We’ve reached the point in the year when the NTRA sometimes schedules more than one NHC qualifier on a single day at HorsePlayers. That happened on Sunday—and Mike Lazarus became the latest person to parlay one set of selections into two Vegas entries.

When the sun rose on Sunday, Lazarus was on the outside looking in as far as the NHC was concerned. That meant he was eligible to compete in Sunday’s $155 qualifier—an event that was restricted to those who had yet to nail down a 2027 spot in the big dance.

Aided most by Our Preferred Pal ($25.64, $11.90) in the 7th at Belmont, Lazarus put up a total of 4 winners and 2 runners up to prevail.

Sunday’s $500 Low Ratio NHC play-in was open to all comers—and Lazarus entered that one as well.

Good move. The needle on Lazarus’s 2027 NHC tank as suddenly gone from Empty to Full.

The good times didn’t stop there for Lazarus, however.

Using the same picks once more, Lazarus claimed one of the three available $10,000 berths for finishing second in Sunday’s $500 Low Ratio Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier. Topping the leaderboard was Frank “Bedtime” Story (5 wins, 4 places). He got his biggest scoring boost from Three Thirteen ($17.80, $7.86) in race 8 at Belmont. Finishing 3rd was Our Preferred Pal supporter Sean McGuire (4W, 3P).

The featured-tourney week got off to a great start for Grier Bibby when he nailed Hammerhead ($36.98, $18.20) in the 6th at Belmont.

Bibby (2 wins, 1 place) pocketed the up-top money of $2,892 for taking Wednesday’s $5,000 Guaranteed cash game, which closed with a final purse of $6,428.

William Johns (4 firsts, 2 seconds) also landed a direct hit with Hammerhead.

Johns came away with the $1,500 entry at the conclusion of Wednesday’s qualifier for the $200,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic here on December 5-6. The Pick & Pray Classic is the final leg of the 2026 HT Champions Series.

Thursday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier went to Terrence Frank (3 wins, 1 place).

Frank’s big horse was the winner of Thursday’s 7th at Belmont, Hunting Goodwill ($21.82, $12.36) 

Thursday’s cash-game star was George Brown.

Brown recorded two place collections followed by three winners. His tastiest choice was Hot Fries ($23.52, $16.50) in race 8 at Keeneland.

Friday was a highly productive day for Jim “Never” Settle.

Settle got collections in each of the final five contest races (3 winners, 2 places), and he finished with 3 firsts and 3 seconds in all to capture the $9,234 grand prize in Friday’s HT Tour competition, our $15,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed with a pot of $20,520. Settle’s most lucrative selection was Luckbeourlady ($26.82, $15.78) in the 9th at Belmont. 

Happily for Settle, he also copied and pasted those picks into Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers, and he finished second in what turned out to be a “two-seater”.

Leading the way in this one was Kirk Rockwell. He counted Neon Nights ($22.64, $9.30) in the 6th at Keeneland among the 5 winners and 1 runner up he came up with during the day. Gerald “Like a good” Naber reported home in third position and received a $5,000 partial BCBC entry for his efforts. 

Three players picked up NHC seats in Friday’s $70 qualifier at HorsePlayers. First-place finisher Christopher Olsson was not one of them.

Olsson was already double-qualified and, thus, only eligible to win NHC Tour points here. That left the Vegas packages to the 2nd-, 3rd- and 4th-place finishers—Chris Goodall (5 wins, 0 places), NHC Hall of Famer Paul Shurman (3W, 5P) and Tom “Hit ‘em where they” Arndt (4W, 2P). Goodall and Shurman both connected on 12-1 Luckbeourlady. Arndt’s heaviest lifter was Lambeth ($16.98, $8.34) in race 9 at Keeneland.

Terry Jerge (3 firsts, 1 second) reeled in the $1,500 seat in Friday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier. 

Luckbeourlady was Jerge’s most fortuitous pick. 

Damian Terenzio was the victor in our richest tourney of the week, Saturday’s $25,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray…which also served as the day’s HT Tour battle.

Terenzio (4 firsts, 1 second) got his largest push from Startowne Road ($41.10, $19.38) in race 9 at Belmont. Terenzio banked $12,346 in a game that was ultimately worth a total of $27,346.

Startowne Road, a first-time starter trained by Carlos Figueroa Jr. and ridden by Katie Davis, was the only winner of the day for Craig “Home Sweet” Hom.

Hom augmented that lone winner with two place collections, and it was enough to get him the $1,500 entry in Saturday’s play-in to the Pick & Pray Classic.

Mark “Santana” Tabakman (3 wins, 1 place) and Allan Schaffer (3W, 2P) both came up with Startowne Road.

Tabakman and Schaffer gobbled up the two $10,000 seats at stake in Saturday’s $179 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier at HorsePlayers.

The other marquee game on Saturday at HorsePlayers was a $155 NHC Pick & Pray.

David Nelson (3 wins, 2 places) and NHC Hall of Famer Jim Meeks (3W, 0P) each punched their tickets to Vegas in this one. They shared an appreciation of Startowne Road.

Stephanie Davis was rooting for Katie Davis aboard Startowne Road.

Davis (Stephanie) recorded 6 winners and got the $800 entry in our first qualifier to the October 24 Maryland Million Handicapping Challenge…playable on-track at Laurel or at Xpressbet. 

On Sunday, our reigning New York New York Challenge champion Eldon “Breaking Bad” Stivers registered another HT Tour victory by taking our $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which ended up paying out a total of $23,406.

Stivers put up 4 wins and a place on the way to his $10,532 payday. His biggest return was provided by Our Preferred Pal ($25.64, $11.90) in the 7th at Belmont…but Stivers needed to hit Namaron ($6.80, $4.00) in the final contest heat, the 10th at Santa Anita, to get up for a 52-cent victory over Robert Reidy.

Dr. Patrick Grippo (4 wins, 2 places) and 2024 Pick & Pray Classic champ Mark Stillmock (3W, 3P) secured the $1,500 berths in Sunday’s qualifier to this December’s Pick & Pray Classic.

Grippo did best with Big Whoosh ($20.20, $8.80) in the 6th at Santa Anita. The star of the Stillmock stable was Our Preferred Pal.

“Pistol” Pete Acocella was shooting blanks in the first half of Sunday’s Maryland Million Handicapping Challenge qualifier, but his shots started hitting the target over the final six races.

Acocella finished with 3 wins—including Big Whoosh—plus a place to snag the $800 berth.

Thanks to all for participating, and congratulations to all of last week’s winners. I’ll be away “on assignment” next Monday…so the next Weekly Recap will come your way on Monday, October 26. Until then, good luck!