Michael Caposio employed a very effective strategy last week: Pick up some spending money early in the week…and reinvest it thereafter.

The Temecula, Calif., car dealer thought that even a contest-capped 20-1 on 35-1 shot I Forgot It was a great deal in the 5th at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Caposio (4 wins, 1 place) drove off with the $2,861 top prize in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which closed with a final purse of $6,359.

On Friday, Caposio put some of that $2,861 to work.

For the second time in as many weeks, Caposio got himself a $3,000 entry into the November 29 Del Mar Fall Challenge. His biggest return among 3 firsts and 3 seconds came yet again on a capped horse—a $22.00 place (contest) payoff with 41-1 runner up Sin Nombre in race 7 at Aqueduct.

The same picks also allowed Caposio to take delivery on a $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge seat. 

Last week, Caposio finished second in a BCBC qualifier and had to settle for a $5,000 partial entry. In this battle, that distinction went to Joseph Forcina. (Perhaps that means that Forcina will win a full seat next week.)

Rewinding back to Wednesday action, neither Peter Rogers (4 wins, 1 place) nor Sean O’Malley (1W, 1P) forgot to play I Forgot It.

Rogers and O’Malley exited with the $1,500 entries at the conclusion of Wednesday’s qualifier to the $250,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic here on December 6-7.

Thursday’s Pick & Pray Classic play-in went to Bronson Cambra.

Cambra picked six winners, including the first three. One of those early three was Mutaawid ($15.68, $6.18) in race 6 at Aqueduct.

Gary Gristick had only half as many Thursday winners as Cambra, but he did manage to smoke out the day’s big bomb.

Gristick hit Jr Shadow Boy ($65.00, $26.80) in the 7th at Horseshoe Indianapolis, and that propelled him to the $2,923 first prize in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a pot of $6,497.

On Friday, there was (as per usual) a $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

The first-place finisher was the reigning NHC champion, Dan Piazza…and he was already double-qualified. That meant that the three available Vegas packages went to the 2nd-, 3rd- and 4th-place contestants. That skillful trio was comprised of Ty Alexander (3 wins, 1 place), Chris Cupples (4W, 2P) and Stephen “Caton” Berdar (4W, 2P). They were the three who (barely) made it past the $70.00 mark. For Alexander and Cuppkes, the highest-yielding horse was Sin Nombre, the 41-1 runner up in the 7th at Aqueduct that returned a contest-capped $22.00 in the place hole. Berdar’s stable star was Blown Cover ($18.28, $10.26) in race 6 at Aqueduct.

Joe Petrella (3 wins, 1 place) and Mike “The Coach” Goodrich (3W, 0P) each whiffed on the first five contest races, but then they both connected with Blown Cover.

Petrella and Goodrich snagged $1,500 berths in Friday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier. So did Wendy Long (2W, 2P) since there enough entrants signed on for three seats to be awarded. Long also achieved her highest single return (a $22.00 max place payoff) on a 41-1 second-place finisher, but—ironically—it was not with Sin Nombre. It was via Training Good in race 2 at Del Mar.

Friday’s cash-game hero was Hayden Leibrock, who swept the final four contest races, beginning with Chrome Ghost ($13.60, $5.20) in the 8th at Gulfstream.

Leibrock completed the day having recorded 5 wins and a place, and he pocketed the winner’s share of $8,753 in Friday’s HT Tour competition, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which paid out a total of $19,451.

On Saturday, there was more money to be won…by Leibrock!

Leibrock started with 2 place collections and followed those up with 3 winners, including Takecareofbusiness, which sent his total into overdrive. Leibrock collected $5,699 in Saturday’s $8,142 Big Bucks Pick & Pray…giving him a two-day total of $14,452.

Saturday’s other marquee cash game, our richest tourney of the week, was our $25,000 Guaranteed event, which served as the day’s HT Tour get-together.

The top scholar in this one was Jimmy Rhodes (4 wins, 2 places), who hit three of the first four winners, topped by Share the Ludt ($34.30, $9.88) in race 8 at the Big A. Sharing the “loot” was not something Rhodes did well on Saturday. He made off with $12,355 of what was a final prize pool of $27,412.

There were two NHC qualifiers on Saturday. The one here at HorseTourneys was an open, $165 Pick & Pray.

