Sunday was a chalky day around here. The day’s top winner among 12 contest races returned just $11.40 in the win hole.

Stephen Spinelli didn’t even have that 9-2 victor—and yet that didn’t stop him from having a banner afternoon.

Spinelli’s biggest win price of the day may have only been the $8.60 provided by Love Appeals early on in race 7 at Monmouth, but he overcame the small portions by eating lots of meals—recording 7 wins and 2 places in all. The frequent collections earned Spinelli the $13,190 grand prize in Sunday’s HT Tour battle, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $29,312.

Due to the lower-than-usual win prices on Sunday, leaderboards were tight. Our 10 multi-track features had winning scores that fell within a narrow range of $69.00 to $78.80. That $78.80 mark belonged to Spinelli—which means he won the other two marquee games in which he entered.

One of them was Saturday’s $165 NHC qualifier here at HorseTourneys. Spinelli, using the same picks, edged Bronson Cambra (6 wins, 2 places) by just 10 cents. Since this was a “two-seater”, both players went away happy, of course, so the close, 10-cent margin didn’t matter all that much. (That was not the case in all weekend games…but that’s a story for another paragraph.) Unlike Spinelli, Cambra DID smoke out the day’s biggest “bomb”—American Unity ($11.40, $6.00) in race 9 at Monmouth.

Spinelli also led a group of three $2,500 seat winners in Sunday’s multi-track qualifier to the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown here on August 23-24.

This one was a “three-seater” in which Frank “Plaster of” Paros (6 wins, 2 places) and Stephan Gravina (also 6W, 2P) finished in closest proximity to Spinelli. Paros had American Unity, while Gravina’s best pick was Fix it Quick ($9.00, $4.20) in the 3rd at Del Mar.

Spinelli wasn’t the only multiple winner on Sunday. So was Frank Paros.

Second in the Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier, Paros added a $3,500 Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge entry and a $2,500 Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge seat to his Sunday haul, making it an $8,500 Sunday for him.

Scott Pulcini got his featured-tourney week off to a quick and winning start on Wednesday.

Pulcini hit Kigali ($21.60, $7.40) in the 7th at Saratoga plus 3 other winners and 1 runner up to claim the $3,017 first prize in Wednesday’s $5,000 guaranteed cash tourney, which paid out a total of $6,705.

Kigali was one of three straight winners at the end for 2013 BCBC champ Peter Behr.

Behr finished with 5 firsts and 2 seconds in Wednesday’s full-card, Saratoga-only qualifier to the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown (now less than three weeks away!).

The $2,500 berths in Wednesday’s multi-track Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier went to Terry Bollom (3 wins, 3 places) and Robert Felty.

Felty only enjoyed one winner all day—Temple Paynter ($15.80, $7.40) in the 7th at Horseshoe Indianapolis. However, he augmented that tally with five place collections en route to his second-place finish.

Thursday’s lone Spa & Surf Showdown play-in, a multi-track affair, was captured by Rick “I-65” Broth (4 firsts, 2 seconds).

Broth came to a boil in the 6th at Del Mar with Sensational Z Z ($31.80, $18.60).

This year’s NHC champion Dan Piazza assured himself of a 2026 seat by virtue of his victory in Vegas last March. Now he has a second entry to the big dance.

Piazza whiffed on the first six races of Thursday’s $125 Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers, but he racked up 2 wins and 2 places over the final four to double his chances at becoming the first two-time NHC winner. His prospects in this qualifier were greatly enhanced by his nailing of Baltic Fire ($116.40, $46.00) in race 7 at Del Mar.

Our 2024 Players Championship victor Matthew Bickey also came up with Baltic Fire.

Bickey (2 firsts, 1 second) earned the up-top money of $3,732 for prevailing in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final pot of $8,295.

On Friday, Kenny McMahan didn’t finish first in any tourneys, but he probably had the most productive day of anyone.

