On a Pegasus World Cup Day replete with good-priced winners, Michael Caposio put two of them together—plus another winner and a small place collection—and made quite a day for himself.

The Temecula, Calif., car dealer thought Destino d’Oro was a good deal at 15-1 in the Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf, but his biggest coup came when Skippylongstocking ($45.20, $14.20) upset the field in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational. That one led to Caposio taking delivery on a $3,500 seat in Saturday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier.

It was much the same story in Saturday’s Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Challenge play-in.

Using the same Pick & Pray selections, Caposio also emerged with one of the four available seats in Saturday’s qualifier to this weekend’s $200,000 Gtd. Flo-Cal Faceoff.

Leading the way here was R. Paul Capone (3 wins, 4 places), who hit the final two winners—7-1 Test Score and Skippylongstocking. Caposio checked in second. Reporting home in third place was Zachary Mcleod (5W, 0P), who swept the final three races. Ted “Forbidden” Apple (3W, 3P) took fourth, thanks in large part to Destino d’Oro.

Mcleod was the other multiple grand-prize earner on Saturday in addition to Caposio.

With the same picks, he also got a low-cost Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge entry in Saturday’s $179 qualifier at HorsePlayers.

The featured tourney schedule squeaked through on Wednesday with seven races after a cancellation at Parx—which turned out to be just the beginning of the weather woes for East Coast tracks. At any rate, seven races worked just fine for Kenneth Arnerich (2 wins, 1 place).

It helps when one of your winners goes off at 43-1. That was the case with Arnerich and the aptly-named Freeze ‘Em ($88.40, $15.80) in race 6 at Turf Paradise. Arnerich pocketed the $2,500 top prize in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash game, which didn’t make the guaranteed and went off as a 2% overlay opportunity for its players.

Chris “Pay the” Piper also got hot with Freeze ‘Em.

Freeze ‘Em was one of two Wednesday winners for Piper, who will now see action here at HorseTourneys this weekend in the Flo-Cal Faceoff.

There are few players more consistently good around here than 2024 NHC champion Mike Gillum. That said, his game does seem to reach its heights during the wintertime. 

If you had told Gillum on Thursday morning that his final score would be $47.72, he probably would have decided not to play. Good thing he didn’t know that. In the final contest race, Gillum hit the biggest win price of the day—just $9.80—in Starship Elation, the winner of the 10th at Gulfstream. That closed out a 4-win, 2-place day for Gillum that brought him the up-top money of $3,701 in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $8,225. 

Starship Elation brought Gillum further elation in Thursday’s Flo-Cal Faceoff qualifier.

I am told this photo was taken right after his double-tourney victories last Thursday. 

In any event, Gillum got a $1,500 seat for this Saturday-Sunday.

So did runner up Amy Warren, whose 3 firsts and 4 seconds amounted to just $38.46. Warren’s top winner was Chloe’s Toy ($5.20, $2.60) in the 7th at Gulfstream. Poor Amy. She can cry all the way to Saturday’s Flo-Cal Faceoff. Pretty is as pretty does. Just ask the New England Patriots.

No one turned a flat-bet profit in Thursday’s Laurel Handicapping Challenge qualifier.

The winner was Tom Walters, who accumulated $34.20 on 4 wins and a place. His most productive selection was Mish ($6.40, $4.00) in race 8 at Gulfstream.

The big prices came out of hiding on Friday.

Tom “Hit ‘em where they” Arndt (5 wins, 1 place) hit Liberty Rising ($61.12, $13.88) in the 6th at Aqueduct, but he still needed to have Triumphant Road ($18.40, $7.20) in the final contest heat, the 10th at Gulfstream in order to capture Friday’s HT Tour battle, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final pot of $20,058. Arndt’s share of that came to $9,026.

Alan “The Muscle” Baze (4 wins, 1 place), Joseph Brocato (3W, 0P), Paul Cush (3W, 0P) and The People’s CFO, Joe “JK” Koury (3W, 1P) all connected on Liberty Rising.

They got the $1,500 scholarships in Friday’s entrance exam to the Flo-Cal Faceoff.

Liberty Rising was one of two Friday victors correctly predicted by 2021 Flo-Cal Faceoff champion Alan Levitt.

Levitt reeled in the $500 berth in Friday’s play-in to the February 14 Laurel Handicapping Challenge.

Vineet Sharma exited with the $3,500 entry at the conclusion of Friday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier.

Sharma made collections with Liberty Rising plus one other winner and one runner up.

The next day, Vineet also made some pocket money for his trip to Lexington, should he decide to attend the Grade One Gamble in person.

Sharma’s lone winner on Saturday was Test Score ($17.20, $7.40) in the Pegasus World Cup Turf. That hit plus three place collections brought him the $4,074 first prize in the day’s $6,106 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.

Getting back to Friday, Gregory Lewis ripped off three consecutive winners—ending with Liberty Rising—and finished the day with four winners in total.

Lewis got the $1,000 seat in Friday’s qualifier to the High Rollers Handicapping Contest on Feb., 20-21 at Tampa Bay Downs.

In Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers, two Vegas packages were on the line. Topping the leaderboard was 2024 Pick & Pray Classic champ Mark Stillmock. He was already double-qualified, however, and, thus, playing strictly for NHC Tour points.

That left the two NHC berths to Dan Brockman (4 wins, 1 place) and Gary Gristick (4W, 0P). Liberty Rising could be found on both of their scorecards.

The three most recent HorseTourneys Tour champions were Ed Peters (2023), Eric “Skeet” Boyd (2024) and Dave “Gambling Actuary” Nichols (2025). Last weekend turned out to be a profitable one for all three.