Timothy Jacobs and his four winners led the way. He backed Share the Ludt. The other seat winner was our first-ever (2020) Flo-Cal Faceoff champion Thomas Blosser (3 wins, 4 places). I’m not sure what Blosser’s middle initial is, but if it is “C.”, that would be appropriate since his most lucrative pick of the day was Takecareofbusiness. Blosser held onto second place (and his NHC seat) by just 8 cents over an unfortunate Basil DeVito…who Blosser blocked in the final race.

The other NHC qualifier on Saturday was a Live-format, $165 affair that was restricted to those who had yet to earn a 2026. 

Brian Callaghan (4 firsts, 2 seconds) got the seat here with a score ($106.58)that was considerably higher than those posted on the HorseTourneys side of the NHC street. Share the Ludt was Callaghan’s heaviest lifter.

Marc Stateler (5 wins, 1 place) also celebrated Share the Ludt’s victory.

Stateler reeled in the $10,000 entry in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Matthew Walsh (4 wins, 2 places), Lawrence Kahlden (4W, 1P) and Nick “529” Fazzolari (3W, 2P) all profited from Share the Ludt.

They accounted for the three $1,500 seats available in Saturday’s qualifier to next month’s Pick & Pray Classic.

Another Share the Ludt fan was Brian O’Kane (3 firsts, 3 seconds).

O’Kane was the winner of our first qualifier to the January 24 Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship. O’Kane receives a $6,000 entry plus an extra $500 stipend to cover his travel to Gulfstream should he wish to play the Pegasus in person. (If not, then he is welcome to pocket the stipend!)

The winner of Saturday’s Del Mar Fall Championship qualifier was the “defending” Horse Players World Series champion.

That would be Loyal Sprague (4 wins, 4 places), and that would be because Sprague was the HPWS winner the last year (2019) in which it was held. Sprague took care of business on Saturday thanks in part to Takecareofbusiness.

Sunday was a very nice day for Jim “Never” Settle.

Jim settled for second place in Sunday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier, but that was just fine with him since the top three finishers all departed with $1,500 berths. Settle (4 wins, 0 places), first-place contestant Jason Alonzo (4W, 2P) and trifecta-completer Mike McIntyre (3W, 2P) all came up with what turned out to be the day’s biggest price—Authentic Wave ($16.20, $5.80) in the first contest heat, the 6th at Gulfstream.

Settle took a backseat to no one in Sunday’s Del Mar Fall Challenge qualifier.

One of Settle’s four winners in the Pick & Pray Classic qualifier turned into a runner up here. It didn’t matter, though, as Settle still prevailed in the battle for the $3,000 seat, redeemable for play on November 29.

Sunday’s featured tourneys were conducted over just 9 races rather than the usual 12 because Aqueduct aborted its card due to high winds. Manuel Lopez made the most of the 9 races that WERE run, coming up with 5 firsts and 2 seconds.

Lopez bagged the $10,335 grand prize in Sunday’s HT Tour test, our $20,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which closed its doors with $22,968 in the kitty. Lopez’s best return came courtesy of Primed to Go ($11.40, $7.20) in race 9 at Laurel.

Primed to Go was also the big horse on Sunday for Chris Wojcik (4 wins, 3 places).

Wojcik topped the leaderboard in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers. Wojcik’s closest pursuer was 2021 The BIG One champ Ken Seeman, who earned a $5,000 partial BCBC entry for his efforts. 

Christopher “Liberty and justice for” Ahl counted Primed to Go among his 4 winners and 1 runner up on Sunday.

Ahl punched his ticket to the NHC in Sunday’s $210 qualifier at HorsePlayers. So did Jordan Bonfitto (2 wins, 3 places). Bonfitto scored with Authentic Wave early, and then he got up for second late thanks to an $11.20 place collection delivered by Candy Buzz, the 25-1 runner up in the final contest race, the 10th at Gulfstream.

A reminder that next weekend is your last one in which to qualify for the Del Mar Fall Challenge. And just two weekends remain before it will be time for the final leg of the 2025 HT Champions Series, the Pick & Pray Classic. 

Whatever you set your sights on during the week ahead, we wish you luck. And thank you very much for playing last week.