Last March, Kevin Engelhard was inducted into the NHC Hall of Fame. Last Thursday, he made sure that he will be playing two entries the next time he shows up at the big dance.

Engelhard nailed down his second 2027 Vegas entry by taking Thursday’s $120 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. He did so by racking up 5 winners and a place. His victorious “stable” included Midnightloveaffair ($21.46, $11.48) in the 8th at BAQ.

The next day, Engelhard kept the good times rolling by capturing our Haskell Challenge qualifier.

For the second straight day, Engelhard came up with 5 winners…this time supplemented by a pair of runners up. Again, it was a BAQ horse that made the biggest impression on his scoresheet—English Castle ($24.18, $11.80) in race 6 at the now-pensioned Ozone Park, N.Y., oval.

A Haskell Challenge qualifier was also part of the proceedings on Wednesday when our featured-tourney week kicked off.

The redoubtable G.T. Nixon picked up the $1,000 seat in this one on the strength of 2 firsts and 3 seconds. Nixon matriculated himself into the July 18 Haskell contest thanks in part to Choate ($20.40, $9.00) in race 3 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Choate also helped Buck Waller graduate with honors on Wednesday.

Waller (6 firsts, 1 seconds) collected the $2,730 grand prize in Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash tourney, which closed with a final purse of $5,460.

Ted “Forbidden” Apple never got into Choate, but he did sweep the final four races to close out a 5-win, 1-place day.

Apple exited with the $2,500 entry in his pocket at the conclusion of Wednesday’s Spa & Surf Showdown qualifier. His biggest hit came at the very end with C.J.’s Storm ($18.20, $10.00) in the 8th at Horseshoe Indy.

Thursday’s Spa & Surf Showdown play-in went to Dr. Ronald Tang.

Tang uncovered two winners from what turned out to be eight contest races instead of ten (due to Thistledown canceling races 7 and 8). Like Kevin Engelhard, he backed Midnightloveaffair in the 8th at BAQ.

Chris Podratz (3 wins, 1 place) connected with King Gerald ($16.80, $6.60) in the final contest race, the 8th at Horseshoe Indy.

Podratz pocketed the $3,110 up-top money in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a final pot of $6,912.

Friday’s biggest winner in these parts was Terence Channon (6 firsts, 1 second).

One of Channon’s firsts was Sebastianthe First ($19.66, $9.44) in race 7 at BAQ. That was his biggest winner en route to the $10,000 seat in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

The same selections also delivered Channon a $2,500 Spa & Surf Showdown entry.

Joining Channon in the field for Leg 4 of the 2026 HT Champions Series will be NHC Hall of Famer Paul Shurman (4 wins, 4 places). He, too, had an appreciation for Sebastianthe First.

For Curtis Brodzina, the best of five Friday winners was Levi Warrior ($25.02, $9.14) in the 9th at BAQ. 

Brodzina took home the top prize of $9,532 in Friday’s HT Tour skirmish, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which was ultimately worth a total of $21,282.

Levi Warrior was common to the scorecards of the four players who reeled in low-cost NHC seats in Friday’s $70 qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Congratulations to Phil Matzat (3 wins, 3 places), Michael Herrington (3W, 3P), Allan Schaffer (2W, 4P) and last year’s Pick & Pray Classic champion Lawrence Kahlden (4W, 2P).

Shortly after winning $119,545 in the New York New York Challenge earlier this month, Eldon “Breaking Bad” Stivers wasn’t sure what he would do with his windfall, though he did state that he would be reinvesting a portion of his winnings in a couple of Spa & Surf Showdown entries. Now, there is no need for Stivers to make that expenditure.

On June 20, Stivers won his first seat into the Showdown, and this past Saturday, he picked up his second. His highest-priced winner among 5 firsts and 2 seconds was Kerry’s Kiss ($13.60, $3.80) in the 9th at Gulfstream. There were enough entries attracted to this play-in for a second $2,500 berth to be awarded, and that one went to 2022 NHC Tour champ Jay Johns (5 wins, 1 place). The heavy lifter for Johns was My Man Money ($21.40, $6.60) in the 6th at Monmouth.

My Man Money meant plenty of money for Gary Machiz (5 firsts, 2 seconds).

Machiz prevailed in our richest tourney of the week, our $25,000 Guaranteed game. The HT Tour event was ultimately worth $27,741—$12,483 of which went to Machiz.

Jamey Gjetley continued his recent hot streak.

