Who was the best handicapper at HorseTourneys last week? In the absence of clearly defined metrics, that’s something of a rhetorical question. However, a case could be made that it was “Pistol” Pete Acocella.

Acocella (4 wins, 1 place) captured Saturday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge in part because of his ability to answer the question of who would win the Coolmore Keeneland Turf Mile. The answer was Rhetorical ($21.18, $9.62). Mike Castagnoli (4W, 1P) and Michael Caposio (3W, 1P) finished nearest to Acocella, and they, too, secured $3,500 entries for this coming Saturday.

The next day, Acocella came back and smoked out the horse that proved most instrumental to Sunday profitability—Rythem Girl ($53.00, $20.40) in race 3 at Santa Anita. 

Rythem Girl (clearly not named by a spelling bee champion) was one of four consecutive winners fired off by Acocella in the course of taking both the NHC Low Ratio and Breeders’ Cup Low Ratio qualifiers at HorsePlayers on Sunday. Meanwhile, Raj Satyan gets his name in the Weekly Recap for what seems like the 17th straight week. Thanks to Rythem Girl plus two other winners and one runner up, Satyan got a $10,000 seat for finishing to Acocella in the BCBC-centric tilt.

Dave Ramold got his featured-tourney week off to a flying start.

On Wednesday, Ramold (3 firsts, 1 second) was walking on air after taking the day’s qualifier to the $300,000 Gtd. BC Pick & Pray Tourney. His best pick was Dance on Air ($16.80, $6.80).

On Thursday, Ramold again enjoyed the sweet smell of success in our $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray.

Ramold (2 firsts, 3 seconds) pocketed $3,172 in a game that was ultimately worth a total of $7,050. His most potent pick was Fifi La Fume ($36.24, $14.18) in the 8th at BAQ.

Jumping back to Wednesday action, the 2022 NHC Tour champ Jay Johns (3 wins, 1 place) came up with the day’s biggest available prize—C. J.’s Storm ($57.00, $18.00) in race 9 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Johns collected the up-top money of $2,661 in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which closed with a final purse of $5,322.

Wednesday’s other featured tourney was a qualifier to this coming Saturday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge.

It was Ken Jordan who exited with the $3,500 scholarship in this one. His 4 wins and a place included What a Blast ($16.80, $7.00) in the 9th at Parx.

HorsePlayers hosted another BCBC “partial” qualifier on Thursday.

Grant Underwood (3 winners) did all of his scoring during the final four contest races. Some sharp handicapping put Underwood on the scent of Fifi La Fume.

Friday marked the first of three productive tourney forays for Gary Machiz.

Machiz uncovered 3 winners—topped by Imaginationthelady ($22.16, $11.08) in the 8th at Keeneland—en route to victory in Friday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier.

To that $1,500 seat, Machiz added a $2,000 berth on Sunday.

Machiz (4 winners on this day) and Mark “Santana” Tabakman (4 wins, 3 places) ran one-two in Sunday’s two-seat play-in to the inaugural BC Pick & Pray Tourney. Rythem Girl was present on both of their scorecards.

Machiz also picked up a $3,500 seat for this coming Saturday.

Using the same picks, Machiz defeated all except Dave “Ice Cold” Weaver (3 firsts, 4 seconds)  in Sunday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge qualifier. Weaver was another who was pleased with how Rythem Girl moved.

Returning to Friday competition, Evan Trommer accounted for the day’s HT Tour event.

Trommer counted Imaginationthelady among the 6 firsts and 1 second that he racked up. Trommer cashed for $9,201 in Friday’s $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which paid out a total of $20,448.

Bob Engelhard (6 winners, 0 places) and defending NHC champion Dan Piazza (3W, 0P) came away with the $2,000 entries at the conclusion of Friday’s BC Pick & Pray Tourney qualifier.

Engelhard’s top return came from Maaz ($21.00, $7.80) in race 7 at Santa Anita. Piazza benefited most from Imgaginationthelady.

Tom “Hit ‘em where they” Arndt (3 wins, 2 places) nailed both Imaginationthelady and Maaz.

Arndt topped the leaderboard in Friday’s qualifier to the Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge. Kirk Rockwell (4W, 1P) finished second to grab the other available $3,500 seat. Rockwell backed Imaginationthelady.

There were three featured tourneys on Friday at HorsePlayers. 

