There are so many great tournaments on the annual calendar. In less than a month, one of the most popular will be held—the Monmouth Pick Your Prize Challenge. Of course, the granddaddy of them all is the NHC. And we at HorseTourneys are particularly proud of the upcoming, all-Pick & Pray New York New York Challenge here over Belmont Stakes weekend.

There’s a fair amount of expense involved, however, in playing the Pick Your Prize and New York New York Challenge events—and all the money in the world doesn’t guarantee you a spot in the NHC. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just snap our fingers and suddenly be in all three contests? That’s sort of what Tom Lenberg did last weekend.

On Friday, Lenberg assured himself of a spot in the Pick Your Prize competition by picking 4 winners—starting with Peach Tie ($16.60, $8.00) in the 8th at Laurel—and topping  the leaderboard in the day’s qualifier to the June 13 competition. Runner up Gary Gristick (3 wins, 1 place) also grabbed a $2,000 entry for himself in this one. His best selection was Bite and Strike ($20.28, $9.12) in race 8 at BAQ.

On Preakness day, Lenberg picked 4 winners again.

This time it resulted in an NHC seat for Lenberg, who nailed the final two contest races with Vronaway ($32.60, $8.40) in race 6 at Santa Anita followed by Napoleon Solo ($17.80, $9.80) in the Preakness. Tim Kindlon (3 wins, 3 places) hit those two at well to secure second place in this $500 Low Ratio play-in. Also punching his ticket to Vegas here was fellow Vronaway fan Dan Weisenburger (3W, 0P).

When you’re hot, you want to keep playing, and that’s what Lenberg did on Sunday.

Another 4 winners came his way on Sunday, and this time they were augmented by 3 runners up. Lemberg finished 3rd in our three-seat qualifier to the $200,000 Gtd. New York New York Challenge. The only two who outdid him were Marc Racenstein (4 wins, 3 places) and Tom Cassidy (5W, 2P). Racenstein and Cassidy profited most from Icelander ($28.20, $10.40) in the 9th at Gulfstream, while Lenberg’s proudest prognostication was Sequential ($23.00, $9.40) in race 7 at BAQ. 

That made three seat wins in three days for Lenberg, No one else was able to do that last week—although Marc Racenstein managed to achieve two triumphs in one day.

Using the same picks as in the New York New York Challenge qualifier, Racenstein also landed in the winner’s circle of Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio play-in at HorsePlayers.

Our first New York New York Challenge of the week came on Wednesday.

John Fasola (3 wins, 2 places) and Jeff Bussan (also 3W, 2P) emerged victorious here. They both scored big with Zolo ($45.40, $19.40) in the 7th at Horseshoe Indy.

For Dino Herrera, the heavy lifter on Wednesday was Sambalover ($26.80, $13.40) in the 6th at the Shelbyville, Ind., racetrack.

Herrera (2 firsts, 1 second) exited with the $2,000 entry at the conclusion of Wednesday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.

We noted earlier that Gary Gristick corralled a Pick Your Prize seat on Friday for coming in second to Tom Lenberg. On Wednesday, Gristick earned some money to fund his qualifier entries.

Gristick scored with longshot Zolo along with 3 other winners and 3 places to pocket the up-top money of $2,730 in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which closed with a final purse of $5,460.

Not only did Gristick reinvest those winnings in a successful Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifying attempt on Friday, he also garnered a New York New York Challenge seat that same day.

Gristick finished 2nd in what turned out to be a four-seat New York New York Challenge play-in. Atop the leaderboard was this year’s Flo-Cal Faceoff champion Tory Cameron (3 wins, 0 places). Like Gristick, Cameron smoked out the biggest price of the day—Bite and Strike ($20.28, $9.12) in the 8th at BAQ. Reporting home in 3rd place was Robert Engelhard, whose 5 wins and a place were highlighted by Coach Mazzula ($11.20, $4.20) in the 9th at Laurel. The fourth and final $1,500 entry went to Terry Jerge (3W, 1P), who scored right off the bat with 7-1 Peach Tie in the 8th at Laurel.

