Tom Lenberg hit a grand slam on Sunday, but he wasn’t playing for the Rockies or the Athletics in Las Vegas Ballpark, where the two teams slugged it out to a 23-9 final score in the heat and elevation of the Nevada desert. Rather, Lenberg’s Sunday grand slam came in a much more difficult environment to achieve such a feat—right here at HorseTourneys.

Lenberg’s most lucrative triumph came in Sunday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier.

He reeled off five straight winners en route to a 6-win, 2-place day that was highlighted by Vindicate Cha Cha ($27.20, $9.80) in race 8 at Gulfstream.

The same picks served Lenberg very nicely in a couple of other Sunday competitions.

He grabbed the available $6,500 package in Sunday’s guaranteed qualifier to the July 25-26 Del Mar Summer Challenge along with a $1,000 seat in our Haskell Challenge play-in.

Lenberg added an additional, $3.20 place collection to his tally sheet in Sunday’s three-seat qualifier to the $400,000 Gtd. Spa & Surf Showdown here on August 29-30.

Sharing space with Lenberg on the victory podium in this one were fellow Vindicate Cha Cha supporters Michael “Copa” Kavana (4 wins, 1 place) and our defending HT Tour champ (and also reigning NHC Tour hero) Dave “Gambling Actuary” Nichols (3W, 1P). 

As for Lenberg, his total Sunday seat winnings amounted to $21.500. I’m told he was also one of many who earned an NHC spot in Saturday’s Pick Your Prize tournament at Monmouth.

Lenberg is obviously thrilled with how his weekend went, and he wants to give special, public thanks to Brent Sumja, Bruno DeJulio and Jim Wickman for the guidance and insights they have provided him…not just last weekend, but for the past several years.

Meanwhile, the Spa & Surf Showdown entry won by Kavana wasn’t his only success of the weekend.

Kavana also picked up a $1,000 Haskell Challenge berth for capturing Saturday’s qualifier to the July 18 test. His big hit among 2 firsts and 5 seconds came with Mission Improbable ($58.28, $18.50) in race 10 at BAQ.

The featured-tourney week’s first grand prize winner was NHC Hall of Famer Cheryl McIntyre.

The 2016 NHC Tour champ put up 5 winners—including Pink Rose ($27.80, $14.60) in the 8th at Parx—and 1 runner up to pocket the up-top money of $2,592 in Friday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which closed with a final purse of $5,184.

We lost Thursday’s featured schedule due to an unexpected power outage at Santa Anita. The Arcadia, Calif., racetrack played an important role in Friday’s action, however.

In the final contest race, the 9th at Santa Anita, R. Paul Capone nailed Long Mayshe Reign ($22.40, $8.00) to close out a 5-win, 2-place performance that brought him the $8,787 top prize in Friday’s HT Tour event, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a pot of $19,527.

Capone also topped the leaderboard in Friday’s two-seat Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier.

The other $4,000 entry up for grabs went to NHC Hall of Famer Brett Wiener (4 wins, 2 places). Wiener’s heaviest lifter was Kentucky Gal ($18.60, $7.60) in the 7th at The Great Race Place.

The same selections created an even bigger Friday reward for Wiener.

He prevailed in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

There were four Vegas package winners in Friday’s other feature at HorsePlayers, a $70 NHC qualifier.

Congratulations to Jerome Linderman (5 wins, including the final 3, plus 3 places), Thomas Bryan (6W, 1P), Alan Hoffman (4W, 1P) and suddenly-happy-again Chicago White Sox fan Kirk Tesar (4W, 1P). Linderman, Hoffman and Tesar hit Long Mayshe Reign at the end. Bryan scored with Kentucky Gal.

Another Long Mayshe Reign backer was Robert Dawson (4 firsts, 2 seconds).

Dawson took home the $1,500 entry at the conclusion of Friday’s Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge qualifier.

Saturday’s biggest winner was Shane Claypool.

