Featured tourneys are like Lay’s Potato Chips for Evan Trommer. When he partakes, he tends not to enjoy just one.

On Friday, Trommer crafted a 10-horse portfolio that he proceeded to use in the majority of our marquee offerings. When the 10 runners wound up yielding 6 wins and a place, it brought a windfall to the Floridian.

On the cash side of the ledger, Trommer raided $8,304 from the pot for ruling the roost in Friday’s HT Tour event, our $15,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $18,453. Trommer finished very strongly, nailing the winners of each of the final three contest races, including Day and Age ($13.60, $6.40) in the contest nightcap, race 7 at Santa Anita. On a day of modest prices, Day and Age turned out to be the biggest of the day across the 10 heats.

Trommer also topped the charts in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers…

…and in Friday’s qualifier to the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Pick & Pray tourney here on October 31-November 1.

So, in one day, Trommer assured himself of lots and lots of action in this year’s Breeders’ Cup.

But there will be plenty of action for him before then.

On July 19, Trommer will be taking part in the Haskell Challenge. So will qualifier runner up Larry Pirollo, whose 4 firsts and 2 seconds included Day and Age at the end.

Trommer wasted no time earning himself a place in the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown here on August 23-24.

Trommer finished on top in our first qualifier to Leg 4 (of 5) in the 2025 HorseTourneys Champions Series. Two of his opponents in the two-day, Saratoga and Del Mar full-card test on Travers Weekend will be Anthony Spinazzola (3 wins, 3 places)—who won the 2023 Spa & Surf Showdown—and Kevin Engelhard (2W, 4P). Like Trommer, Engelhard supported Day and Age. The best return all day for Spinazzola was a $14.60 place payoff from a second-place finisher.

Despite all his largesse, Trommer was not the high scorer of the day on Friday. That honor went to David Atwell.

Atwell’s gaudy total of $98.80 came in Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers, a competition that had enough entries to award three seats to the Big Dance. He built the day-best tally with 6 winners (including Day and Age) and 2 runners up. Trommer wasn’t too far behind him in second place. Third-place finisher, NHC Hall of Famer Paul Shurman, was already double-qualified, so the third and final available Vegas berth fell down to Jeff VanDrie, whose 5 wins and 2 places were led by Smile Baby Smile ($11.80, $4.40) in race 6 at Santa Anita.

When all was said and done on Friday, it was about a $28,000 day for Trommer—but he didn’t rest on his laurels.

One day after taking the year’s first qualifier to the Spa & Surf Showdown, Trommer captured the first 2025 play-in to the Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge on September 6. On Saturday, Trommer stockpiled 6 wins—topped by Stamp of Approval ($12.00, $8.00) in the 9th at BAQ—and 1 place.

Saturday’s features were contest in Live format…but Trommer used the same selections to earn another rich victory in a different event.

This one came in Saturday’s guaranteed Del Mar Summer Challenge qualifier, which attracted just 14 entrants. For this triumph, Trommer earned a $6,000 entry plus $500 for travel to Del Mar for the July 26-27 on-track contest.

This now concludes the Evan Trommer portion of our programming.

David Murphy got our featured-tourney week off to an impressive beginning by putting up the highest winning score seen all week long.

Murphy compiled 3 double-digit winners and 1 runner up (from only nine picks since he missed getting one of them in). They added up to a total of $130.20, and, more to the point for Murphy, they added up to a victory worth $2,986 in Friday’s $5,000 guaranteed cash tourney, which closed with a pot of $6,636. Murphy’s biggest hit came at the very end with Sir Bahjy ($45.20, $15.40) in race 8 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Thursday’s cash-game star was Gary Machiz (5 firsts, 2 seconds).

The biggest provider of “Machiz Magic” was Gold Delight ($13.80, $7.00) in the 4th at Horseshoe Indy. That was the biggest price of the day, and it propelled Machiz to a triumph worth $3,297 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which ultimately had a prize pool of $7,327.

The week’s first play-in to this coming Saturday’s Xpressbet Canterbury Breeders’ Cup Qualifier took place on Friday.

There were two who emerged with $500 seats in this one: Jeff Higgins (3 wins, 2 places) and Rafael Lopez (also 3W, 2P). The heavy lifter for Higgins was 9-2 Smile Baby Smile, while Lopez’s stable star came 30 minutes later in Arcadia…5-1 Day and Age.

There was also a Friday qualifier to the June 28 Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge.

Tim Gavin (4 wins, 1 place) was Smile Baby Smiling at the end of this one. He received a $1,000 entry for the on-track test in the Dallas Metroplex.

