A couple of weeks ago, John Fasola channeled his inner Vince Lombardi (“What the HELL are you doing?”) in helping to will Tory Cameron across the finish line first in the Flo-Cal Faceoff. Since then, it has been Fasola’s turn to hoist trophies.

On February 8, Fasola cashed for $13,978 in taking our Sunday $20,000 Guaranteed tourney. On Presidents Day, he was at it again.

Fasola landed his first seat to next month’s NHC in Monday’s $125 Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers. What was amazing is not that Fasola hit the day’s biggest price—Jacobi ($16.60, $6.40) in the 8th race at his home-state track Mahoning Valley. Rather, it was that he swept the final seven races on the slate, finishing with 8 firsts and 1 second from 12 contest races.

In Monday’s $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, Fasola did even better.

He added an extra place collection in this one, storming off to a victory worth $7,832 in an HT Tour event that closed with a pot of $17,406. 

(Also amazing—that Fasola could play so extraordinarily well and yet win both games by only a few dollars. It’s a tough crowd here!)

And just to bring things full circle, this reporter has learned that Fasola had suffered through a frustrating handicapping day on Sunday and was going to take Monday off from HorseTourneys—until one of his horse racing friends persuaded him to play. That friend was Tory Cameron. So you could say that Cameron returned the favor from a couple of weeks prior.

Another player who has been on a roll of late is Charles Bryan.

Bryan had Walk With Me ($26.32, $10.72) in the 8th at Aqueduct plus three other winners en route to victory in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash game, which closed with a final purse of $7,189. For Bryan, it was his second consecutive triumph in our Wednesday cash feature. The previous Wednesday, he pocketed $3,421. This past Wednesday, he bagged $3,235. We imagine that Bryan is busily handicapping tomorrow’s races as we speak!

For Rafael Lopez, the horse on Wednesday that enabled him to flash the victory sign was Nixon Joy ($14.00, $3.00) in race 8 at Parx.

Lopez added his name to the growing roster of participants for the $200,000 Gtd. Players Championship here on Friday and Saturday, April 3-4.

Cal “Frontier” Jestice had a nice Wednesday.

Walk With Me was part of the 2-win, 2-place day that delivered Jestice a $1,000 berth in Wednesday’s qualifier to this weekend’s High Rollers Handicapping Contest at Tampa Bay Downs.

Cal Jestice had an even nicer Friday.

Jestice (4 wins, 1 place) nailed Whistler’s Style ($31.66, $9.82) in the 6th at Aqueduct to get himself into contention and later used a 5-2 victory by Outrageous in the final contest race to move from 3rd to 1st in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Jestice copied and pasted the same selections into his entry for Friday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier.

He won that one too, earning himself a $3,500 spot in the popular springtime contest on April 11.

Zachery Mcleod was also a multiple winner last week. He strutted his stuff on Thursday.

Mcleod recorded 3 firsts and 3 seconds in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which paid out a total of $10,507.. His best selection on the way to his $4,202 winner’s share was Roxy ($36.00, $15.40) in the 9th at Gulfstream.

Mcleod utilized those same picks to secure himself a $2,000 Players Championship seat. 

Also gaining an entry into Leg 2 of the 2026 HT Champions Series was runner-up Michael Caposio (2 wins, 1 place). He, too, backed Roxy.

Two wins and a place also worked for Caposio on Friday.

Those three collections—which included Whistler’s Style—all came in the first four races, but Caposio’s total held up despite six later whiffs, and he got the $1,500 berth in Friday’s Xpressbet Fountain of Youth qualifier.

Phil Matzat (6 wins, 1 place) also got off to a fast start on Friday, thanks in part to Whistler’s Style.

Matzat had the winners in four of the first five contest races and chipped up from there to take home the $9,921 first prize in Friday’s HT Tour battle, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $22,048.

Whistler’s Style did not avoid the detection of Jay Johns (2022 NHC Tour champ) or Geoffrey Schutt.

