The horses for the 2022 Breeders’ Cup were pre-entered yesterday, but the field for the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge is still taking shape. That shape will change further this weekend—the final weekend of BCBC qualifying—with eight guaranteed, play-ins to the world’s most prestigious live-bankroll contest on tap.

Last week was a “Pick & Pray week” around here, so double-ups were perhaps to be expected among hot multi-tablers. However, a couple of players rode their heaters from one day straight into the next.

If you didn’t know that the Breeders’ Cup is right around the corner, you’d know it from the extra heavy helping of Breeders’ Cup qualifiers this weekend. We’ll have six, rather than the usual three. And even when the weekend ends, the BCBC play-ins will continue because there’s one set up for Monday as well.

It’s been quite a run lately for Bobby Shoemaker.

On Friday, September 30, he hit for $8,079 by taking the featured Friday cash tourney. His net worth increased by $3,359 the following Thursday after finishing first in our $6,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray. This past week, Shoemaker set his sights on bigger game.

Not only is it not too early to start thinking about Breeders’ Cup, it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving weekend too, because this weekend we begin offering qualifiers for the Del Mar Fall Challenge (Saturday, November 26) and the Hawthorne Thanksgiving Contests (November 26-27).

It’s always impressive when someone wins more than one tourney on a single day, and Steven Meier was one of several who did that last week. It’s even more laudable when someone sustains their excellence through two days in a given week—and Meier did that too.

If you’re a 2022 NHC Tour member, you need to circle Sunday on your calendar. That’s the day of this year’s final free NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers. It’s a Pick & Pray with five seats guaranteed. 

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, I am back from vacation and ready to recap the week’s featured events (at least those that have been made official at press time). 

It’s Breeders’ Cup prep season as Santa Anita gets set to open, and that means plenty of exciting racing action will serve as the backdrop for another vast array of lucrative tourneys this weekend.

Ken Seeman, winner of $74,000 and a Pegasus World Cup seat in the 2021 renewal, will attempt to become the first two-time champ of “The High Expectation Tourney” when he does battle with no more than 56 others (all playing just one entry) in The BIG One this Saturday and Sunday at HorseTourneys.