It was predominantly a Pick & Pray weekend, so it wasn’t shocking that we saw four multiple winners. However, three came on Saturday’s six-featured-games slate and just one on Sunday’s nine-tourney schedule.
One of Saturday’s dual winners, Mike Yurczyk, stretched his successful day across two formats. On the Pick & Pray front he accounted for the top spot in the day’s Wynn qualifier that also saw Christopher Hayes and Matthew Rentze earn $2,000 entries.
And Yurczyk scored even better in Saturday’s live-format NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.
And he needed to because scores were high in that NHC game. Richard Favire was the other who “got qualified” at HorsePlayers.
Our top cash game of the weekend was Saturday’s $15,000 Guaranteed event, where Ralph Lough won his second high-stakes game in less than two weeks.
Saturday’s win followed up Lough’s first-place finish in our $10,000 Guaranteed tourney (worth $5,000) on July 2.
Lough used the same picks from the $15,000 contest to roll home first by $29.10 in our Monmouth NHC Super Qualifier qualifier.
Mark Ansley and Jimmy Fraser took top honors (and $1,000 packages) in Saturday’s Gold Coast Summer Classic qualifier.
Next Sunday, by the way, is our Gold Coast Blowout. So if this tournament is still on your to-do list, don’t miss it!
There is only one other Saturday featured tourney to report on. And in it, Gordon Larson became our third double winner of the day, even though I haven’t mentioned his name yet.
That’s because he played the same entry twice in our Saratoga Challenge qualifier and finished first and second in what was a very tight competition. John Verdin actually finished tied with Larson but lost the tiebreaker since Larson’s entries had five winners and Verdin’s entry only had four. But it didn’t really matter since three Saratoga packages ($2,000 in entry fees covering each of the two single-day tournaments plus $750 for travel) were available in this qualifier. So Verdin also has a seat waiting for him at the Spa on August 9-10. And Larson has two seats. And Frank D’Angelo, sadly, does not have a seat—at least not yet. D’Angelo finished just 60 cents behind Larson and Verdin in Saturday’s contest.
Sunday’s featured schedule of nine games featured just one dual winner. But there were several notable performances throughout the day.
For the third straight week, our Sunday Exacta tourney had an increased purse. And for the second straight week, it had the exact same winner.
Alan Rorrer cashed for $900 in what was a $2,500 Guaranteed game two weeks ago. And this week, he cashed out for $1,200 in what has now become a $3,000 weekly game. We appreciate your strong support, which has allowed us to escalate the purse size. Although, we imagine many of you wouldn’t mind it if Rorrer took next Sunday off.
As fine a track announcer as Vic Stauffer is, he may be a better tournament player. His selection of White Flag in the contest nightcap (BEL10) on Sunday to win our Del Mar qualifier.
And Stauffer also won our Del Mar qualifier two weeks prior on July 2. So he will head to the July 29-30 event with not one but two $7,000 entries. If either wins, he will also receive a $10,000 HorseTourneys site credit bonus. It seems safe to say that Stauffer will either do a lot of damage at Del Mar…or have a lot of fun trying. Perhaps you will have fun should you take part in next Sunday’s Last Chance qualifier for Del Mar.
Jon Petoskey seems to have a lot of fun at HorseTourneys…especially in our cash games.
His $5,000 score in Sunday’s $10,000 Guaranteed game came less than a month after his $3,750 tally in our June 23 $7,500 Guaranteed contest.
Our 2-seat-guaranteed NHC qualifier on Sunday also had a familiar ring to it.
It was familiar because the already-double-qualified Patrick Runyan finished second…again.
So once again, the second available NHC berth wound up sliding down to the third-place finisher. The lucky beneficiary was Mark Fienberg who will join winner David Conover next February at Treasure Island. (And Runyan will be there too, of course.)
The NHC qualifier represented just half of what was a terrific day for Fienberg.
Fienberg didn’t score quite as well in the Woodbine Mile qualifier compared to our NHC contest. But his Woodbine tally of $84.30 was enough…barely…by 10 cents…to earn him a $3,500 (Canadian) entry plus $500 (American) travel to the September competition over the hard-luck runner up, Peter Behr.
No tough luck for Garry Addley or Peter Osella.
They were Sunday’s winners of $2,000 entries to the Wynn Handicapping Challenge. And note that our Wynn Blowout comes this Sunday. It’s $230 to play and one in 10 will leave a winner.
Mark Stanton and Paul Eliot Hughes (an Exacta game winner on June 25) became the 31st and 32nd players to earn all-inclusive packages to the September 23-24 The BIG One at Laurel.
Stanton won by a pole and Hughes got second in a photo. But both will start The BIG One on even terms. And both are eligible for $500,000 lump sum bonuses should they win The BIG One and go on to win the NHC.
Over at HorsePlayers on Sunday, David Watts turned an excellent score of $125.20…
…into a $10,000 seat at the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.
And Sunday was also our first of a few qualifiers to the Indiana Grand NHC contest on August 19.
Congratulations to David Browning and Luke Peltz who each won a pair of $175 entries for the Hoosier State competition.
It’s a big week ahead at HorseTourneys, what with Del Mar opening up on Wednesday and Saratoga on Friday. We’ll be ready with a slew of single-track cash games on both—at various price points sure to fit your budget.
Speaking of cash games, there’s a dandy on Saturday—a $75,000 Guaranteed event that will focus primarily on the Saratoga and Del Mar opening Saturday races. Our $75,000 game carries an entry fee of $595 with the winner receiving $30,000. Feeders are available for as little as $29.
And, of course, we’ll be firing with our customary array of qualifying tournaments this weekend. There are the Wynn and Gold Coast Blowouts and the Del Mar Last Chance event referenced earlier…plenty of old favorites…and a couple of new additions: a qualifier offering a $12,500 package to the newly announced Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship on January 26-27…plus a new qualifier for the Ellis Park “Bluegrass” tourney on August 20.
For many people, this is one of the very best times on the racing calendar. We’ll do our best to help you enjoy it just a little bit more here at HorseTourneys and HorsePlayers. Have a great week