A day earlier, Stephen Lerma put forth quite a performance in our $6,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray.

Lerma picked 8 winners out of 10 races to take home the $3,390 first prize in a game that was ultimately worth a total of $7,534. Lerma came up with both of the day’s double-digit winners, including Dark Vintage ($12.20, $5.40) in the 6th at Horseshoe Indy.

Evan Trommer managed to join Lerma in Thursday’s 8-win club.

Dark Vintage was also part of Trommer’s octet. Trommer scored an NHC seat in Thursday’s $120 NHC qualifier…which had enough entries for runner up Jason Albano (5 wins, 4 places) to also pick up a Vegas package. Albano also played Dark Vintage.

Trommer copied and pasted his NHC qualifier picks into Thursday’s New York New York Challenge qualifier.

He won that one as well. The other available berth into Leg 3 of the 2026 HT Champions series went to the appropriately-named Dark Vintage appreciator Paul Volkwine (4 firsts, 4 seconds).

Ken Jordan (3 wins, 3 places) blasted out of the starting gate with 7-1 Peach Tie on Friday.

Jordan pocketed the $10,053 grand prize in Friday’s $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour event), which closed with a final pot of $22,341.

David Brownfield had both Peach Tie and 9-1 Bite and Strike ($20.28, $9.12) in the 8th at BAQ.

Brownfield squirreled away the available $500 entry in Friday’s play-in to the June 27 DeFrancis Day Challenge.

David Chong Ng (6 wins, 0 places) and Michelle “Sermon on the” Mount (4W, 0P) each earned $2,500 entries in Friday’s Lone Star Million Betting Challenge qualifier.

They both connected early with Peach Tie. Mount added Bite and Strike later.

In Friday’s $70 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers, deuces were wild for Wes Herek.

Herek was one of four seat winners. Runner up Dave Portnoy was already double-qualified so he was competing strictly for NHC Tour points (and the love of the game, of course). The other Vegas berths went to Marc Ferrandino (6 wins, 1 place), Hector Ramirez (4W, 2P) and Drake “The Ghost and Mrs.” Muir (5W, 1P).

One unusual thing caught my eye in this game. First-place finisher Herek used #2 in every race. Sixth-place contestant Chris Weikel played #2 in every race—except for the 7th at BAQ…presumably because he either really liked #9 Juliet on Approach, who went off at 5-2, or because he couldn’t stand #2 Hauntress, who was sent away at 56-1 in the seven-horse field under Dalila Rivera. 

You’ve probably figured out most of the rest of the story by now. Juliet on Approach ran fifth. Hauntress finished second and returned $30.04 to place via the parimutuels and a capped $22.00 to place for contest purposes. Herek won an NHC seat. Weikel got a $210 breakage refund.

Gerald “Like a good” Naber used a wide assortment of digits to capture Friday’s BCBC Low Ratio qualifier.

Peach Tie was Naber’s first hit and his best hit en route to the $10,000 seat.

Our richest tourney of the week was Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed cash game. It closed with a final prize pool of $33,533. 

Jim Trepinski (4 firsts, 1 second) got the “W” here and the $15,090 that went with it. His big horse on Preakness day was Warming ($19.80, $8.80) in race 11 on the card at Laurel.

Previously mentioned was the fact that Evan Trommer scored two nice victories on Thursday. He also accounted for Saturday’s other featured cash tourney.

Trommer booked 4 winners and 5 runners up to safeguard the $4,986 first prize in Saturday’s $7,124 Big Bucks Pick & Pray. His best return came not at Laurel but at BAQ where Three B’s ($13.66, $5.82) got an A for his work in race 9.

There was a special $5,000 Gtd. All Optional Live game on Saturday that didn’t hit its guarantee and went off at a 19% overlay to players.