Dave “The Warrior” Smyth (3 wins, 1 place) hit both Imaginationthelady and Maaz on the way to triumphing in Friday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier.

In the day’s $500, Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier, it was Stephen Lerma (3 wins, including Imaginationthelady and Maaz, 1 place) who emerged with the coveted $10,000 entry.

David Basler reported home in second place, and he received a $5,000 partial entry.

There were three winners in Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier.

Congratulations to Bryan Bradley (5 wins, 1 place), Daven Turner (2W, 4P) and Mark Bertolucci (4W, 1P). They all connected on both Imaginationthelady and Maaz.

Vineet Sharma had a very big Saturday.

Sharma (4 wins, 2 places) put up the day’s top score ($178.16), and he and James Lisowsky (3W, 2P) got the two available Vegas packages in Saturday’s $165 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. They both tallied big with Starship Titan ($80.44, $32.56) in race 11 at BAQ.

Using the same selections, Sharma also enjoyed an HT Tour victory.

Sharma banked $14,414 for prevailing in our richest tourney of the week, our $25,000 Guaranteed game, which closed with a final pot of $32,032.

Before he was through, Sharma also added a $1,500 Pick & Pray Classic seat to his burgeoning contest portfolio.

Finishing in second position—nearly $60 behind Sharma—was Michael Caposio, who garnered the other available seat for the $250,000 Guaranteed test here on Dec. 6-7. The biggest return for Caposio—who also got a Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge seat for finishing behind Pete Acocella in the Saturday qualifier to it—came via Simply in Front ($28.24, $11.36) in the 8th at Keeneland.

Joseph Rumfolo (4 wins, 1 place) and Mark Stovall (5W, 1P) each reeled in $10,000 seats in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers. 

Rumfolo scored big with cap horse Starship Titan. Stovall’s top gun was Simply in Front. Stovall’s five winners all paid between $11.60 and $28.24 in the win hole.

There were three winners of $2,000 berths in Saturday’s play-in to the BC Pick & Pray Tourney.

Kudos and congrats to Terrance Ostrowski (3 wins, 2 places), Steve Abelman (5W, 1P) and Dave Gray (3W,0P). Ostrowsky’s stable star was Starship Titan. Abelman’s was Rhetorical. Gray’s high yielder was Simply in Front.

Thanks to a day-best score of $181.88, “Battlin’” William Smith (4 wins, 4 places) won two tourneys on Sunday.

One of them came in a $165 NHC qualifier here at HorseTourneys. Robert Ferguson (3 wins, 2 places) finished second in the field of 79 to account for the other Vegas berth. They both backed Rythem Girl.

Smith’s other conquest came in Sunday’s HT Tour test, our $20,000 Guaranteed cash game.

Smith earned the winner’s share of $10,631 in a game that finished with a prize pool of $23,625.

Phil Hoedebeck had longshot Rythem Girl along with 2 other winners and 1 runner up.

Hoedebeck captured the $1,500 entry in Sunday’s qualifier to the $250,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic.

Kyle Morelli (3 wins, 1 place) and Matthew Weisenburger (also 3W, 1P) each had their eye on Rythem Girl.

They finished in the top two slots of Sunday’s 2-seats-gtd., 48-entry, $210-buy-in NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Before we sign off, we want to check in on the Keeneland Super Survivor tourney that began on Friday’s Opening Day of the Fall meet. A total of 209 entries—at $50 per entry—signed up for this contest that called for players to make just one pick from the full card at Keeneland each day with the winners (those whose horse finished in the money) advancing to the next day. The final pot—to either be won by the sole survivor or shared by the players who get through the full meet unscathed—came to $9,196.

So far, after just three racing days, most entrants have been scathed.

Thanks in no small part to the clunker turned in by Thorpedo Anna in yesterday’s Spinster Stakes, there are now just 48 entries still fighting it out. Ninety-two fell on Sunday—including 58 who wished they had chosen someone other than Thorpedo Anna. She finished fourth of five at odds of 1-2.

We hope you managed to keep clunkers to a minimum last week—or can at least do so in the week ahead. Some Last Chance qualifiers to Saturday’s Keeneland Fall BCBC-NHC Challenge will be on the pre-weekend featured schedules. Good luck to all this coming week—especially to the 48 still alive in Keeneland Super Survivor. They’re going to need it.