Mark Stillmock won more than $30,000 in cash and seats last Saturday. We would call the day a “year-maker” for the Omaha resident. However, the windfall was not Stillmock’s biggest of the past year—or even of the past month.

Lots of people love to play a wide variety of games here at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers. Then there are those who largely just zero in on trying to qualify for the NHC or the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. For 2022 HT Tour champion Travis Pearson, however, the primary focus is on cash games.

There is still one mystery surrounding the inaugural edition of the Pick & Pray Classic. When will Teresa Stillmock find out that her husband won $158,331 in it? As of now, she still doesn’t know.

Mark Stillmock is not an NHC Hall of Famer. His name is not synonymous with the placing of massive, five-figure bets at the end of a Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. Within the realm of online tournaments, however, he is as feared a player as there is. This is what one HorseTourneys regular told me after a recent victory.

For the first time, a major, all-cash competition will be held in the format held most dear by the majority of online tournament handicappers. Welcome to the Pick & Pray Classic.

The inaugural Pick & Pray Classic, the final leg of the HorseTourneys Grand Slam, is now less than a week away. Since people are scrambling to land their $2,000 seats to the $300,000 Guaranteed competition, we have lately been offering a wider variety of qualifiers, including Low Ratio and single-track play-ins.

These increased options worked especially well last Sunday for Earl Pratt.

Dave “Gambling Actuary” Nichols killed it on Sunday. His final score of $172.80—built on five double-digit winners (during a day in which there were seven such victors hiding out there)—was $46.50 higher than anyone else’s and $78.50 more than anyone he played against. 

And yet…Nichols wasn’t the only person to have a really big day on Sunday. Thanks in part to aggressiveness, Andy Asaro did too.

While Steven Wells was winning six figures in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, quite a bit of money was also changing hands right here at HorseTourneys via the always-much-loved, mythical $2.00 win-place format. 

The biggest winner here among many was Kevin Cox.

We can’t say it’s never too late to qualify for the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge—because by Friday morning, it will be. However, it’s never too late to have a big day—or weekend—that can potentially make your entire year worthwhile. That was the case last Saturday and Sunday for Jonathan Socolow.

Two weeks ago, we began running $179 “Happy Hour” Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Qualifiers on Thursdays at HorsePlayers. So far, there has been just one winner.