McMahan (5 wins, 3 places) got the second and final available $10,000 seat in Friday’s well-attended Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier. Leading the way was David Basler, whose 4 wins, and 2 places were topped by Come Full Circle ($17.40, $11.80) in race 8 at Saratoga.

In Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers, McMahan improved upon his BCBC Low Ratio score by $24.20.

Unlike in the BCBC play-in, McMahan had Marcos Performance ($24.80, $9.00) in the 2nd at Del Mar in this game. That got McMahan (6 wins, 1 place) a second-place finish—behind Larry Pirollo (5W, 2P) and ahead of fellow seat earner Ray Hassan (3W, 1P). Each of the top three were happy to see Marcos Performance perform well.

Marcos Performance didn’t escape the attention of Edward Enborg (4 wins, 1 place).

Enborg pocketed the grand prize of $10,773 in Friday’s HT Tour event, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which was ultimately worth a total of $23,940.

For Sean Nolan, the big horse of the day was Loveumissumeanit ($15.80, $7.10) in the 10th at the Spa.

Nolan (3 wins, 2 places) led a group of three $800 seat winners in Friday’s qualifier to the August 23 Monmouth/Saratoga Contest, to be hosted at Monmouth/Xpressbet. Joining Nolan in the field for that tussle will be Howard Blumberg (3W, 0P) and Nick “529” Fazzolari (3W, 1P). Blumberg scored with Come Full Circle. Fazzolari joined Nolan in rooting Loveumissumeanit home.

There was also a trio of winners in Friday’s qualifier to the Spa & Surf Showdown.

Congratulations to Lawrence Kahlden (5 wins, 1 place), Derek Dickson (4W, 3P) and Joseph Zuer (3W, 2P). They all took different routes to their $2,500 seat. Kahlden had the biggest price of the group with Marcos Performance. Dickson profited most with Come Full Circle. Zuer’s highlight was Loveumissumeanit.

Jason Phillips (4 firsts, 1 second) had Come Full Circle, and at the end, he hit Buds N Suds ($12.60, $6.80) in the 8th at Del Mar.

That late (in more ways than one) score for Phillips pushed him over the top in Friday’s qualifier to the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Pick & Pray tourney, a $300,000 guaranteed contest here on Breeders’ Cup weekend.

Phillips blocked NHC Hall of Famer Brett Wiener with that Buds N Suds selection, but Wiener was left unblocked in Friday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge qualifier.

Buds N Suds was Wiener’s biggest of five Friday winners on the way to his $3,500 Keeneland berth.

Andy Asaro had an excellent day on Saturday.

With 5 firsts and 2 seconds, Asaro secured himself the $3,500 seat in Saturday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge qualifier. His biggest return actually came on a max $22.00 place collection from one of his runners up—28-1 Juwelier in the 9th at Saratoga.

The same Pick & Pray selections also landed Asaro on top of the heap in Saturday’s BC Pick & Pray tourney qualifier.

He gets a $2,000 entry into the October 31-November 1 test.

Asaro was not on top of the heap in Saturday’s multi-track Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier…but he was close.

Asaro finished in second place behind William Holmes (4 wins, 5 places), who also got his biggest payoff of the day from Saratoga Derby runner up Juwelier. Asaro got the final available $2,500 entry by just 20 cents over Peter Osella, who wound up third.

The day was hardly a losing one for Osella, however.

Osella scored with World Beater ($24.40, $10.20) in the Fourstardave Stakes at Saratoga, then later connected on the final two contest-race winners to finish with 4 firsts and 3 seconds on the day. The 7 collections put him in first place in our richest tourney of the week, our $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour game), which closed with a pot of $32,340. Osella’s share of that came to $14,553.

The same selections also landed Osella a Monmouth/Saratoga contest seat.

Osella came in second here in between fellow $800 seat securers Leigh Van Winkle (5 wins, 3 places) and John Vail (3W, 2P). Van Winkle let it rip with Kilwin ($14.40, $4.70) in the Test Stakes at the Spa. Vail, like Osella, played World Beater.

