The only thing better than securing an NHC spot is to win money while you’re doing it. That’s what Michael Guadagno did on Sunday.

We all know the feeling. You make your bet, then focus in on your horse in the starting gate—all the while knowing that your horse cannot possibly win, simply by virtue of the fact that you have bet on it.

When the week began, Eric “B Connected” Boyd was less than half a point behind leader Neal Thomas in the 2024 HT Tour standings. When the updated standings come out later today or tomorrow, there may well be a new leader.

There are many things that can make you feel like you were punched in the gut during a tournament—losing a close photo…watching your horse receive a poor ride…getting taken down…etc., etc. An underrated kick in the teeth, though, is failing to enter a mandatory contest pick.

In one of the most furious slugfests since Creed-Balboa I, Joseph Zuer of Fountain Valley, Calif., gained the lead from John Schimpf late in the tourney, lost it, then took it back to earn the $187,425 top prize in the 5th annual Spa & Surf Showdown. 

When last we met, I was telling you how Andrew Walker had won $13,092 for emerging victorious in the Sunday, July 14, HT Tour cash game. 

Little did we know, he was just getting started.

We all know that the NHC Last Chance qualifying tournament at Horseshoe Las Vegas is a big deal. Now there’s another big deal—the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) Last Chance qualifier on Breeders’ Cup Eve, Thursday, October 31, at HorseTourneys.

Saratoga opened last week, which means that summer racing has begun in earnest. Before we had Saratoga, though, we had Saratoga eve—and that was a good day for John Schulist.

Thanks largely to the Indiana Derby Day card at Horseshoe Indianapolis, big prices were in high supply on Saturday—despite the fact that we offered just nine contest races due to a late and somewhat surprising heat cancellation at Delaware. (We say “surprising” because Delaware ran during similarly hot conditions the previous two weekends…and also just 24 hours later on Sunday, July 7.)

At any rate, two players who did an excellent job of ferreting out the Saturday prices that remained out there were Andy Asaro and Mark Wilgard.

In some respects, the week gone by ended the same way it began—with triumphs by Jim Cuzzupe.