Peters (4 firsts, 1 second) didn’t come up with Liberty Rising, but he did have Enduring Angel ($24.96, $13.74) in the 8th at Aqueduct and, at the end, Triumphant Road ($18.40, $7.20). Triumphant Road made it a triumphant day for Peters, who bagged the $10,000 seat in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

On Saturday, it was Boyd’s turn.

Boyd served notice that he would be taking aim at the HT Tour championship again in 2026 by taking our richest tourney of the week, Saturday’s $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final prize pool of $36,485. Boyd (5 firsts, 1 second) made lots of hay on the Pegasus World Cup races, scoring with both Destino d’Oro and Skippylongstocking. He pocketed $16,418 for his Pegasus Day performance.

After seeing Boyd’s early bid on Saturday for a second HT Tour title, Dave Nichols said, “Not so fast” on Sunday.

Nichols earned $13,584 for prevailing in Sunday’s HT Tour test, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which was ultimately worth a total of $30,187. His 6 firsts and 3 seconds were highlighted by the day’s highest price—Timeless Wonder ($17.20, $8.40) in race 11 at Gulfstream.

Jumping back a day to Saturday’s featured-tourney action, Sean O’Malley (2 firsts, 2 seconds) enjoyed Skippylongstocking’s 21-1 victory in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

O’Malley picked up the $500 entry at stake in Saturday’s Laurel Handicapping Challenge qualifier.

The two players who eclipsed the century mark were the two to land Vegas berths in Saturday’s $165 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Congratulations to Cam Adimando (3 wins, 1 place) and Peter Rinato (3W, 3P). Adimando hit the “late double” of Test Score and Skippylongstocking. Renato’s big horse was Destino d’Oro.

Destino d’Oro was also the heavy lifter for 2018 The BIG One champ Joe Pettit.

Pettit (4 firsts, 1 second) snagged the $1,000 seat in Saturday’s qualifier to the High Rollers Handicapping Contest at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla.

There was also a Tampa qualifier on Sunday. 

Gary Garnett picked up the $1,000 entry in this one. Garnett had 7-1 Timeless Wonder plus 3 other winners and another 3 runners up.

Mark Henderson (5 firsts, 4 seconds) also backed Timeless Wonder.

Henderson secured himself a $1,000 berth for the February 7 Lone Star Simulcast Betting Challenge.

Russell Wilkes (4 wins, 3 places) and Gerald Koons (4W, 1P) punched their tickets to Vegas in Sunday’s $210 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Wilkes and Koons shared a fondness of Timeless Wonder.

Timeless Wonder was also part of Jay Johns’s 3-win, 2-place Sunday.

The 2022 NHC Tour champ grabbed the $10,000 entry in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers. In the final contest race, the 6th at Santa Anita, Johns blocked runner up Andy Asaro on the 5-1 winner. Asaro did come away with a $5,000 partial BCBC entry for his efforts, however.

For “Pistol” Pete Acocella, the best pick on Sunday was The Brigade ($17.00, $5.40) in the 8th at Gulfstream.

Acocella now has a paid-up entry for the February 14 Laurel Handicapping Challenge.

John Gaspar also had his best hit with The Brigade.

Gaspar (4 wins, 1 place) managed to hold on late for a 40-cent victory over Bob Bandzwolek in Sunday’s Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Challenge qualifier.

Gary Machiz (5 firsts, 2 seconds) smoked out both The Brigade and Timeless Wonder.

That’s how Machiz earned his way into the April 11 Keeneland Grade One Gamble.

Five players earned passage on Sunday to the $200,000 Gtd. Flo-Cal Faceoff.

Congratulations—and good luck next weekend—to Paul Fishman (5 wins, 1 place), 2013 BCBC champ Peter Behr (3W, 4P), Steve Arrison (3W, 3P), Sean Nolan (4W, 3P) and the one other player who cracked the $70.00 mark, Jim “Never” Settle (2W, 2P). 

The Gulfstream Super Survivor tourney continues to be a match race.

Paul McClelland and William “The Explorer” Clark will resume their to-the-death struggle for the $3,784 winner-take-all prize on Thursday—the next day of racing at Gulfstream Park.

A total of 41 entries (valued at $600 each) were awarded last week in multi-track qualifiers to the NHC Last Chance/First Chance tournament on NHC Eve in Las Vegas. They went to: Mike Steindler, Jim Murphy (2 seats), Eddie Inman (3 seats), Alan Levitt, Gregory Lewis, Paul Parker, Martin Scaminaci (2 seats), Carolyn Jack, Todd Faro, Siva Shankar Vellanki (2 seats), G.T. Nixon (2 seats), Dan Brockman, Tom Compas, Geoffrey Schutt, Suresh Bomman, William Claunch, Ciaran Thornton, Michael Caposio, Bob Montgomery, Tim Smith (2 seats), Steven Franckowiak, Anthony Spinazzola, Dave Smyth, Steve Nemetz (2 seats), Frank D’Angelo, Daniel Edwards, Ernest Hey Jr., Edwin Peinado, Nick Noce, Louie Ucciferri, Pete Acocella, Chris Littlemore and Jay Johns.

Getting back to the Flo-Cal Faceoff, qualifiers for that one—the first leg of the 2026 HT Champions Series (to be followed by The Players Championship, the New York, New York Challenge, the Spa & Surf Showdown and the Pick & Pray Classic)—continue through Friday. Of course, buy-ins at $1,500 will remain available right up until 12:15 pm ET on Saturday. That’s the post time for the first race at Gulfstream that day. With Gulfstream and Santa Anita full cards used to decide the outcome of the Flo-Cal, there will be lots of action associated with the Faceoff. And seemingly lots of good weather too. That’s more than the rest of the country can say lately. Good luck in your remaining qualifying attempts—and good luck to all those who have already gotten in.