Who was the best handicapper at HorseTourneys last week? In the absence of clearly defined metrics, that’s something of a rhetorical question. However, a case could be made that it was “Pistol” Pete Acocella.

This week, we’ll be starting at the end—because Jack Schwartz accomplished the rare feat of winning two NHC seats in one day with one set of picks.

Brian “BC” Chenvert also seems to heat up around this time of year, and the Minnesotan was right on time last Saturday.

From time to time, players have asked us about possibly running a meet-long Survivor contest. Well now it’s happening.

Joseph “Kevin” Costello of Chicago is the only two-time winner of the NHC Tour. He was also a two-time winner here at HorseTourneys/HorsePlayers last week.

Raj Satyan has been on a nice run of late. After a lackluster Day 1, he made $12,742 for having the best score on Day 2 of the recent Spa & Surf Showdown. Last week, he was back for more.

It was a holiday weekend of sustained excellence for Geoffrey Schutt.

John Nichols has never NOT been around the racetrack. His mother and father took him to Churchill Downs for the first time in 1975 — when he was four days old. Dad was a horseshoer and a skilled horseman. John’s uncle Jimmy Nichols was a prominent jockey who later was instrumental in the sales purchase of eventual 1988 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Risen Star. The racetrack life was the only life John knew, and that largely holds true today.

There was a highly influential cap horse out there on Sunday—Harcyn, who survived a stewards’ inquiry and took race 5 at Del Mar at odds of 40-1. If you had the bomb you had a chance to do well. If you used Harcyn and played in multiple featured tourneys, you had a chance to do very, very well. Several players did just that.

One of them was Sean Nolan.

Dylan Donnelly has qualified for the NHC each of the past six years. In the five most recent renewals, he has played two entries. That will again be the case in 2026. This year, however, he is bidding for an NHC Tour championship.