Raj Satyan has been on a nice run of late. After a lackluster Day 1, he made $12,742 for having the best score on Day 2 of the recent Spa & Surf Showdown. Last week, he was back for more.

On Friday, Satyan came up with just two winners, but one of them was Lee’s Baby Girl in the 2nd at Del Mar. Satyan’s dynamic duo was enough to get himself the $500 seat in the day’s qualifier to the Autumn Handicapping Challenge on Sept. 27 at Laurel/Xpressbet.  

The same selections got him a second-place finish (albeit a distant one) to Craig “Home Sweet” Hom in Friday’s BC Pick & Pray Tourney.

Leo’s Baby Girl was one of three boxcar winners for Hom, and he also added a boxcar place collection. He and Satyan exited with the two available $2,000 seats for Breeders’ Cup Weekend.

On Sunday, Satyan was at it again.

Undistracted by NFL football, Satyan put up 3 winners to collect his second BC Pick & Pray entry in 72 hours. His best pick was Be a Goldfish ($27.80, $9.60) in race 1 at Del Mar. Peter Kizenko also hit 3 winners—topped by Crevalle d’Oro ($26.96, $7.60) in the 8th at Kentucky Downs—and he picked up the other available $2,000 spot.

Satyan added $5.00 to his scoring total and a $1,500 seat to his contest portfolio in Sunday’s qualifier to the Dec. 6-7 Pick & Pray Classic—the final leg of the 2025 HT Champions Series.

Satyan outdid all except Max Schnepf (5 winners), who finished 52 cents ahead of him. Schnepf’s smartest pick was Dumb Money ($20.40, $9.80) in race 8 at Monmouth.

William Miller was pretty smart in his own right on Wednesday.

In the final contest race of Wednesday’s $5,000 guaranteed cash tourney, Miller (5 firsts, 2 seconds) scored with Perfect Snow ($16.80, $5.60) in the 8th at Horseshoe Indianapolis. That made it Miller Time—and he emerged with the $2,519 grand prize in a tourney that was ultimately worth a total of $5,599.

Thursday’s cash-game star was Kenneth Arnerich.

Arnerich recorded 5 firsts and 2 seconds on the way to victory in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray. Ice Express ($33.60, $15.40) in the 5th at Horseshoe Indy was his biggest return of the day, and he pocketed $2,986 from what was a final prize pool of $6,636.

We mentioned already that Craig Hom scooped up a $2,000 BC Pick & Pray berth on Friday, thanks in part to Leo’s Baby Girl. That was just one of Hom’s triumphs, however.

He enjoyed an even more lucrative win in Friday’s HT Tour event, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $19,617. Hom’s share of that came to $8,827.

Tom “Hit ‘em where they” Arndt did all of his Friday scoring (2 firsts, 2 seconds) in the final four contest races.

His best collection of the four came in the 5th at Charles Town with Likeagentleman ($23.40, $11.20). The late flurry brought Arndt a $3,500 entry in Friday evening’s qualifier to the Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge.

Over at HorsePlayers, Charles Allen was “the one” in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier.

Just eight days earlier, Allen used an almost identical strategy to secure an NHC seat. (He may be hoping that the rail is good from coast to coast on March 13-15.) Our 2023 Spa & Surf Showdown champion Anthony Spinazzola reported home in second position—good for a $5,000 partial BCBC entry.

In Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers, first-place contestant Jeff VanDrie was already double-qualified. That left the two available Vegas packages to Randy Bauer (4 wins, 1 place) and 2021 Flo-Cal Faceoff champion Alan Levitt (3W, 1P).

Bauer and Levitt both shot up the leaderboard early on, courtesy of Leo’s Baby Girl.

Evan Trommer had a very nice Saturday—and, as is so often the case, that wasn’t because he only won once.

Trommer (2 wins, 2 places) and 2007 NHC hero Stanley Bavlish (2W, 1P) ran one-two in Saturday’s Autumn Handicapping Challenge qualifier. Trommer’s final total was pumped up by cap horse Dreaming of Alys ($125.20, $52.40) in race 7 at Del Mar. Bavlish’s biggest contributor was semi-cap-horse Known Idea ($45.00, $16.20) in the 10th at Del Mar.

