When the 20 races on Day 1 of the $250,000 Pick & Classic were in the books, the leader was Lawrence Kahlden. He was ahead by the not-so-princely margin of 24 cents.

Still, around here, a few cents can mean a lot. That Saturday total of $127.82 earned Kahlden a Day Bonus of $6,250. Right on Kahlden’s heels were John Fasola ($3,750 day bonus), Jim Cuzzupe ($1,875) and Peter Rinato ($625).

Early on Sunday, though, Kahlden made it very hard on anyone hoping to run him down. Over the first eight Day-2 contest races — starting with the opener at Aqueduct and concluding with 5th at Laurel — the St. Petersburg, Fla., resident amassed three winners that paid $20.60, $39.80 and $24.62 in the win hole plus a runner up that returned a place mutuel of $15.60. 

He was now in front by a much wider margin.

And he was in front to stay.

Kahlden’s “Sunday-only” score of $148.04 was actually the fifth-best among the 191 entrants. So his victory was absolutely an authoritative one.

That’s not to say, however, that there were no anxious moments for Kahlden.

Depending on your point of view, one of the beauties—or curses—of a Pick & Pray competition is that players have to enter all of their selections at the start of the day. That means that competitors can’t take late shots at the leader based solely on the odds. 

Nevertheless, that’s sort of what wound up happening.

Michael Herrington played a terrific tournament, and he had a particularly outstanding second day. After finishing Saturday just outside the top 50, he racked up a day-best $181.58 on Sunday, which got him a Day Money bonus of $6,250 in addition to his second-place payout of $36,000.

In the next-to-last Pick & Pray Classic heat, race 10 at Gulfstream, Herrington lopped $25.00 off Kahlden’s imposing lead. Going into the final race, the 11th at Gulfstream, Kahlden was ahead of Herrington by $22.68. In that finale. Kahlden was locked into 15-1 shot Munnings Talks, who finished well back in the field. Herrington, meanwhile, had 18-1 proposition Squander. When the gates opened, Squander dropped far behind the field early, but then started coming…and coming…and coming. He wound up 5th, but was only beaten by a a length and a quarter for all of the money. So the final result of the Pick & Pray Classic may not have been quite as clearcut as a cursory glance at the leaderboard might suggest. 

Come back to this space on Wednesday when we’ll profile Pick & Pray Classic champ Lawrence Kahlden.

***

Not all of the high-stakes tension took place at the top of the Pick & Pray Classic leaderboard. 

John Nichols hit the winners of three of the last four races to finish in 46th place.

“So what?” you ask.

The Pick & Pray Classic served as the fifth and final leg of the 2025 HT Champions Series (along with the Flo-Cal Faceoff, the Players Championship, the New York, New York Challenge and the Spa & Surf Showdown). Players get points for a top-100 finish in any of the events. The overall points leader wins seats to all five of the 2026 HT Champions Series events. The runner up gets his or her choice of a seat to any three of the events, and the third-place finisher gets a free seat to any one competition of his or her choosing. 

Anyway, the 46th-place finish gave Nichols just enough points to (narrowly) retain second-place in the Series standings with 343 points. Earlier this year, Nichols was our Spa & Surf Showdown champion.

Rob Henie came in 26th in the Pick & Pray Classic, and he finished third in the points standings with 339.

Leading the way with a whopping 428 points was 2024 NHC champ Mike Gillum. He finished in the top 10 of both the Flo-Cal Faceoff and the New York, New York Challenge. He was in the top 30 in each of the other three events.

Here is a photo of Gillum. I am told it was taken moments after he realized he was the 2025 HT Champions Series winner.

In any event, Gillum—like Lawrence Kahlden—has ample reason to celebrate on this day after the 2025 Pick & Pray Classic.