In 2023, New Jersey attorney David Wolff enjoyed the biggest score of his life, winning $187,425 in that year’s Flo-Cal Faceoff. Last week, Wolff added to his career HorseTourneys earnings…twice.

In Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, Wolff (3 wins, 3 places) waited until the final contest race, the 9th at Keeneland, before making his really big move. He nailed Flying Mohawk ($24.28, $9.50) to vault himself into first place and collect the up-top money of $4,534 in a game that was ultimately worth a total of $11,336.

On Sunday, Wolff shrewdly reinvested some of those profits.

Wolff (3 firsts, 4 seconds) didn’t wait quite so long to land his big fish on Sunday, but again it came at Keeneland, and this one was really a whopper. It was Frosty Indulgence ($52.46, $17.82) in the 7th race at the historic Lexington, Ky., racetrack. The bomb propelled Wolff to a Sunday payday worth $13,978 in the afternoon’s HT Tour event, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $31.062.  Wolff’s Thursday/Sunday exploits earned him a total of $18,512. Nice work if you can get it.

Cal “Frontier” Jestice found some very nice work of his own to do on Wednesday, the initial day of the featured-tourney week.

By finishing first and third, Jestice commandeered two of the three available entries in Wednesday qualifier to the $200,000 Gtd. New York New York Challenge here on June 5-6. Jestice (5 firsts, 2 seconds on his “good” entry) reeled off four consecutive winners early including Taterpie ($19.34, $7.58) in race 6 at Keeneland. On his other entry, Jestice also used Taterpie…and so did 2013 Horse Players World Series champ James Henry, who claimed the other $1,500 seat thanks to 3 wins and a place that resulted in a second-place, “Jestice-splitting” finish.

Michael Sussman (5 firsts, 3 seconds) had Taterpie in mid-tourney, then finished very strongly with four straight winners at the end.

Sussman took the first featured cash game of the week, pocketing $3,359 in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, which paid out a total of $7,466.

Taterpie was among the 3 wins and 2 places racked up by John Macklin on Wednesday.

Macklin led the way in Wednesday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier. Also picking up a $2,000 berth for the June 13 contest was runner up Todd “American” Faro (4W, 1P). The biggest producer for Faro was Malibu Warrior ($19.00, $5.40) in the 8th at Parx.

Four days later, Macklin won himself some action in the New York New York Challenge.

Macklin (2 wins, 5 places here) smoked out 25-1 Frosty Indulgence to finish second in this three-seat qualifier to the third leg of the 2026 HT Champions Series. The only player to top him was Mike Lazarus, whose 2 wins and 2 places were highlighted by Reb Five ($34.36, $13.40) in the 8th at Keeneland. Dr. Ronald Tang (2W, 5P) took the show spot…and the $1,500 “NYNYC” entry that went with it. Tang’s heaviest lifter was Non Conforming ($24.42, $11.74) in the final contest heat, the 9th at Keeneland.

Non Conforming also helped Tang stand out from the crowd in a different Sunday qualifier.

Here, the Southern California oncologist added a $1,500 Preakness Challenge entry to his upcoming-contest portfolio. 

Jumping back to Thursday doings, there was a special $120 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers, and there were enough entries for two Vegas packages to be awarded.

Like 2023 Flo-Cal Faceoff winner David Wolff, who won Thursday’s cash feature, 2022 Spa & Surf Showdown champ Tim Hughes hit 11-1 Flying Mohawk at the end in the 9th at Keeneland, Hughes (3 wins, 3 places) got the top spot in this one, and second-place contestant James Walters (5W, 2P) also punched his ticket for passage to Vegas in 11 months. The best return for Walters came from All of It ($13.28, $6.96) in the 8th at Aqueduct.

Friday was a day that helped Jose Giron fill up his calendar for the next couple of months.

Giron is now officially busy on Preakness Day, May 16. He scored with Daddygaveittome ($38.00, $15.80) in the 6th at Santa Anita plus one other winner and two runners up to secure the $1,500 entry in Friday’s qualifier to the Preakness Challenge.

Giron will also be tied up on Belmont Stakes weekend.

Utilizing the same selections, Giron came in third in Friday’s five-seat qualifier to the New York New York Challenge. Also grabbing entries for Friday and Saturday, June 5-6 were Aedan Hunt (3 wins, 3 places), William McMillan (4W, 0P), Jim Cuzzupe (3W, 2P) and Gregory Caliwag (1W, 4P). Daddygaveittome helped give each of the top five their $1,500 seats.