Another World Beater backer was NHC Hall of Famer Trey Stiles.

Stiles stockpiled 6 wins and 1 place to reel in the $2,500 entry in Saturday’s full-card, Saratoga-only qualifier to the Spa & Surf Showdown.

Chris Littlemore, a world beater in 2018 when he won the NHC, also profited from World Beater.

Littlemore collected $4,274 for leading the field in Saturday’s $6,106 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.

On a day with no cap horses but lots of prices, there were many pathways to victory. For Michael “Copa” Kavana (4 firsts, 2 seconds), the heaviest lifter on Saturday was Mondego ($13.40, $6.60) in race 3 at Del Mar.

Kavana took home the $2,500 entry at the conclusion of Saturday’s Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge qualifier.

The LRF Cares Charity Challenge took place here at HorseTourneys on Saturday. It was conducted solely on the full card from Del Mar and offered two guaranteed NHC spots.

Jeffrey Schmitz (6 wins, 0 places) and Joseph Rosen (5W, 4P) punched their Vegas tickets in this one. They each rocketed up the leaderboard by picking Awesome Rhythm ($23.60, $7.60) in race 8.

There was also a $210 NHC qualifier offered on Saturday at HorsePlayers.

Here the winning twosome was Michael Koblenz (4 wins, 3 places) and Tom O’Connor (5W, 0P), who each nailed World Beater.

The $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier on Saturday at HorsePlayers brought euphoria to Joseph Forcina (5 wins, 3 places)…and a kick in the teeth to Mark Stovall.

With one race (the 5th at Del Mar) to go, Stovall led Forcina by $4.70. Stovall’s pick, the 7-2 third choice, finished second. Forcina, meanwhile, had the winning 9-5 favorite. Would Stovall’s place mutuel be enough to hold off Forcina? The answer—by 10 cents—was “No.” So Forcina got the one and only $10,000 BCBC seat that was up for grabs.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a total loss for Stovall. Due to a strong turnout, second place was worth a $5,000 partial BCBC entry.

Taking a look at Sunday featured tourneys that weren’t won by either Stephen Spinelli or Frank Paros, it was Shad Walton who grabbed himself a $2,500 entry in Sunday’s full-card, Saratoga-only Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier.

Walton’s biggest price came in race 3—Jack’s Promise ($16.00, $9.50).

As noted earlier, our Sunday multi-track games had a dearth of longshots. The highest-priced winner was American Unity ($11.40, $6.00) in the 9th at Monmouth. Mike Thomas had that one.

Thomas (5 wins, 1 place) exited with the $2,000 seat in his pocket at the conclusion of Saturday’s BC Pick & Pray tourney qualifier.

The two players to score in the 60s were the two to come away with $800 berths in Sunday’s Monmouth/Saratoga Contest qualifier.

Congratulations to G.T. Nixon (6 wins, 2 places) and Stephanie Davis (5W, 1P). They both connected with American Unity.

Cory “Jersey” Shorr (5 wins, 2 places) and Wendy Long (4W, 1P) were also united in their admiration for American Unity.

Shorr and Long won the $4,000 entries in our first qualifier to the August 30 Pacific Classic Challenge.

Brad Knutson’s highest-priced winner on Sunday returned just $8.20.

Happily for Knutson, he compiled 7 winners plus a couple of runners up, and he got the NHC spot in Sunday’s Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

The other Sunday featured tourney at HorsePlayers was a Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier.

For the second time during the week, there were enough entrants signed on for two $10,000 seats to be awarded. They went to Mark Hackworth (7 wins, 1 place) and James “Life of” Riley (3W, 4P). Hackworth’s longest-priced winner was Love Appeals ($8.60, $3.60) in the 7th at Monmouth. Riley scored with American Unity plus a 5-2 winner in the nightcap that got him up and into the money.

Thanks to all of you for competing here last week. Win or lose, we hope it was a fun experience. We’ll be up and ready with more featured tourneys on Wednesday—and more recaps here in this space next Monday. Until then, good luck!