Featured tourneys on Saturday and Sunday were primarily Live-format games. Evan Trommer, however, played them as though they were Pick & Prays.

And that was bad news for his opponents.

Trommer recorded 3 firsts and 1 second on Saturday. His collections were topped by Total Val, who offered up one of the oddest, non-dead-heat, win-place mutuels of recent memory—$35.40 to win and $30.60 to place—in the 3rd at Del Mar. (And, no, some bomb didn’t run second…the 3-1 second choice did!)

Anyway, Trommer landed the $1,500 berth in Saturday’s qualifier to the December 26 Santa Anita Opening Day Challenge.

The same picks landed Trommer atop the leaderboard in Saturday’s Live-format play-in to the January 24 Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship. 

There were enough entries signed on for two $6,500 packages to be awarded. The second one went to Jeff Stefonick (5 wins, 2 places). He hit Union Express ($22.68, $8.96) in the first contest heat, the 8th at Aqueduct.

Trommer’s third Saturday triumph actually did come in a Pick & Pray.

He pocketed $4,274 for capturing Saturday’s $6,106 Big Bucks tourney.

Trommer picked up on Sunday where he left off on Saturday, prevailing in both the BCBC Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers and the Santa Anita Opening Day Challenge play-in here at HorseTourneys.

On this day, his “set-it-and-forget-it” selections in Live tourneys yielded 3 wins and 3 runners up. His big horse was Unconquerable Keen ($21.60, $14.00) in race 5 at Del Mar. (The place hole was certainly kind to Trommer last weekend!)

Tampa Bay Downs was kind to Robert Brown on Wednesday.

Brown (2 firsts, 1 second) scored with Crossati ($33.00, $14.40) in race 6 at the Oldsmar oval, and he pocketed the $2,892 first prize in the Thanksgiving Eve, $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which paid out a total of $6,428.

There were three recipients of $1,500 seats in Wednesday’s qualifier to this weekend’s $250,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic.

Congratulations to Kevin Walsh (3 wins, 1 place), Rob Henie (4W, 0P) and Basil DeVito (3W, 0P). Walsh’s heavy lifter was Three Run Bolt ($18.80, $9.00) in race 8 at Tampa. The best pick for both Henie and DeVito was Divine Intentions ($12.40, $7.00) in the 9th at Parx. DeVito got that final berth by a scant 40 cents over the 4th-place finisher, 2018 NHC champ Chris Littlemore.

Prices were few and leaderboards were tight in the Thanksgiving Day features. 

Terrence Frank led the way in Thursday’s 2-seat, $125 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers, but Frank was already double qualified. That left the Vegas packages to Joshua Taarud (5 wins, 0 places) and George Chute (5W, 1P), who tied for second with $60.00 each. Taarud scored with Winning Trip ($13.20, $5.80) in the final contest race, the 9th at Laurel. Chute’s best hit came at the start with Moon Spun ($10.40, $6.80) in race 5 at Gulfstream.

That $60.00 tally gave Chute a $1.00 margin of victory in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray.

Chute bagged $4,417 in a game that closed with a final purse of $9,815.

The same $60.00 score also played for Taarud in Thursday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier.

Taarud finished $2.20 behind Mike McIntyre (4 wins, 1 place) and $1.00 ahead of Mike Thomas (5 consecutive winners, 1P). Fourth-place finisher Craig “Home Sweet” Hom (3W, 2P) was just $1.40 behind Thomas, and he, too, got a $1,500 entry for this coming Saturday and Sunday. McIntyre’s top dog was Moon Spun. The most lucrative winner for Thomas paid $8.80. Hom finished fast with the final two contest-race winners, including Winning Trip.

Dr. Ronald Tang had a day similar to Hom in that he hit the final two races.

Those were the only two winners all day Tang, who also booked a pair of runners up. Tang took Thursday’s qualifier to the Santa Anita Opening Day Challenge.

Another Winning Trip fan was Tom Lenberg.

The Laurel race 9 victor was one of five Turkey Day winners for Lenberg, who captured Thursday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers. 

On Black Friday, 2020 Spa & Surf Showdown champion Scott Fiedler went shopping for winners.

He emerged from the crowds with four of them—plus two runners up—and he got the $9,426 grand prize in Friday’s HT Tour battle, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a pot of $20,947. Fiedler’s stable star was Heathguard ($28.40, $9.80) in the 7th at Tampa Bay Downs.

Heathguard was on the scorecards of most of Friday’s profiteers—including Jeff Higgins.

Higgins (2 firsts, 1 second) came away with the $1,500 scholarship in Friday’s entrance examination for the Santa Anita Opening Day Challenge.

Robert Tacher (5 wins, 0 places) and Michael Teal (3W, 4P) both connected on Heathguard.