Gjetley (4 wins, 2 places) also saw the merits in My Man Money, and he garnered the $2,500 entry in Saturday’s Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge.

Jeff Bussan (3 wins, 3 places) and Nick “529” Fazzolari (3W, 2P) each picked up $1,000 seats in Saturday’s Haskell Challenge qualifier.

Bussan profited most from My Man Money. Kerry’s Kiss was the best winner for Fazzolari.

Andre Zarbcousin stockpiled 7 wins and 3 places from a dozen races on Saturday.

He bagged $4,274 for taking Saturday’s $6,106 Big Bucks Pick & Pray. Eliminate ($12.96, $6.40) in the 10th at BAQ provided Zarbcousin with his biggest collection of the afternoon.

Another Saturday cash game was our $5,000 Gtd. All-Optional Live tourney in which players made 10 selections from 25 available contest races. It wound up going off with an overlay to players of 7.5%

John Fasola (3 firsts, 1 second) was the primary beneficiary of us not hitting our guarantee in this game. He got the $2,500 grand prize. His most potent play came in the very first contest race, the 6th at Gulfstream. That’s where he found Street Belle ($19.60, $9.60).

Over at HorsePlayers, Shilo Merwitz and Tyler Smith punched their tickets to Vegas in Saturday’s $155 NHC qualifier.

Merwitz joined Andre Zarbcousin in Saturday’s “7-win club.” Shilo swept the first three races, including a hit with My Man Money, and also added a pair of runners up later on. Smith (no relation to McKay) recorded 6 firsts and 3 seconds. He reeled off four straight winners at one point before getting his best return of the day with 5-1 Kerry’s Kiss in the 9th at Gulfstream.

My Man Money delivered for Eddie “Hoss” Inman (4 firsts, 4 seconds).

Inman is now “in” to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge after topping the leaderboard in Saturday’s $179 qualifier for it.

Kathleen O’Kane is also now BCBC-bound.

O’Kane (3 wins, 4 places) hit the horse that was on the scorecards of every grand prize recipient on Sunday—Free Refills ($46.82, $14.08) in race 7 of Aqueduct’s swan song card.

Our 2018 The BIG One winner Joe Pettit hit the final five contest-race winners beginning with Free Refills.

Pettit (7 wins and 1 place in all) banked the $11,812 top prize in Sunday’s HT Tour competition, our $20,000 Guaranteed cash game, which had a final prize pool of $26,250. Pettit also earned an extra $500 bonus since this was his second Sunday HT Tour victory of 2026. The earlier one came on March 15th.

Free Refills helped Evan Trommer’s cup runneth over on Sunday.

He picked 7 winners on the way to the winner’s circle of Sunday’s Del Mar Summer Challenge qualifier.

Trommer didn’t score quite as well in Sunday’s Haskell Challenge qualifier…but he won that one too.

Trommer “settled” for 5 wins, 2 places and a final tally of $126.74 here, but that brought him a $1,000 Haskell Challenge berth. Finishing closest to Trommer and, thus, also securing a spot in the July 18 test was fellow Free Refills customer Michael Saletta (4W, 2P).

As with Saletta, Free Refills was part of a 4-win, 2-place day for Michael “Copa” Kavana.

Kavana received a $2,500 entry for outdoing everyone else in Sunday’s Kentucky Downs King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge qualifier.

T.J. Taylor and Scotty McKeever  won NHC spots in Sunday’s Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Taylor recorded 5 wins and 3 places. McKeever took the opposite approach—3 wins and 5 places.

There were also two winners in Sunday’s Spa & Surf Showdown play-in. 

Congratulations to Tim Moline (5 wins, 1 place) and Jason Albano (4W, 0P), who will  be playing for a pot of at least $400,000 here on August 29-30.

Congratulations also to John O’Brien, Edward Enborg and Craig Hom. They finished first, second and third, respectively, at the mid-year mark of the 2026 HT Tour season. That means $5,000 for O’Brien, $2,500 for Enborg and $1,000 for Hom.

This coming Friday, July 3, is the opening day of the Saratoga meeting. That’s news in itself, of course, but it also marks Day 1 of our Saratoga Super Survivor contests. For this meet, we’re offering two of them—one with a $50 buy-in amount and the other with a $250 entry fee. 

If you can outwit, outplay and outlast your opponents, you’ll earn the winner-take-all prize.

Thanks to all for playing last week, and we hope you all have a fun and safe Fourth of July weekend.