. His high-yielder was Queen Girvin ($10.00, $4.20) in race 4 at Santa Anita.

The same picks got Maneen second place—and a $1,500 entry—in last Saturday’s qualifier to this Saturday’s Xpressbet Preakness Challenge.

In a battle of the Juniors, Maneen bested all except Ernest “Say” Hey Jr. (3 wins, 3 places). Hey was especially proud of Jody’s Pride in the Ruffian at BAQ.

Robert Felty also scored with 7-1 Jody’s Pride.

Felty (5 firsts, 2 seconds) accounted for the richest tourney of the week, our $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour event), which was ultimately worth a total of $31,724. Felty collected $14,275 for the triumph.

On Saturday, we hosted our first qualifier to the July 26-27 Del Mar Summer Challenge.

The winner, with 2 firsts (including Queen Girvin) and 5 seconds was 2019 Horse Player World Series champ Loyal Sprague. (He is, for all intents and purposes, the defending HPWS champ…since 2019 was the last time that event took place.)

There were three winners of $2,500 starting bankrolls in Saturday’s qualifier for the Lone Star Million Betting Challenge on Memorial Day at Lone Star Park.

Congratulations to William “23” Sadoo (5 wins, 1 place), Dave “Gambling Actuary” Nichols (3W, 2P) and Vincent Easley (5W, 1P). Sadoo and Nichols played Jody’s Pride. Easley’s most lucrative selection was Love Cervere.

The NTRA again gave players the opportunity to win two NHC seats on the same set of races by scheduling two qualifiers in one day. (This time, no one could turn that trick.)

Rich Averill punched his ticket to Vegas by ruling over the $500 Low Ratio play-in at HorsePlayers. He compiled 7 wins and 1 place.

The $165 qualifier here at HorseTourneys was won by Jeff Arthur (6 wins, 1 place).

Arthur’s run was helped along nicely by Jody’s Pride. The other spot in this two-seater went to David Browning (6 wins, led by Queen Girvin, 1 place).

Howard Yancovitch picked 7 Saturday winners, highlighted by 5-1 Love Cervere.

Yancovitch exited with the low-cost Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entry at the conclusion of Saturday’s $179 qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Sunday was a big day for several players…most notably Jeff Tracy.

In Sunday’s HT Tour battle, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (final pot: $27,343), Tracy jumped from 22nd place to 1st by hitting Tariff ($53.20, $19.80) in the final contest heat, race 5 at Santa Anita. So Tariff brought Tracy a windfall of $12,304.

Tracy changed three of his Pick & Pray selections for Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers and, alas, one of the horses he left off here was Tariff.

No matter! Tracy still managed to win. The damage created by eliminating Tariff was mitigated by the fact that the other two changes both resulted in victories— one at 7-2 and the other at 9-5.

Tracy reimposed his Tariff in Sunday’s $165 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Here, Tracy’s score was even higher than in the cash game. Tariff also brought prosperity to runner up Bill Alberg (3 winners), who earned the other available NHC spot.

“Pistol” Pete Acocella also believed in Tariff.

In fact, that’s the only thing Acocella got remotely right all day…but he still landed in first place in Sunday’s Preakness Challenge qualifier. Dylan Donnelly (4 wins, 2 places) didn’t back Tariff, but he did support Maga Kai ($15.00, $7.00) in Santa Anita race 2. Donnelly came away with the other available Preakness Challenge seat.

Sunday one-hit wonder Pete Acocella also managed to pick himself up a $1,500 New York, New York Challenge entry.

Acocella’s final-race hit got him 3rd place in Sunday’s three-seat play-in to the brand new Belmont Stakes weekend event. Finishing first was Rocco Cusat (4 wins, 1 place) and, after that, some $36 behind, came 2023 HT Tour champion Ed Peters (also 4W, 1P)

Cusat, a believer in Tariff, also finished first (again by a good margin) in Sunday’s qualifier to the Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge.

Cusat’s closest pursuer was Gary Blair (1W, 2P), who won a New York, New York Challenge entry on Thursday. Third-place contestant Brooks “Was here” Schuler (2W, 4P) also took home a $2,000 Pick Your Prize seat.

Tariff was one of two Sunday winners smoked out by Matthew Ache.

Ache is headed to Texas after taking the top spot in Sunday’s qualifier to the Lone Star Million Betting Challenge. 

Last year’s Pick & Pray Classic and HT Grand Slam series champion Mark Stillmock captured Sunday’s qualifier to the Breeders’ Cup Pick & Pray.

Tariff was among the 3 firsts and 1 second that helped take Stillmock to his $2,000 “BCPP” entry.

Congratulations to all of last week’s winners. This week, of course, is Preakness week. Journalism will be back. So will Sandman. We hope you will be too.