The richest tourney of the week was Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed cash tourney. By the narrow margin of 80 cents, it went to Mark “Santana” Tabakman.

With his final selection of Golden Valley ($10.60, $6.00) in the 11th at Gulfstream, Tabakman blocked Charles Browning and George Chute and prevailed in this HT Tour battle that had a final purse of $27,412. The winner’s share for Tabakman came to $12,335.

Peter Duca had a nice Saturday.

Last year’s Pick & Pray Classic and HT Grand Slam series champion Mark Stillmock topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier. Earning the other available $2,500 entry—via tiebreaker—was Duca who had five winners compared to four for Wendy Long. The best return for both Stillmock and Duca was a $22.00 max place payoff that came courtesy of Co Conspirator, the 44-1 runner up in race 7 at BAQ.

Duca didn’t have to survive any tiebreakers in Saturday’s Haskell Challenge qualifier.

The same 5 wins and 1 place that earned Duca the hard-fought Spa & Surf Showdown seat landed him on top and brought him a $1,000 entry into the July 19 Haskell Day competition…which is playable online at Xpressbet.

Kelly Frost (5 wins, 3 places) hit Golden Valley in the 11th at Gulfstream to get up late.

Frost earned the $1,000 scholarship in Saturday’s qualifier to the June 28 Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge.

Over at HorsePlayers, James Henderson (3 firsts, 1 second) used longshot runner up Co Conspirator as his primary springboard to success.

Henderson exited with the Vegas package at the conclusion of Saturday’s NHC Low Ratio qualifier.

The other Saturday feature was a $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge play-in. Once again, Co Conspirator played a major role.

Michael Marlaire (4 wins, 3 places) used the 44-1 second-place finisher—along with 5-1 Stamp of Approval at BAQ—to help himself land the coveted $10,000 entry for racing’s “championship weekend”. Gene Menez, a former Sports Illustrated writer (back when the magazine was good), came in second and earned a $5,000 partial BCBC entry.

Also in action on October 31-November 1 will be Jeff Sandler (4 wins, 2 places).

All of Sandler’s winners—including Kingmeister ($21.80, $7.40) in the 2nd at Santa Anita—were of the double-digit variety, and he won Sunday’s Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Sunday was Father’s Day, of course, and as a special holiday treat, the NTRA offered a special (and overlaid) 5-seat NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Congratulations to March 2026 ticket punchers Michael Karalis (6 wins, 2 places), Brian Flynn (5W, 4P), Kevin Engelhard (6W, 1P), Dennis Dapolito (4W, 3P) and Gaylord Grundy (6W, 3P). What did the five have in common? The same thing that every single Sunday grand prize winner had it common. They all connected with Kingmeister. For Engelhard, the result capped off an especially nice week. On Friday, he was one of the day’s three Spa & Surf Showdown entry winners.

Dale Hatfield had a very happy Father’s Day.

After some near misses in our Wednesday and Thursday cash features, Hatfield and his 5 wins and 3 places won the feud in Sunday’s HT Tour game, our $20,000 Guaranteed tourney, which closed its doors with $22,093 in the till. Hatfield pocketed $9,942 of that sum.

That’s not all Hatfield won on Sunday.

He improved upon his cash-game score in Sunday’s Live-format Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier, and he finished first in this one as well. Finishing first and also scooping up a $2,500 entry for August 23-24 was Frank “Plaster of” Paros (6 wins, 4 places).

The same selections helped Paros harden his hold on some nice Breeders’ Cup weekend action.

Paros earned a $2,000 berth in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Pick & Pray tourney. To be held for the first time in 2025, the BC Pick & Pray will carry a guaranteed purse of $300,000, and it will take place right here at HorseTourneys.

There were two winners in Sunday’s Haskell Challenge qualifier.

Congratulations to Dr, Ronald Tang (3 wins, 2 places) and NHC Hall of Famer Bill Shurman (5W, 2P).

Terry Bollom was at the top of the leaderboard in Sunday’s Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge qualifier.

Bollom counted 3 double-digit winners among his 4 wins and 4 places.

It was John Vail who claimed the $500 entry in Sunday’s play-in to the Xpressbet Canterbury BCBC Qualifier.

Kingmeister plus 3 other winners and 3 runners up got the job done for Vail.

Thanks to all of you for spending a part of your Father’s Day weekend/week with us. Featured-tourney fun resumes on Wednesday and more recaps come your way next Monday. Until then…good luck!