Johns (3 wins, 3 places) and Schutt (3W, 0P) accounted for the two available $2,000 entries in Friday’s Players Championship qualifier.

Anthony Mastropietro will be at Tampa Bay Downs this Friday and Saturday with a paid-up $1,000 entry in his pocket.

Mastropietro (3 wins, 1 place) was also a Whistler’s Style fan.

On Friday, we hosted our first qualifier for the June 13 Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament. 

The two $2,000 seat winners were Rocco Cusat (3 wins, 0 places) and Jerald Segall (5W, 1P). Cusat was a member of Team Whistler’s Style. Segall’s most lucrative return came from Last Call Paul ($14.20, $4.20) in race 1 at Santa Anita.

Friday’s highest scorer came (as it often does) in Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. 

There were enough entrants signed on for three spots to be awarded. Phil and Jill Matzat ran second and third, but they were already double qualified and, thus, playing strictly for NHC Tour points. Leading the way with a day-best total of $113.18 was Steve Pavich (5 wins, 2 places). He and fellow seat winner Scott Pearson (in 5th place) both swept the first 4 contest races, which included Whistler’s Style. The other package went to NHC Hall of Famer Paul Matties Jr. (5W, 4P) in 4th place. Matties, the 2016 NHC champion, hit Whistler’s Style early before closing things out with 4 straight winners at the end.

On Saturday, it was Cory Moelis (4 wins, 1 place) and Chrissy Bialek (5W, 0P) who punched their tickets to Vegas. 

They did so in Saturday’s $210 NHC play-in at HorsePlayers. Moelis came up with both of the day’s big prices—Mr. Mo’s Magic ($36.40, $11.40) in the 8th at Tampa and Stylishlyaccused ($42.00, $15.80) in race 5 at Santa Anita. Bialek joined Moelis in rooting for Stylishlyaccused.

Like Moelis, Frank Sorensen also smoked out Mr. Mo’s Magic and Stylishlyaccused.

Sorensen (3 winners) will be in Oldsmar, Fla., on Friday and Saturday—the result of having won last Saturday’s High Rollers Handicapping Contest qualifier.

Saturday’s HT Tour game went to Turner West, who had Stylishlyaccused as his heaviest lifter among 4 firsts and 4 seconds.

West pocketed $14,678 in our richest tourney of the week, our $25,000 Guaranteed cash game. It had a final prize pool of $32,618.

Mr. Mo’s Magic was the apple of Daniel Fischer’s eye on Saturday.

Fischer (3 firsts, 2 seconds) reeled in the $1,500 entry at stake in Saturday’s Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Challenge qualifier.

Stylishlyaccused was the last of three consecutive winners selected at one juncture by Jerry Weseloh (5 firsts, 2 seconds).

Weseloh departed with the $10,000 entry in his briefcase at the conclusion of Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers.

The 2021 winner of The BIG One, Ken Seeman, came away with the $2,000 scholarship in Saturday’s entrance exam to the Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.

Seeman (2 firsts, 1 second) got most of his scoring from Stylishlyaccused.

Another past winner of a HorseTourneys “major” led the way in Saturday’s Players Championship qualifier.

The 2024 Flo-Cal Faceoff champion Michael Solakis picked up a $2,000 seat for April 3-4 by connecting on Mr. Mo’s Magic plus 4 other winners and 3 runners up. Second-place finisher Jason Albano (3W, 2P)  also played Mr. Mo’s Magic and he got the other available spot in the “PC”.

Shad Walton (4 wins, 1 place) earned the $3,500 berth in Saturday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier. 

Shad’s stable star was Stylishlyaccused.

Stylishlyaccused was also a feather in the cap of Joseph Zuer (3 wins, 3 places).

Zuer grabbed the up-top money of $3,562 in Saturday’s $5,088 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.

Zuer came back the next day to add a Players Championship seat to his portfolio.

