You know summertime is fast approaching if we’re talking about the Del Mar Summer Challenge.

For the most part, last week’s featured tourneys were exciting free-for-alls with several horses in the 10-1 range connecting, and almost no cap horses doing so. The one exception came on the first day of the featured-tourney week, Wednesday.

When is the last time you bet a horse that clipped heels during the race and still managed to win? When is the last time you played a horse that clipped heels and went on, nonetheless, to win by 5 lengths? When’s the last time you picked a horse that did all that…at odds of 66-1?

Even when there’s not a Triple Crown on the line, Belmont Stakes weekend has—over the last few years—turned into one of the very best betting weekends this side of the Breeders’ Cup. To try and keep pace, we’re ramping up this Saturday’s offerings to include both a $45,000 Guaranteed live-format game and a $15,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray.

It was quite a beginning to Memorial Day weekend for Terry Jerge.

Memorial Day adds an extra day—and several important events—to the weekend featured-tourney lineup. There are 33 marquee games spread across the four days, including a $35,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray on Monday. 

Despite the fact that the bulk of the weekend featured tourneys were conducted in Live format (which some people think is a bit more chaotic), there were plenty of multiple winners on display. 

The week’s trend line showed itself right from the outset.

In addition to being one of the most fun tracks you could ever visit, Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., has always been a big supporter of contest play. (No wonder so many top tournament players hail from the North Star State.) So we are delighted to now be able to welcome back the suburban Minneapolis oval to the roster of HorseTourneys contest tracks.

When the weather heats up, so, apparently does Scott Fiedler. 

Last summer, the 52-year-old sports camp director from Babylon, N.Y., won $248,000 in the second annual Spa & Surf Showdown. Two Saturday’s ago, Fiedler popped with a victory worth $12,943 in the week’s richest cash game. And this past week he was at it again.

It’s a shame that the Bob Baffert/Medina Spirit controversy has diverted attention from where it really belongs this weekend—on the HorseTourneys Saturday featured schedule which offers $85,000 in guaranteed cash plus a dozen or so seats to important upcoming tournaments!

Those who regularly play our featured schedules have a well-earned, collective reputation of being among the sharpest handicappers anywhere in the country. Part of what makes them a feared bunch is that when they are on their game, it doesn’t mean that they win just one event…they could win several by playing the same picks in multiple tourneys.