There were two big prices out there in our 12-race tourneys on Saturday—Blue Pill ($44.16, $18.96) in the first contest race, the 5th at BAQ and Mission Improbable ($58.28, $18.50) in the 10th at BAQ. In the $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers, Claypool (3 wins, 1 place) came up with both of them.

Claypool also won an NHC seat in Saturday’s $155, two-seat qualifier at HorsePlayers—but this was no “copy and paste” job.

Claypool only had five common selections across his BCBC and NHC entries. One of them was Blue Pill at the outset. One of them was NOT Mission Improbable. However, he made plenty of hay with those other picks, winding up with 5 wins and 3 places in all here. That was good for a third-place finish behind Chris “Army Strong” Lavezza (4W, 0P) and NHC Hall of Fame member Paul Matties Jr., who was already double qualified and, thus, playing strictly for NHC Tour points. Lavezza—the subject of a 2008 Sports Illustrated article for having qualified online to that year’s NHC while on a U.S. Army deployment in Afghanistan—also managed to smoke out both Blue Pill and Mission Improbable.

Our richest tourney of the week was an HT Tour battle—Saturday’s $25,000 Guaranteed cash game. It went to 2022 HT Tour winner Travis Pearson (6 firsts, 1 second).

Pearson earned $11,250 for his efforts. He was hard to beat after taking Blue Pill as his selection for the 5th at BAQ.

Ray Barnes also got a potent boost from Blue Pill.

Barnes (6 wins, 2 seconds) landed the $1,500 entry in Saturday’s Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge qualifier.

Mission Improbable was the big horse on Saturday for Steven Meier (3 wins, 1 place).

Meier reeled in the $2,000 berth in Saturday’s qualifier to the Spa & Surf Showdown, Leg 4 of the 2026 HT Champions Series.

Evan Trommer saw good value in Relative Value ($13.60, $5.80) in the 10th at Monmouth.

Trommer (5 wins, 2 places) bagged the $4,986 grand prize in Saturday’s $7,124 Big Bucks Pick & Pray.

There was also a special $5,000 Gtd, All Optional Live cash game that required players to make 10 plays from 25 available races. (We offer these every couple of weeks.). The entry fee was $150, and the final prize pool amounted to $5,484.

The winner—of $2,742—was Mike Zara on the strength of 3 winners and a runner up. Zara hit Blue Pill at the outset, and he later fired big with How About Pavel ($42.40, $10.60) in race 4 at Santa Anita. The win by Zara was an interesting case of someone not “saving bullets” for the end, but, rather, striking when he felt the iron was hottest.

Sunday’s marquee cash competition was our $20,000 Guaranteed tourney (an HT Tour event). It was ultimately worth a total of $28,656.

The victor was Howard Welsh, who stockpiled 6 winners and 3 runners up on his way to the winner’s circle. Welsh received $12,895. Vindicate Cha Cha ($27.20, $9.80) in the 8th at Gulfstream was his most productive choice.

Hayden Leibrock (4 wins, 3 places) and Gary Johnson (4W, 1P) also unearthed Vindicate Cha Cha.

Leibrock and Johnson came away with the Vegas packages once the dust had settled following Sunday’s $500 NHC Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Carol Trageser’s best pick on Sunday came at the very end with Tahini ($17.20, $6.60) in the 5th at Santa Anita.

Trageser bagged the one $500 entry that was available in Sunday’s DeFrancis Day Challenge qualifier.

Casey Dixon secured the $1,500 entry in Sunday’s Lone Star Summer Betting Challenge qualifier.

Paros ($15.40, $8.90) in the 9th at BAQ was the star of Dixon’s 5-win, 2-place stable.

Thanks to all of you who played last week—or were reading just now. In the week ahead, there will be many more fun cash games and qualifiers—including our very first play-in to the 2026 Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Challenge. (Only there can one win a championship belt!) Hope to see you around these parts again soon.