Zuer (3 firsts, 3 seconds) scored with Jaguar Jon ($28.00, $11.00) in the 4th at Santa Anita and then cinched his Sunday victory by having Pura Vida Princesa ($12.40, $5.80) in the final contest heat, the 7th at The Great Race Place.

A special offering on Sunday was the NHC Super Qualifier at HorsePlayers, which guaranteed 10 seats. 

Ralph DeBartelo led the way with a 15-race score of $177.36. That sum was built on 8 winners (including Jaguar Jon) and 2 runners up. The other nine spots went to Mike Lazarus, Robert Earle, Jimmie O’Nail, Chris Bertolucci, Charley Witt, Frank “54-40 or Fight” Polk, William McMillan, Braden Selvage and Michael “Chop Chop” Chavez. (Kevin Engelhard was already double qualified and, therefore, competing for Tour points.)

On Sunday, Dave “The Warrior” Smyth guaranteed himself a shot at a second straight Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge victory.

Smyth shot at the walls of heartache with 5 wins and 3 places to capture the $10,000 seat. His biggest conquest was with Battle of Dover ($27.00, $9.40) in the 9th at Gulfstream.

Battle of Dover was also a victory for Raymond Gallant Jr.

Gallant (5 wins, 2 places) continued his strong run of late. (He recently won two NHC seats in one day.) This victory was also highly worthwhile. It came in Sunday’s $20,000 Guaranteed cash game, an HT Tour event that closed with a pot of $30,625. It meant a windfall of $13,781 for Gallant. 

Thanks in part to Battle of Dover, Dr. Ronald Tang celebrated twice on Sunday.

Using the same, 3-win, 3-place picks, Tang posted victories in both the Monmouth Pick Your Prize and Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Challenge qualifiers.

Rick “I-65” Broth picked six Sunday winners, but it was Jaguar Jon that really brought Broth to a boil.

Broth bagged a $3,500 seat in Sunday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble play-in.

Gregory Lewis (3 firsts, 4 seconds) doped out Jaguar Jon as well.

Lewis garnered the $1,000 berth in Sunday’s qualifier to the upcoming High Rollers Handicapping Contest at Tampa Bay Downs.

On Monday, John Schimpf picked four winners. One of them was Sunday Spirit, the 10-1 winner of race 10 at Parx. However, it was one of his two runners up that gave him perhaps his most consequential return.

When Royal Integrity ran 2nd at 29-1 in the final contest race, the 8th at Turf Paradise, the capped, $22.00 place return shot Schimpf to the top of the leaderboard in Monday Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray.

Rich Constantine (3 wins, 6 places) and Mark Hackworth (4W, 3P) each earned $2,000 entries in Monday’s qualifier to the $200,000 Gtd. Players Championship.

They both shared an appreciation of Jacobi, the 7-1 winner of race 8 at Mahoning Valley.

A total of 42 seats (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. The winners were: Dave Cichy, Rafael Lopez, Eugene DeMarzo, Kevin Okerson, Troy Johnson, Steven Napper, Matthew Ache, Matt Weikel, Joseph Karabaich, Dan Brockman (4 seats), Phil Jorgensen, James Lisowsky, Ed Claunch, Bruce Rossi, Evan  Trommer, Joe Scanio, Robert Fry, Rocco Cusat, Larry St. Andrie, Paul Kloeker, Jason Matson (2 seats), Daniel Fischer, Aaron Bernstein, Jason Albano, Eddie Inman, Terry Jerge, Eric Gielata, James Cosenza, William Inman, Joseph Perry. William Sadoo, Sean Nolan, Craig White, Montie Barnes, Dennis Elwood, Rob Ramirez, Raymond Gallant Jr., and William McMillan.

After just a one-day hiatus following Presidents Day, featured-tourney action resumes tomorrow. On that Wednesday bill of fare will be the Last Chance qualifier for Tampa. Thanks to all for playing last week, and good luck in the week ahead!