Cash was king for Kenneth Arnerich over Memorial Day Weekend—or on Saturday, to be precise.

Arnerich hit Give Me Liberty ($26.40, $9.20) in the 8th at Gulfstream along with 2 other winners and 3 runners up. That performance landed him the top spot in Saturday’s HT Tour event, our $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final purse of $38,106. Arnerich’s winner’s share came to $17,147.

He also copied and pasted those same picks into an entry for Saturday’s $6,106 Big Bucks Pick & Pray. Not surprisingly, his margin of victory here was greater.

This triumph—by $34.00—added another $4,274 to Arnerich’s ledger. Add it up, and he banked a total of $21,421. Not a bad day playing the ponies!

Ryan Reynolds had a pretty enjoyable day of his own on Wednesday.

Reynolds (5 firsts, 2 seconds) prevailed in our first cash game of the week, taking Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed tourney, which closed its doors with $6,013 in the kitty. His best return on the way to a $2,706 payday was a $22.00 max place payoff on Golden Wildcat—the 36-1 runner up in race 10 at Parx.

Wednesday was a pretty chalky day on the win end. In fact, the day’s two most lucrative horses to play both finished second. Suresh Bomman (3 wins, 3 places) was another who did best with Golden Wildcat.

Bomman secured himself a $2,000 place in the June 13 Monmouth Pick Your Prize tournament.

Matthew Trommer (6 wins, 1 place) and Vineet Sharma (3W, 3P) came away with $1,500 entries in the week’s first qualifier to the $200,000 Gtd. New York New York Challenge here on June 5-6.

Sharma was golden with Golden Wildcat. Slow and steady won the race for Trommer, however. His single most productive selection was Competitive Saint ($6.00, $3.80) in the 10th at Parx—the same race in which Golden Wildcat placed.

Thursday’s New York New York Challenge qualifier saw Pete Manzo (4 wins, 3 places) and Wendy Long (3W, 0P) add their names to the roster of participants (which now numbers 117).

Mr. Redlegs ($18.00, $7.80) in the 7th at…appropriately…Thistledown was the top selection for Manzo. Long’s finest prognostication was War Belle ($27.00, $10.00) in the first contest race, the 6th at Delaware.

Linda Igleski (5 firsts, 2 seconds) also got off to a flying start with War Belle.

Igleski collected $3,390 for taking Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd, Pick & Pray, which was ultimately worth a total of $7,534.

Friday’s cash feature, an HT Tour battle, was our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray. It was Part I of what was a terrific day for Sean Nolan.

In the first contest heat, Nolan nailed Call Me Jal ($15.72, $6.70) in the 5th at BAQ. He went on to post another 3 winners and 2 places after that to claim the $9,308 first prize in a game that paid out a total of $20,686.

The same picks put Nolan on top of the heap in Friday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.

Michael Saletta (5 winners, including Call Me Jal) finished closest to Nolan, and he, too, got a Monmouth berth.

Last but not least, Nolan’s total of $83.64 landed him in second place in Friday’s $70 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers, which awarded four Vegas packages.

Jerry McClenin showed the way with 5 wins and a place. Basil DeVito (3W, 2P) ran 3rd. The final spot went to the other $80.00+ scorer, Brian M. “Summer of 69” Adams (5W, 2P). The top four all connected with Call Me Jal.

The three players who cracked the $60.00 mark snatched up the $1,500 entries in Friday’s New York New York Challenge qualifier.

Congratulations to Rick “I-65” Broth (3 wins, 2 places), 2020 Spa & Surf Showdown champion Scott Fiedler (3W, 3P) and Michael “Copa” Kavana (3W, 1P). Fiedler and Kavana each played Call Me Jal. Broth’s highest return came from Little Tinker Elle, who paid $20.20 to place after reporting home second in the 6th at Santa Anita.

Using the same picks that got him that close second-place finish behind Rick Broth, Scott Fiedler earned himself an even bigger prize.

Fiedler bagged the $10,000 seat in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

G.T. Nixon (6 wins, 1 place) was the one in Friday’s DeFrancis Day Challenge qualifier.

Nixon’s favorite running mate was Call Me Jal. That was one of five winners he came up with over the first six contest races.

Kenneth Arnerich wasn’t the only one who enjoyed an extra nice day on Saturday. So did Terry Jerge.

Give Me Liberty ($26.40, $9.20) in the 8th at Gulfstream was the best part of a 4-win, 4-place afternoon (and evening) that delivered Jerge a $10,000 seat in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Pick & Pray.

What’s better than winning a BCBC seat? Winning a BCBC seat and an NHC entry in the same day!

That’s what Jerge pulled off with those same 4 winners and 4 runners up in Saturday’s $195 play-in at HorsePlayers. The other two available Vegas packages went to Greg Knepper (4 wins, 5 places) and Russell Sapienza (5W, 3P). Knepper was a Give Me Liberty fan. Sapienza got his biggest boost from Melody Factor ($17.40, $7.40) in race 11 at Gulfstream.

Melody Factor was Ruben Lopez’s lone Saturday winner.

Fortunately for Lopez, he supplemented that winner with 5 place collections, and that put him over the top in Saturday’s DeFrancis Day Challenge qualifier.

Five people won their way into the New York New York Challenge (now just 10 days away) in Saturday’s multi-track qualifier to it.

