The Breeders’ Cup race results were a bit…sedate…this year. Cap-horse winners weren’t in short supply—they were altogether out of stock. So the challenge this year was to find the few double-digit win prices that WERE lurking out there and maybe mix in a nice place price or two. The person who did the best job of this in our two-day, Breeders’ Cup-races-only tourney was Brian Graziano.

Graziano,45, won $66,056 in this 14-race affair that paid out a total of $165,141. It was only the second largest prize he has won at HorseTourneys. Many of you will recall that Manahawkin, N.J., resident was the 2025 Players Championship winner, a triumph that delivered him a windfall of $131,250.

“What was Graziano’s most productive winner?” you ask. Never mind that. His single best return among 5 winners and 5 runners up amassed over the two days was the max $22.00 place payoff he received after Hell of a Spin ran 2nd at 50-1 in the very first Cup race of the weekend, Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Geoffrey Schutt didn’t have Hell of a Spin, but he still enjoyed a nice ride on Friday. In Keeneland’s 2nd race on Friday—a maiden race that made its way onto the Day 1 Breeders’ Cup undercard—Schutt played Forgive Me ($21.46, $8.08).

His other two winners came on the undercard as well. Schutt finished the Friday full card with 3 wins and a place. That was good for the $31,101 grand prize in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Pick & Pray, which closed with a final total purse of $77,754.

Saturday’s full-card, Breeders’ Cup Pick & Pray went to James Dickson on the strength of 4 firsts and 3 seconds.

Similar to the situation on Friday with Schutt, the undercard proved key for Dickson. His most productive selection of the day was Floodlites ($20.08, $8.52) in the day’s 3rd race. Nine races later, Dickson found himself $45,998 richer. The final pot for this one came to $114,972.

There was also a qualifier on Saturday for the next big event around here—the $200,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray Classic here on December 5-6.

The $1,500 seat winner here was Steven Franckowiak (3 firsts, 1 second). This was a multi-track affair, and for his big horse, Franckowiak ventured away from Keeneland at out to Santa Anita. That’s where he found Cupid Cowboy ($58.20, $21.40) in race 3.

Cupid Cowboy was the only winner of the day for Dr. Ronald Tang.

Happily for Tang, he augmented that winner with five place collections, and he got the $3,000 entry over Steven Franckowiak in Saturday’s multi-track qualifier to the November 28 Del Mar Fall Challenge.

Over at HorsePlayers, there was a multi-track, $155 NHC play-in for those who had yet to nail down a 2027 berth.

Ed Rosenbach (5 wins, 2 places) came away with the Vegas package here. Cupid Cowboy was also his heaviest lifter.

As per usual, the featured-tourney week began on Wednesday with a $5,000 Guaranteed cash game and a Pick & Pray Classic qualifier. The $5,000 tourney wound up paying out a total of $5,875, and the first prize of $2,644 went to Jermie Thompson (3 wins, 4 places).

Jermie got healthy with Enforcer who paid a capped $22.00 to place after finishing second at 26-1 in the 9th at Parx. That was Thompson’s single biggest return during the day.

Edward Enborg selected six Wednesday winners, including each of the final three. The best of his bunch was Mother Green ($14.40, $7.60) in the final contest heat, the 8th at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Enborg won the $1,500 scholarship in Wednesday’s entrance examination for the Pick & Pray Classic (which serves as the final leg of the 2026 HT Champions Series).

Thursday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier was won by the redoubtable G.T. Nixon.

Nixon amassed 2 winners and 3 runners up, highlighted by Chatterfield ($37.40, $11.80) in the 5th at Horseshoe Indy. Nixon also finished second with his other entry in this get together.

Peter Kocic (2 wins, 2 places) also came up with Chatterfield.

Kovic pocketed $3,981 for prevailing in Thursday’s $6,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray, which closed its doors with $8,848 in the pot.

There was a multi-track Pick & Pray Classic qualifier on Friday here at HorseTourneys.

Joe “Tex” Scanio stockpiled 6 winners and 3 runners up to earn the “W”. His most lucrative choice was First to Engage ($11.80, $4.88) in race 7 at Belmont.

Three players punched their tickets to Vegas in Friday’ multi-track, $70 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Congratulations to Matthew Sargent (5 wins, 3 places), Gus Meyers (4W, 2P) and Debbi Martin (5W, 2P). Sargent and Meyers scored best with Yaupon de Replay ($16.74, $7.74) in the 9th at Belmont. Martin was yet another successful player last week who achieved her best single return from a horse that came in second. In this case, I am referring to first-time starter Rumpus Lady, who returned a capped $22.00 to Martin for reporting home second at 48-1 in the six-horse 1st race at Santa Anita.

I neglected to mention earlier that all three of the big-money Breeders’ Cup Pick & Pray events were HT Tour competitions. So was Sunday’s $20,000 Gtd. Pick & Pray.

Jeff Bussan smoked out the horse that was on the scorecards of each of Sunday’s successful players—Unrivaled Time ($20.00, $7.80) in the 4th at Santa Anita. Bussan (5 firsts, 3 seconds) reeled in the $10,040 top prize up for grabs in this game—which was ultimately worth a total of $22,312.

Three players came away with $1,500 entries at the conclusion of Sunday’s Pick & Pray Classic qualifier.

They were Ken Orchard (3 wins, 3 places), Michael Faulkner (4W, 3P) and Joseph “Keith” Foulke (3W, 1P). They were all cheering on Unrivaled Time.

So was Thomas Mayberry (5 firsts, 2 seconds).

Mayberry earned an NHC berth in Sunday’s Low Ratio qualifier at HorsePlayers.

Congratulations to all of last week’s winners and sincere thanks to all of you for spending a portion of your Breeders’ Cup week with us.