Trommer used the same picks to finish second in Saturday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier—and he used an even better set of 12 selections to finish first!

Thus, Trommer assured himself of two entries in the $250,000 guaranteed event here on December 6-7. The main difference between Trommer’s “good” entry and his “bad” one was Epic Ride ($30.54, $10.38) in the first contest heat, race 7 at Kentucky Downs.

Tony Schiavone smoked out four winners on Saturday, and two of them were Dreaming of Alys and Known Idea.

Schiavone captured our richest tourney of the week—Saturday’s $25,000 guaranteed game (an HT Tour event). He pocketed a winner’s share of $14,275 from a final pot of $31,724.

Schiavone had a gaudy score off $177.08, and, surprisingly, that tally did NOT hold up in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Championship qualifier at HorsePlayers.

That was because Schiavone had the misfortune of running into 2018 The BIG One victor Joe Pettit, who put up 6 winners (including Dreaming of Ales and Known Idea) and a final score of $195.68. Schiavone did receive a $5,000 partial BCBC entry for his troubles, though. For Pettit, it was a case of turnabout being fair play. He finished second to Schiavone in the $31,724 cash feature.

Steve Pollack had Known Idea plus one other winner and one runner up.

Pollack showed the way in Saturday’s $210 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. The other available spot went to Eliot Honaker, whose two winners were highlighted by Plensa ($47.20, $18.32) in the 8th at Kentucky Downs.

Peter Osella whiffed on the first 8 contest races, but he was smiling by day’s end on Saturday.

Osella (2 wins, 1 place) put up a late rally—fueled in part by Known Idea—and he emerged with the $3,500 berth in Saturday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge.

Kevin Engelhard got off to a fast start with Epic Ride in Saturday’s 7th at Kentucky Downs.

Engelhard reeled in the $2,000 entry in Saturday’s BC Pick & Pray Tourney qualifier.

We noted earlier that Raj Satyan had a productive week. So did another successful alumnus of August’s Spa & Surf Showdown.

Two weeks after winning $73,395 for finishing second overall in the Showdown, Curtis Adams added another $11,025 to his bank account by amassing 5 wins and a place in Sunday’s HT Tour battle, our $20,000 guaranteed cash game, which paid out a total of $24,500. His big horse was Be a Goldfish ($27.80, $9.60) in race 1 at Del Mar.

Cheryl McIntyre (4 wins, 5 places) and Scott Cavalieri (4W, 0P) each punched their tickets to Vegas in Sunday’s $165 NHC Pick & Pray here at HorseTourneys.

The 2016 NHC Tour champion did it in workmanlike fashion. She racked up 4 wins and 5 places and amassed a final score of an even $100. Cavalieri took a less conventional route to his seat. He missed two Kentucky Downs selections late in the tourney, then managed to overcome his errors of omission by hitting a 5-1 Del Mar winner at the end. (Those Kentucky Downs races DO often take a long time to handicap!)

Dumb Money ($20.40, $9.80) in the 8th at Monmouth was the stable star on Sunday for Brian “BC” Chenvert (6 firsts, 2 seconds).

Chenvert got the seat to the (what else?) Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge in Sunday’s Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers. Jeff Arthur was the best of the rest, and he took home a $5,000 partial BCBC entry.

Keith Van Lanen (5 wins, 3 places) and Ryan Mueller (4W, 3P) were each wise to Dumb Money.

They merited the $500 scholarships in Sunday’s play-in to the Autumn Handicapping Championship.

The two players to crack triple digits—Marc Stateler (7 winners) and Joe “Kramer vs.” Kramer (5 winners) were the two to exit with $3,500 seats in Sunday’s qualifier to the Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge.

Be a Goldfish was common to their scorecards. 

Thanks to all of you for playing last week. Congratulations to all winners. And condolences to all Miami Dolphins fans.