Goofus wins one NHC seat in a day and brags that you can’t do any better than that. Raymond Gallant Jr. wins two NHC seats in one day.

The NTRA does stipulate that a player may only win one seat in any given tournament, but there is no rule against a player winning a seat in more than one contest on the same day. In recent years, it has become much more common for the NTRA to schedule more than one qualifier on the same day here at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers (which use the same set of featured-tourney contest races each day). Gallant is the latest to pull off this less-rare-than-it-used-to-be feat.

Halfway through the day, it didn’t look like Gallant would be enjoying any…Highlights…whatsover. After eight races in the NHC Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers (a Live-format game), he had but one winner (at 5-2 odds) and no runners up. However, he swept the final four heats, starting with Mars Magic ($38.60, $13.20) in the 3rd at Santa Anita. 

Some may wonder if Gallant simply got desperate and began stabbing away after the lackluster start.

Nope.

The open, $165 NHC qualifier was a Pick & Pray, and Gallant had Mars Magic there as well (along with 10-1 Spicy Princess). In this game, he had the day’s highest score—$150.60. The other available spot in this one went to Elio Imbornone (3 wins, 2 places), who also had Mars Magic.

The same five collections also delivered Imbornone a $6,500 package in Sunday’s Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship qualifier.

Also advancing to the big contest this Saturday was runner up—and two-time NHC Tour champ—Joseph “Kevin” Costello. Mars Magic was one of five Sunday winners for him.

Charles A. LeFevre (3 wins, 0 places) got his featured-tourney week off on a winning note. In the process, we learned that LeFevre is not an ageist.

LeFevre pocketed $3,359 in Wednesday’s $5,000 guaranteed cash game, which paid out a total of $7,465. His big winner of the day was Protest ($28.40, $16.60) in the 7th at Tampa Bay Downs. Protest was ridden by 64-year-old Vernon Bush—who retired right after the race. Cheers to Bush…and to LeFevre too.

The only other grand prize winner who had Protest on Wednesday was Damian Roncevich (4 wins, 1 place).

Roncevich earned the hefty $6,500 package in Wednesday’s Pegasus World Cup play-in.

Terrence Frank (2 wins, 4 places) led the way in Wednesday’s qualifier to the $200,000 Gtd. Flo-Cal Faceoff here on Jan. 31-Feb. 1. 

Frank’s big horse was Holy Synergy ($28.80, $16.40) in the 7th at Parx. This was a three-seat play-in, and the other two $1,500 berths went to William “23” Sadoo (2W, 1P) and Gary Blair (2W, 2P), who got up late with a 7-1 winner at the end.

As for Sadoo, he made it two in Wednesday’s Houston Betting Challenge qualifier.

In both the Flo-Cal and Sam Houston qualifiers, Sadoo’s best return came with Maliblue ($26.40, $9.40) in race 10 at Parx.

Holy Synergy was Gregory Lewis’s springboard to Wednesday success.

Lewis (3 firsts, 3 seconds) picked up the $500 berth is Wednesday’s Laurel Handicapping Challenge qualifier.

On Friday, Lewis added the Houston Betting Championship to his list of future engagements.

His best of four Friday winners was North End Lady ($14.40, $6.80), who came charging late and got up to win the final contest race, the 10th at Gulfstream, by a nose.

Moving back a day to Thursday action, Buck Waller (4 firsts, 3 seconds) collected the $4,199 grand prize in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $9,331.

Waller’s most lucrative selection was Demar’s Legacy ($18.80, $9.20) in the 8th at Gulfstream, but he needed a 5-2 winner in the final tourney heat, the 5th at Santa Anita, to get up for the win.

Special Club ($35.80, $11.00 in the 3rd at Santa Anita) was the heavy Thursday lifter for both Vineet Sharma (2 wins, 2 places) and G.T. Nixon (2W, 1P).

Sharma and Nixon came away with the $1,500 entries in Thursday’s Flo-Cal Faceoff qualifier.

John Vail also hit Special Club.

Vail (2 firsts, 3 seconds) reeled in the $500 seat in Thursday’s Laurel Handicapping Challenge qualifier.

There was also a Laurel Handicapping Challenge qualifier on Friday. It went to Joe “Tex” Scanio (4 firsts, 1 second).

Similar to previously noted Friday winner Gregory Lewis, Scanio got up late when North East Lady got up late. 

James Lisowsky (2 firsts, 4 seconds) had an excellent Friday.