Mike Lazarus came up with 4 winners—all of which paid between $16.60 and $19.80 to win—and 3 places to lead the way. Warming was his hottest selection on the way to a $2,500 payday.

Max Schnepf whiffed on his first seven Saturday contest plays and still wound up having a fine day.

Schnepf (3 firsts, 1 second) hit Vronaway and Napoleon Solo at the end to score a come-from-behind victory in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers. Daniel “El Camino” Real finished second to snatch a $5,000 partial BCBC seat.

Our 2024 HT Tour champ Eric “Skeet” Boyd (3 wins, 2 places) doped out both Vronaway and Napoleon Solo late. 

Boyd was one of three $1,500 seat winners to emerge from Saturday’s New York New York Challenge qualifier. Runner up Curtis Brodzina (5W, 3P) scored highest with Warming, Pat Camacho (6W, 1P) got third. His best pick was Voodoo Doll ($18.18, $9.84) in the 11th at BAQ.

There were also three winners in Saturday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.

Congratulations to Joshua Tarred (3 wins, 1 place), Harry Seamen (4W, 1P) and Mark Rudy (4W, 1P). Taurus’s three winners came in the final three races. Seamen hit it big with Vronaway. Rudy swept the first three contest heats, but his best return came at the end with Napoleon Solo ($17.80, $9.80) in the Preakness.

Michael Odorisio hit the Vronaway-Napoleon Solo “late double”.

Odorisio bagged the $2,500 entry in Saturday’s Lone Star Million Betting Challenge play-in.

The star of NHC Hall of Famer Brett Wiener’s Saturday stable was Warming.

Wiener (3 firsts, 3 seconds) claimed the $1,500 entry in Saturday’s Xpressbet Gold Cup Challenge qualifier.

There was also a Gold Cup Challenge play-in on Sunday.

It went to Dr. Ronald Tang, who booked 3 wins and 2 places. The most lucrative horse for Tang was Icelander ($28.20, $10.40) in race 9 at Gulfstream.

Howard “Right as” Raines used Icelander as a springboard to success.

Raines (4 wins, 2 places) collected $10,926 in Sunday’s HT Tour battle, our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which paid out a total of $24,281.

Craig White was hot for Icelander.

White (3 firsts, 2 seconds) earned the $2,500 scholarship in Sunday’s entrance exam for the Lone Star Million Betting Challenge.

Fabian Sultan (4 wins, 2 places) and William Holmes (also 4W, 2P) shared an appreciation for Icelander.

Sultan and Holmes were the kings in Sunday’s $155 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. Holmes got second place by 68 cents thanks to a 9-2 winner at the end that propelled him up to 2nd place from 7th.

Another Icelander backer was Sean O’Malley (2 wins, 1 place).

O’Malley obtained the available $500 entry in Sunday’s play-in to the June 27 DeFrancis Day Challenge.

For champion-handicapper sire Chick Matties, the big horse of the day on Sunday was Sequential ($23.00, $9.40) in the 7th at BAQ. 

Matties (4 wins, 1 place) led a pack of three $2,000 seat winners in Sunday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize play-in. The other two were Icelander fans Tyler Hoffman (3 wins, 2 places) and Michael Saletta (4W, 2P).

(Incidentally, those $23.00, $9.40 win-and-place payoffs for Sequential almost constitute “freak mutuels” at BAQ these days. What happened to penny breakage?)

Sequential was also the star of Bruce Dagostini’s Sunday stable.

Dagostini (5 wins, 3 places) reeled in the sizable $6,500 package in Sunday’s guaranteed qualifier to the July 25-26 Del Mar Summer Challenge.

Thanks very much for making HorseTourneys a part of your Preakness week plans. Memorial Day is early this year—which means we have a holiday weekend dead ahead of us. That means six days of featured-tourney action before the next “Weekly Recap”. More writing for me, but hopefully more fun and excitement for you. I’ll take that deal. Good luck!