Michael Solakis loves horse racing contests. He’s good at them too. In 2022, he earned $32,000 for coming in third behind Riley Drexler in the Players Championship. Solakis went on to finish second to A.J. Benton in that year’s Tourney Triple series.

Last weekend, of course, was his greatest moment yet as a player. He collected $168,405 for his dominant victory in the 5th annual Flo-Cal Faceoff here at HorseTourneys. Still, it would be wrong to place too great an emphasis on the role horse racing has in his life.

Arguably the two most important, most prestigious handicapping tournaments in the month of April are the $350,000 Guaranteed Players Championship here at HorseTourneys on April 6-7 and the Keeneland Grade One Gamble the following weekend at Keeneland Race Course and Xpressbet. Starting this Saturday, you can earn a spot in both here at HorseTourneys.

After hitting 42-1 cap horse Ticking in Saturday’s 10th race at Gulfstream Park, Michael Solakis of Toronto gained a lead he would never relinquish in the 5th annual Flo-Cal Faceoff held here at HorseTourneys on January 20-21.

It’s Flo-Cal Faceoff time!

For the fifth consecutive year, some of the nation’s best handicappers will do battle against each other by making making mythical $2.00 win-and-place selections on every race of the Saturday and Sunday cards from Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla., and Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

Ed Peters isn’t on the same schedule as the rest of us. The 53-year-old from Pelham, N.H., runs a bread distribution company, and not too long after you or I go to bed, he’s getting up to go to work.

At the end of 2023, Ed Peters was crowned HT Tour champ (and we’ll learn how he got that done in this space tomorrow). The 2022 winner was Travis Pearson, and last weekend he reminded us that you don’t achieve such a distinction without being a really good player.

Featured-tourney action really heats up this week with 23 marquee games—and that doesn’t even include Monday (whose schedule has yet to be determined). Suffice it to say, you may very well want to block out some time in between NFL Playoff games to take part.

Since 2021, HorseTourneys has hosted a three-race series of its top events, the Flo-Cal Faceoff in January, the Players Championship in April and the Spa & Surf Showdown in August. Known as the Tourney Triple, the series awarded bonuses to those who, based on a points formula, performed best throughout the three marquee tourneys.

In 2024, HorseTourneys will add to the series a fourth competition, the Pick & Pray® Classic.

We hope you had a nice first weekend of 2024—but it probably wasn’t as good as Jim Lisowsky’s.

Don’t look now, but the $250,000 Gtd. Flo-Cal Faceoff is now just about two weeks away, so qualifiers to the January 20-21 event take on added significance in the coming days.