He hit Cruise the Nile ($18.00, $8.60) in the 8th at Gulfstream and North East Lady in the nightcap to claim the $10,966 first prize in Friday’s HT Tour event, our $15,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray, which closed with a pot of $24,368.

By switching out one of his runners up for a winner, Lisowsky edged his score up slightly in Friday’s Keeenland Grade One Gamble qualifier.

Lisowsky prevailed in this one too, grabbing a $3,500 entry into the popular contest that will take place this year on April 11.

Lisowsky wasn’t done. He also won Friday’s Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship qualifier.

Joining Lisowsky in the Pegasus field will be runner up Mark Stanton (4 wins, 4 places). Stanton was the only player besides Lisowsky to exceed $70.00 (or $60.00, for that matter). 

There were four winners in Friday’s play-in to the $200,000 Gtd. Flo-Cal Faceoff.

Congratulations to Wendy Long (3 wins, 1 place), Gary Machiz (2W, 3P), Basil DeVito (3W, 2P) and Howard Blumberg (3W, 2P). DeVito and Blumberg wound up tied for 3rd. Blumberg hit North End Lady late. The other three shared an appreciation for Cruise the Nile.

Nick “529” Fazzolari came up with both Cruise the Nile and North End Lady.

Fazzolari (4 firsts, 2 seconds) will now be at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 20-21 for the High Rollers Handicapping Contest.

David Nelson (2 wins, 4 places) was the only player in Friday’s qualifier to the Lone Star Simulcast Betting Challenge to turn a flat-bet profit.

Both of Nelson’s winners were 2-1 shots. They came in the first two contest races.

Over at HorsePlayers, 2023 Spa & Surf Showdown champion Anthony Spinazzola (3 wins, 3 places) smiled when North End Lady won the photo in the 10th at Gulfstream.

Spinazzola bagged the $10,000 seat in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier.

North End Lady was common to the scorecards of Ellen Patrick-Leavell (5 wins, 2 places), Sidney “Desert Fox” Gommel (6W, 1P) and Peter Yan (5W, 0P).

They earned the low-cost Vegas packages in Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

This may have been the longest I’ve gone in a “Weekly Recap” blog in the last couple of months without mentioning Evan Trommer. Well…time to settle in.

Trommer (5 wins, 1 place) sniffed out four of the first five contest-race winners, including Cruise the Nile, to corral the $1,500 seat in Friday’s Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Challenge qualifier.

As it turned out, Trommer was merely getting warmed up for Saturday.

Start the Ride ($29.20, $12.40) in the 8th at Santa Anita plus 4 other winners and 2 runners up brought Trommer the $1,000 entry fee in Saturday’s play-in to the Tampa High Rollers contest.

He didn’t score nearly as well in Saturday’s Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Challenge qualifier…but he won that too.

And he used those same “Fountain of Youth Challenge” picks in Saturday’s $6,106 Big Bucks tourney, which (as always) was a Pick & Pray.

Trommer bagged $4,274 for this victory…

…and a $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entry for his Sunday triumph.

Mars Magic, the 18-1 winner of the 3rd at Santa Anita, was the lynchpin of Trommer’s 2-win, 2-place performance in Sunday’s Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers. Three days…five nice wins for Trommer.

Another multiple winner on Saturday was Steve Arrison, who put up 2 wins and 4 places. One of those winners was the day’s big bomb—Extrasexybigdaddee ($56.00, $26.20) in race 7 at Tampa.

Arrison was everyone’s daddy in both the Keeneland Grade One Gamble and Laurel Handicapping Challenge qualifiers on Saturday.

Saturday’s Lone Star Simulcast Challenge qualifier went to Michael Foster.

Foster hit Extrasexybigdaddee plus 1 other winner and 3 runners up.

The same picks also put Foster on top in a much more populated tourney—Saturday’s $210 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Also advancing here was second-place finisher Bryan Bradley, who picked 5 of the first 6 winners and 7 in all. His best return came right at the outset with Rock the Stars ($23.20, $10.00) in the first contest race, the 7th at Gulfstream.

A second NHC qualifier on Saturday at HorsePlayers was a $165 affair that was restricted to non-winners of a 2026 seat.

Ann Mulvey (3 firsts, 1 second) is no longer among the ranks of those non-winners. She did her best work early, nailing 10-1 and 27-1 winners in the first two contest races.

Austin Cail did Mulvey one better. He came up with the first three contest-race winners.

Cail (4 wins, 3 places) took home the $10,000 seat following Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers.