The Saturday after the New York New York Challenge is the date of the Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament. Giron will now be playing in that event too.

So will The People’s CFO, Joe “JK” Koury, who finished second to Giron. Koury (3 wins, 1 place) also cheered on Daddygaveittome. 

Eldon Stivers connected on four of the first five Friday winners before hitting it big with Daddygaveittome.

Stivers (5 firsts, 2 seconds) took home the $10,127 grand prize in Friday’s HT Tour get-together, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final pot of $22,506.

Another Daddygaveittome fan was Kirk Tesar (3 firsts, 1 second).

Tesar bagged the coveted $10,000 seat in Friday’s Low Ratio qualifier to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. Jay Coatta was the recipient of a slightly less coveted—but still very worthwhile—$5,000 partial BCBC entry for reporting home in second place.

Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier was a $179 affair.

It was Jeff Bussan who got the low-cost ticket into the world’s most prestigious live-bankroll handicapping tournament. Bussan stockpiled 4 winners and another 4 runners up. The valedictorian in his class was Ivy Girl ($55.40, $19.20), who aced the test in the 9th at Laurel.

The high score of the day—$128.48—was put up by Jacob Warden (4 firsts, 3 seconds). 

Warden also profited big from Ivy Girl, and he bagged the $16,187 grand prize in our richest tourney of the week, Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed cash game (an HT Tour event), which closed with a final prize pool of $35,972.

Four players earned $1,500 entries in Saturday’s New York New York Challenge qualifier.

Congratulations to Rick Vasquez (5 wins, 3 places), 2023 Spa & Surf Showdown champion Anthony Spinazzola (2W, 1P), Tim Moline (2W, 4P) and Steve “The Admiral” Nemetz (2W, 0P). All four ranked Ivy Girl at the head of their respective classes.

Ivy Girl was the Summa cum laude performer in Michael Guadagno’s Saturday stable. 

The Laurel race 9 heroine was one of three Saturday winners doped out by Guadagno, who prevailed in Saturday’s qualifier to the Preakness Challenge.

We noted earlier that Jim Cuzzupe earned a New York New York Challenge berth for finishing fourth on Friday behind Aedan Hart in a five-seater. Cuzzupe came back on Saturday to garner a Monmouth Pick Your Prize entry.

Cuzzupe (2 wins, 5 places) finished 2nd in this two-seater. His biggest return was supplied by Outlaw Kid ($24.00, $10.20) in race 8 at Laurel. Leading the way was Ivy Girl believer Stephen Thompson (3W, 1P).

Outlaw Kid was the high yielder for NHC Hall of Famer Brett Wiener on Saturday.

Wiener (4 firsts, 2 seconds) pocketed $6,411 for taking Saturday’s $9,159 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.

The 2017 NHC champion Ray Arsenault has locked up an opportunity to become the event’s first two-time winner. 

Arsenault (3 wins, 1 place) finished behind Matthew Ache (3W, 0P) and ahead of fellow seat winner Kenny Peck (3W, 1P) in Sunday’s three-seat qualifier here at HorseTourneys. Ache and Arsenault both connected with Frosty Indulgence ($52.46, $17.82) in the 7th at Keeneland. Peck’s premier pick was Reb Five ($34.36, $13.40) in the 8th at Keeneland.

Joe Perry (4 wins, 5 places) and Jim Urban (4W, 3P) emerged with $2,000 entries at the conclusion of Sunday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.

The most productive selection for both came at the end…courtesy of Non Conforming ($24.42, $11.74) in the 9th at Keeneland.

In something of a Sunday rarity, there were enough players signed on to the day’s BCBC Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers for two $10,000 entries to be handed out.

Those two went to Matthew Cortez (3W, 2P) and Conrad “Tickled” Pink (7W, 1P). Perhaps Cortez allowed himself a cold beer after hitting Frosty Indulgence. Among Pink’s frequent collections—eight in all—his score was most boosted by Ballyvaughan Gig ($12.20, $6.20) in race 1 at Santa Anita.

Thanks very much for playing last week In the week ahead, we’ll have three more days of Keeneland (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) along with our first qualifier (on Sunday) to the July 25-26 Del Mar Summer Challenge. Good luck to all!