Tacher and Teal exited with the Vegas packages at the conclusion of Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Bill “St. John’s” Redman posted the high score of the day ($108.80). He swept the first six races and stockpiled eight winners in all.

Redman hopes to be strutting his stuff again this weekend in the Pick & Pray Classic (final leg of the 2025 HT Champions Series). Joseph “Keith” Foulke (5 wins, 1 place), Steve “The Admiral” Nemetz (4W, 0P) and Thomas Kolschowsky (5W, 1P) also grabbed $1,500 spots in this four-seater. Kolschowsky was the only Friday grand-prize winner who didn’t play Heathguard. His most profitable selection was Glorious Box ($19.40, $6.60) in race 9 at Gulfstream.

G.T. Nixon was the one in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Nixon recorded 2 firsts and 3 seconds.

The BCBC is not for another 11 months. Recognizing that, Nixon came back on Saturday, hoping for something a little more in the near-term.

How does six days sound? Nixon fancied Union Express ($22.68, $8.96) in the 8th at Aqueduct, plus two other winners on the Ozone Park card to snag a Pick & Pray Classic seat in Saturday’s full-card, Aqueduct-only qualifier to next weekend’s $250,000 Guaranteed test.

Steven Meier enjoyed a fine Saturday.

Meier (4 firsts, 1 second) nailed cap horse Call Sign Seven ($139.00, $37.60) in the 5th at Del Mar, and he rolled to a $45.00+ victory in our richest tourney of the week, Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed cash game, which closed its doors with $27.720 in the kitty. 

The winning margin for Meier was almost as comfy in Saturday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier.

This was a four-seater that saw Peter Kovic (3 wins, 1 place), 2017 NHC hero Ray Arsenault (3W, 2P) and Sam “Split” Sample (3W, 1P) also pick up $1,500 entries. Arsenault and Sample both sniffed out Call Sign Seven. Kovic’s largest return came with the aforementioned “30-30” horse Total Val.

Thomas Murphy hit bomb Call Sign Seven plus two other winners.

Murphy prevailed in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers.

The other Saturday feature at HorsePlayers was a $210 NHC qualifier.

Jeff Higgins (5 wins, 0 places) and Ryan Mueller (3W, 1P) punched their tickets to Vegas here. They both scored big with Call Sign Seven. For Higgins, it was his second triumph in as many days. He won Friday’s Santa Anita Opening Day Challenge play-in.

There was a Pick & Pray Classic qualifier contested solely on the big Saturday card at Del Mar.

Not surprisingly, winner Frank Foss hit Call Sign Seven —and then he swept the final three races to garner the $1,500 berth in what was a very hard-fought competition.

Five more players earned their way into the Pick & Pray Classic on Sunday.

They were Rick “I-65” Broth (2 wins, 2 places), 2024 Flo-Cal Faceoff champion Michael Solakis (2W, 1P), NHC Hall of Famer Trey Stiles (2W, 2P), George “Ki-“ Bosch (4W, 1P) and Bryan Milling (3W, 1P). The best return for Broth, Solakis, Bosch and Millang came from Minty ($23.60, $11.60) in race 9 at Gulfstream. The big dog for Stiles was Bartholdy ($26.00, $5.00) in the 6th at Del Mar.

John Vail had Bartholdy.

Vail (3 firsts, 1 second) captured a seat in the big dance by taking Sunday’s $210 NHC qualifier, an event that was restricted to those who had yet to nail down a 2026 seat.

There was also an open, 1-per-65 NHC qualifier here at HorseTourneys that guaranteed two spots.

Christopher “Liberty and Justice for” Ahl (3 wins, 1 place) topped the field of 74. Runner up David Brownfield already had two seats to his name, so the final berth went to Dennis Desenberg (3W, 2P) who finished third — just 10 cents ahead of recent BC Pick & Pray Tourney winner Earl Pratt. (Having a 2-5 winner in the contest finale made the difference for Desenberg.) Minty left a very nice taste in Ahl’s mouth. Desenberg’s best pick was Unconquerable Keen ($21.60, $14.00) in the 5th at Del Mar.

Last, but certainly not least, Jim Clark hit Unconquerable Keen, Bartholdy plus two other Sunday winners.

Clark reeled in the up-top money of $9,154 in Sunday’s HT Tour test, our $20,000 Guaranteed cash tourney.

Next weekend is the final HT “major” of the year—the $250,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic, which serves as the final leg of the five-event HT Champions Series. Players will be making mandatory, Pick & Pray selections on 15-20 races each day from an array of tracks that figures to include Aqueduct, Gulfstream, Laurel and (on Saturday) Tampa Bay Downs. Qualifiers continue all week, and buy-ins will be available right up until the first P&P Classic race on Saturday. (Just leave yourself time to completely enter your Day 1 picks, of course.)

We hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend. On to December. Time to close out 2025 in style. Good luck!