The 2024 NHC champion Mike Gillum also swept the first three races.

Gillum added four more winners later on, and he raked in  $14,553 in our richest tourney of the week, Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed cash game, which had a final pot of $32,340.

Saturday’s high scorer of the day with $164.20 was Corbin Blumberg. Like Gillum, he amassed seven winners.

Blumberg got a $6,500 package as did runner up Anthony Mastropietro (3 wins, 2 places) in Saturday’s qualifier to the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship.

There were four $1,500 seat winners in Saturday’s Flo-Cal Faceoff qualifier.

Congrats to the four players who scored $90.00 or more: Edward Enborg (5 wins, 1 place), William McKinney Jr. (2W, 5P), David “Jury of his” Pyrz (2W, 1P) and Nick “529” Fazzolari (2W, 3P). The first three all connected with Extrasexybigdaddee.

Another Extrasexybigdaddee fan was Kirk Tesar (3 wins, 2 places).

Tesar will be in action this Saturday in the Houston Betting Championship.

On Sunday, it was Jeff Sandler (4 wins, 1 place) and Dave Ramold (5W, 1P) who added their names to the roster of participants for the Houston Betting Championship.

They both smoked out Mars Magic ($38.60, $13.20) in race 3 at Santa Anita.

Kevin Engelhard (4 firsts, 2 seconds) supported Mars Magic.

Engelhard was rewarded to the tune of $12,796 for emerging victorious in Sunday’s HT Tour battle, our $20,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which was ultimately worth a total of $28,437.

Four players earned paid-up entries in Sunday’s qualifier to the Flo-Cal Faceoff.

They were Jim “Never” Settle (2 wins, 4 places), NHC Hall of Famer Stephen Wolfson (5W, 2P), fellow NHC Hall of Famer Brett Wiener (5W, 2P) and Shane “Fighting” Irish (3W, 3P). The four players took four different paths to Victory Lane. Settle hit Mars Magic. Wolfson’s best pick was Gunesh ($18.60, $7.20) in the 7th at Gulfstream. Wiener’s top winner was Her Town ($13.00, $5.60) in race 9 at Gulfstream. For Irish, the most productive selection was Spicy Princess ($23.00, $9.40) in race 10 at the Hallandale, Fla., oval.

The third-place finishing Wiener was a first-place finisher in two other Sunday tests.

Wiener grabbed seats to the Keeneland Grade One Gamble and the Fountain of Youth Challenge to go along with his Pegasus package.

For Jonathan Holden (3 firsts, 2 seconds), it was Mars Magic who made the magic happen.

Holden won Sunday’s Laurel Handicapping Challenge qualifier.

What started out with 86 entries is now down to two.

It will be Paul McClelland and William “The Explorer” Clark battling it out for the winner-take-all prize of $3,784 in our Gulfstream Super Survivor tourney when Gulfstream racing resumes on Thursday. They made it from December 20 to this point without a hiccup. It will be fun to watch them try to remain afloat.

On the NHC Last Chance/First Chance front, 55 more seats (at $600 per seat) were awarded last week in multi-track qualifying tourneys tied to the NHC Eve competition. 

Congratulations to Jeff Edwards, Rafael Lopez, Jeff Tracy, Ed Claunch, Geoffrey Schutt, William Sadoo, Tim Smith, Ernest Hey Jr. (2 seats), Mark Detro (2 seats), Matthew Blanchet (2 seats), Warren Rubinstein, Kevin Engelhard, Kirk Rockwell, Bob McIntyre, Mark Stillmock (2 seats), Vineet Sharma, Dino Herrera, Colton Jorgensen, Karol Mannarino, Jeff Bussan, Mike Steindler, James Lisowsky (2 seats), Ellen Patrick-Leavell, Evan Trommer (2 seats), Joe Scanio, Wendy Long, Noel Pink, Todd Faro, G.T. Nixon, Michael Odorisio (2 seats), Mark Stovall, George Novick, Buck Waller, Marilynn Gallagher, Robert Dawson, George Henning, John Gaspar, Terrence Frank (2 seats), Dave Nichols, Ken Seeman, Patrick Grippo, Ken Seeman, Daven Turner, David Browning, Tom Dillon, Chris Inman and Wayne Bertrand.

Good luck to all HorseTourneys qualifiers who will be competing this weekend in either the Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship or the Houston Betting Championship (or both!). If you still want to try and win your way into either one, you have three days (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) left to attempt that. Good luck…and thanks to all of you for spending a portion of last week with us.