Congrats to Brian “Spinner” Spencer (5 wins, 3 places), Jerald Segall (5W, 1P), Tim Moline (3W, 3P), William McMillan (2W, 2P) and Jay “Cannery” Row (3W, 3P). The top four shared an appreciation for Give Me Liberty. Row floated his boat with Melody Factor.

There was also a full-card, BAQ-only qualifier to the New York New York Challenge on Saturday. 

James Dickson (4 wins, 2 places) and David “Norm” Snead (2W, 0P) got the $1,500 entries in this one. They both hit it big with Versailles Road ($66.24, $17.26) in race 6 at the Ozone Park, N.Y., oval.

Bob White (4 wins, 3 places), Stephen Thompson (3W, 3P) and Corey Lonberger (5W, 1P) all came up with Give Me Liberty.

They accounted for the three $2,000 seats at stake in Saturday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.

The entry winners in Sunday’s Pick Your Prize play-in were Marc Racenstein (4 wins, 2 places) and Rick Broth (2W, 5P).

Racenstein was buoyed most by Katie King ($17.96, $7.44) in the 6th at BAQ. Broth, who got his second Monmouth berth of the week after capturing Friday’s qualifier to it, did most of his damage early. Defining Role ($18.24, $5.14) in the 5th at BAQ was the star of his show.

Sunday’s featured cash-game (and HT Tour event) winner was Zach Hinkle (4 wins, 3 places).

Hinkle used Goldentown ($21.60, $8.00) as his biggest springboard to success. He pocketed $10,434 in our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final pot of $23,187.

The same selections also yielded a first-place finish for Hinkle in Sunday’s New York New York Challenge qualifier.

Also earning entries into Leg 3 of the HT Champions Series in this one were Dan Wolfram (5 wins, 5 places), Zachery McLeod (3W, 2P) and Jim Lisowsky (2W, 2P). Wolfrom’s lead actor was Defining Role, McLeon and Lisowsky each scored with Goldentown.

The 2022 NHC Tour champ Jay Johns doped out Goldentown as well.

Johns (4 firsts, 2 seconds) earned the $10,000 berth in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Keith Allan hit 5 straight winners en route to a 6-win, 1-place performance.

One of those winners for Allan was Goldentown, and that helped lead Allan to a first-place finish in Sunday’s $155 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. The other Vegas entry up for grabs here went to Bob White, who won the previous day’s Pick Your Prize qualifier. White had Defining Role.

Shad Walton hit Defining Role early. Later, he swept the final three contest heats to wind up with 6 wins and a place on the day.

Walton garnered the $6,500 package for doing the best work in Sunday’s guaranteed qualifier to the July 25-26 Del Mar Summer Challenge.

Katie King was the apple of Evan Trommer’s eye on Sunday.

Trommer (3 firsts, 3 seconds) snagged the $500 seat in Sunday’s DeFrancis Day Challenge qualifier.

Twenty-four hours later, Trommer picked up another “DDC” seat.

Trommer (3 wins, 2 places) bested all except Michael Kavana (2W, 1P), who was a runaway $46.50 winner thanks to having picked The Old Nine ($57.20, $20.40) in race 1 at Santa Anita. Trommer’s top horse was Liberty Runner ($24.80, $9.80) in race 9 at Parx. 

For Kavana, it was his second win of the week. He had gotten himself a New York New York Challenge seat on Friday.

Terence Channon will remember this past Memorial Day.

Channon counted The Old Nine among his 4 wins and 3 places. He collected the up-top money of $13,387 in Monday’s holiday $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray (an HT Tour battle), which finished up with a purse of $29,750.

The same picks punched Channon’s ticket to Vegas.

Channon finished 3rd in Monday’s $120, 5-seats-gtd. NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers…which wound up awarding 6 berths. Leading the way was Mark Heider (5 wins, 0 places). In second was Scott Fitzgerald (4W, 1P). Fourth was Don Speaks (3W, 2P) followed by Kevin Okerson (3W, 1P) and Curtis Meyer (3W, 1P). Each member of the top six smoked out The Old Nine.

Craig Rowe scoped out 4 winners and another 4 runners up to take Monday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio Pick & Pray.

He, too, saw the merits in The Old Nine.

Rowe ran those same picks back in Monday’s Monmouth Pick Your Prize qualifier.

He won this one as well. There were enough entries for three $2,000 entries to be awarded, though, and the other two went to Terrence Frank (3 wins, 5 places) and Nick “48 Hrs.” Noce (1W, 2P). The Old Nine was common to the scorecards of all three contestants.

There were two New York New York Challenge qualifiers on Monday.

 

Our full-card, BAQ-only test was ruled by 2023 HT Tour champion Ed Peters, whose 6-win, 2-place day was highlighted by Rock the Weekend ($23.68, $10.46) in race 4.

And the winner of our multi-track contest was…John Gaspar.

Gasper (3 wins, 0 places) was one of four $1,500 seat earners. The others were Mike Thomas (4W, 4P), “The Admiral” Steve Nemetz (4W, 0P) and defending New York New York Challenge champion Anthony “ATM” Mattera. The first three leaned on The Old Nine, while Mattera cheered loudest for Liberty Runner.

With Memorial Day Weekend now in the books, there is just one full week (and weekend) of qualifying left before the $200,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown. From a “fun to handicap” perspective, we think it’s one of the best two-day tournaments of the year. Good luck in the week ahead…and thank you all for spending a portion of your holiday weekend here with us. We’ll be back on Monday with more recaps.