The goaltending and the checking skill were such that you weren’t going to see any hat tricks in the men’s or women’s U.S.-Canada gold medal Olympic hockey finals…but there were a couple on display last week here at HorseTourneys.

On Friday, Dr. Ronald Tang was chanting not “U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!” but rather, “Sheshimaintenance! Sheshimaintenance!”

When the victorious 18-1 shot prevailed in the final contest heat, race 10 at Gulfstream, it resulted in a Tang victory in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Happily for Tang, he participated in multiple Friday events.

Using the same picks, he also captured Friday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.

Tang also won Friday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier.

The silver medal in this one went to Nick “48 Hrs.” Noce (3 firsts, 1 second), who also had a $3,500 Keeneland entry draped around his neck. Like Tang, Noce hit Sheshimaintenace ($38.60, $16.00).

On Sunday, it was Jim “Never” Settle’s day to record three victories.

His most lucrative tally came in Sunday’s HT Tour event, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $32,593. Settle claimed the $14,667 winner’s share after posting 4 wins and 2 places. One of those victors was the biggest price of the day—Gordon’s Legacy ($31.00, $15.40) in race 5 at Santa Anita.

The same selections left Settle in fine fettle in Sunday’s NHC Low Ratio tilt at HorsePlayers.

For the first time in recent memory, there were enough entries in an NHC Low Ratio qualifier for two spots to be bestowed. The second one went to Christian Hellmers, who was making an infrequent appearance in a mythical tourney. Hellmers had Gordon’s Legacy plus 3 other winners and 1 runner up.

Back to Settle…he also got himself some action for this coming Saturday.

Settle and Jon Lindo (4 wins, 0 places) ran one-two in Sunday’s two-seat qualifier for Saturday’s Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Challenge. Gordon’s Legacy appeared on each of their scorecards.

On the first day of the featured-tourney week, Michael Marlaire batted .600 by going 6-for-10 in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney.

Marlaire wasn’t just hunting chalk, either. One of his six winners was Keigs ($37.80, $13.80) in race 7 at Tampa Bay Downs. Marlaire wound up pocketing $2,986 in a game that was ultimately worth a total of $6,636.

Wednesday’s qualifier to the $200,000 Gtd. Players Championship here on Friday and Saturday, April 3-4 went to last year’s HorseTourneys Tour Champion Dave “Gambling Actuary” Nichols.

Nichols picked 3 winners on the day, the most rewarding of which was Small Town Heroine ($28.80, $11.80) in the 7th at Mahoning Valley.

Thursday’s Players Championship qualifier went to Turner West (3 firsts, 0 seconds).

We don’t know if it was an early-arrived-at choice or a last-second decision at the line of scrimmage, but West’s best pick was Calling an Audible ($21.44, $9.38) in the 5th at Aqueduct.

Mike Lazarus came up with three horses on Wednesday that paid $19.00 or more to win.

Lazarus (3 firsts, 1 second) collected the $4,385 top prize in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a pot of $9,746. The best of his returns came from Lady River Lily ($21.20, $11.60) in race 8 at Gulfstream.

Friday’s cash feature was an HT Tour battle, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray.

Here, it was Ken Zelin who saved his best for last by choosing Sheshimaintenance at the end. Zelin (4 firsts, 1 second) bagged $9,921 in a game that closed with a prize pool of $22,048.

Essentially all of Friday’s featured-tourney, grand-prize winners played Sheshimaintenance. That group included Basil DeVito (3 wins, 1 place) and 2024 Pick & Pray Classic champion Mark Stillmock (3W, 2P).

DeVito and Stillmock accounted for the two available $2,000 entries in Friday’s play-in to the Players Championship—leg 2 of the 2026 HT Champions Series.

Sheshimaintenance did not elude the detection of NHC Hall of Famer Brett Wiener (2 firsts, 1 second).

Wiener picked up a $1,500 entry for this Saturday in Friday’s Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Challenge qualifier.

R. Paul Capone (5 wins, 1 place), Hector Ramirez (4W, 2P) and Dr. Patrick Grippo (5W, 1P) were also attracted to Sheshimaintenance.

They each snagged Vegas berths for finishing in the top three of Friday’s $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

With NHC 2026 on the horizon, there were two Vegas qualifiers on Saturday.

The two players who cracked the century mark—Tom Ryan (6 wins, 2 places) and Justin Schwartz (3W, 1P) were the two who came away with the entries to the big dance in Saturday’s open, $210 play-in. They both connected on the day’s biggest victorious longshot—Dr. Merciless ($42.38, $13.90) in race 9 at Aqueduct. Schwartz also smoked out the next biggest Saturday price—Jack’s Promise ($24.80, $6.00) in the 10th at Gulfstream.

