Even though the Saturday and Sunday featured tourneys were conducted mainly in Live format, multiple winners were once again in ample supply. For the second straight week, only Thursday (when there are only a pair of marquee games) failed to generate at least a double grand-prize winner. 

One of the best contests in which to win an NHC spot is the Lone Star Million Betting Challenge held on Memorial Day each year at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Tex. This year’s event falls on May 30th, and eight seats to the 2023 NHC are guaranteed. That works out to a winning ratio of 1-per-10.

With most of the week’s features operated as Pick & Prays, and lots of featured tourneys on the menu, conditions were ripe for aggressive and skillful multi-tablers to rack up a string of victories. 

The first opportunities to win a $500 seat to the onsite Laurel Champions Tournament on March 19 or a $1,500 entry into the onsite/offsite Florida Derby Challenge on April 2 take place this weekend at HorseTourneys.

Effective immediately, the purse for the featured cash tourney on the final Saturday of each month will be guaranteed at $50,000—up from $30,000.

It was a smooth double play turned by Mark “Santana” Tabakman on Friday and Saturday.

The first of four free NHC qualifiers in 2022, and the last of many play-ins to Saturday’s 1/ST Ultimate Betting Challenge are two headlines in what shapes up as an action-packed weekend at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers.

It has been a banner 2022 thus far for Neal Thomas. During New Year’s weekend, he accounted for three grand prizes. Last weekend, on President’s Day, he won a Monmouth Pick Your Prize seat plus $9,576 in cash. This past week, he set his sights on the middle jewel of the 2022 Tourney Triple, the April 9-10 Players Championship.

The 2023 NHC is still 11 months away, but you wouldn’t necessarily know that from the turnouts at recent qualifiers. The norm of late has been for “two-seats-guaranteed” play-ins to wind up awarding three seats.

To my knowledge, Floridian Evan Trommer and Californian Wayne Atwell do not know each other. However, the two were coincidental “running buddies” last week, seldom leaving the other’s shadow.