Dr. Merciless helped Vaughn Bair land his first seat to the 2026 NHC.

Bair (4 wins, 1 place) finished atop the leaderboard in the $210 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers on Saturday that was restricted to those who had yet to secure a 2026 berth.

The other Saturday feature at HorsePlayers was a $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier.

And the contest winner was…John Gaspar. His 3 winners were highlighted by Dr. Merciless.

The same selections were also fruitful for Gaspar elsewhere.

He also ruled the roost in Saturday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier. 

Another Dr. Merciless fan was Mike Elsass (4 firsts, 3 seconds).

Elsass received a windfall of $16,832 for taking our richest tourney of the week, Saturday’s $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour game). It closed with a final purse of $37,405.

Saturday’s highest score was put up by James Zaccagnino (4 wins, 1 place).

Thanks in part to Dr. Merciless, Zaccagnino stormed off to a $47.98 triumph in Saturday’s Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Challenge qualifier.

Dr. Merciless was Zach Hinkle’s only winner of the day on Saturday.

That hit plus one place collection delivered Hinkle the $5,699 first prize in Saturday’s $8,142 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.

“Battlin’” William Smith selected two Saturday winners, topped by Dr. Merciless.

Smith turned away all of his opponents in Saturday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.

There were three players who won $2,000 entries in Saturday’s qualifier to the $200,000 Gtd. Players Championship.

Congratulations to recent Flo-Cal Faceoff champion Tory Cameron (4 wins, 2 places), Jeff Bussan (4W, 0P) and 2023 HT Tour champ Ed Peters (2W, 0P). The big horse for both Cameron and Bussan was Jack’s Promise. Peters came up with Dr. Merciless. The winning trio were the only ones in this game to crack the $60.00 mark…or the $50.00 mark, for that matter.

On Sunday, Jim Settle wasn’t the only player who enjoyed a multiple-win day. So did Rick Vasquez.

With 7 wins and 3 places, Vasquez made 10 collections from just 12 contest races. One of those winners was Gordon’s Legacy ($31.00, $15.40) in race 5 at Santa Anita. Vasquez took Sunday’s Keeneland Grade One Gamble qualifier with a day-best score of $141.60.

Since Vasquez used the same selections in Sunday’s Players Championship qualifier, he won that one too.

There were enough entrants signed on in this one for three $2,000 entries to be awarded. The other two Craig “Home Sweet” Hom (3 wins, 1 place) and Darryl Lacy (2W, 0P). Hom and Lacy doped out first-time starter Gordon’s Legacy as well.

Francis Boustany (4 wins, 2 places) and Kris Andaur (4W, 1P) shared an appreciation of Gordon’s Legacy.

They reeled in the Vegas packages in Sunday’s $165 NHC Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers.

Matthew Walsh (3 firsts, 2 seconds) scored with Gordon’s Legacy. However, he needed an $8.80 place collection in the final contest race to squeak past Andy Asaro and finish first.

Walsh snagged the $10,000 seat in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers. Asaro didn’t go home empty handed, though. He got a $5,000 partial BCBC entry for his efforts.

For Malcolm “You gave us quite” Esquerre, the heavy lifter on Sunday was Mars Magic ($17.20, $6.60) in race 9 at Santa Anita.

Esquerre (4 wins, 1 place) garnered the $2,000 berth in Sunday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.

A total of 38 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. They went to: Dan Brockman, Kevin Okerson, Dave Nichols, Chris Inman, Karol Mannarino, Mike Lazarus, Ken Jordan, Jeff Tracy, Bronson Cambra, Travis Allison, Colton Jorgensen, Jeffrey Pesot, Todd Faro, Brett Wiener, Jason Matson (2 seats), Cameron Meredith, Larry St. Andrie, Michael Kavana, Craig Siedler, Phil Hoedebeck (2 seats), Mike Langthorne, Victor Pasquariello, Steve Wolfson Jr., Rick Vasquez, Bob White, Paul Yaffee, David May, David Harrison, Mark Heider, Darryl Lacy, Stephen McNatton, Mike Pigott, Douglas Schenk and Lawrence Kahlden.

We wish good luck to the many HorseTourneys qualifiers who will be competing in Saturday’s Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Challenge. For those of you still seeking to win your way into that competition without forking over a $1,500 entry fee, qualifiers will continue here at HorseTourneys right through Friday. Good luck to all—and thanks for reading.