ITM Horseplayers Tour Newsletter - July 11th, 2025
Week 6 - Win a BCBC Seat!
With the official Saratoga meet now in full swing, we are officially deep into the new In the Money Horseplayers Tour.
The great news is that the new way the Tour is structured, latecomers to the party haven’t missed a thing! There’s still plenty of time to win your $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge seat for as little as $20.
A brief refresher: ITM Horseplayers Tour Games are every Friday and only $20 to play. The house cut for every contest goes to thoroughbred aftercare, namely the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga.
A Friday entry (you can buy up to three each week) gets you into a regular horseplayers.com feeder for a $189 Saturday qualifier. The top four finishers in the Friday games will automatically advance to our playoffs.
The playoffs will begin October 3 and we will once again have a series of cut lines to winnow down to a final table of 10 players. The overall winner gets a $10,000 BCBC seat at no additional cost.
Get involved today! More contest information is available below.
And of course, we here at ITM have plenty of content focused on these contest races to hopefully help in your endeavor to win that BCBC seat! (All of this content can be found further below in the newsletter, too.)
This week, I am trying something new. I’ll give my thoughts on the sudden large carryover into the Friday Pick 6 at Saratoga (all but Race 6 are contest races) as a free newsletter exclusive below. Note that for much more coverage from me and on Saratoga/Del Mar in general, you’ll want to sign up for In the Money Plus.
And don’t think that this is replacing the regular weekly Players’ Newsletter. That will still arrive to your inboxes weekly as we have done for years now.
MYWAYP,
PTF
Pick & Pray®
FRIDAY FEATURED (HP): BCBC - *P&P* In the Money HorsePlayers Tour Feeder to 7/12 (SAT) BCBC Qualifier - Benefits TAA and THS
ENTER THIS WEEK’S CONTEST
Entry fee: $20
Entries close: 3:23 p.m. (EDT)
PRIZES: One entry per every 10 entries will win the designated entry fee into a BCBC Qualifier (check title/awarded section for date). Entries won will be automatically entered into the designated BCBC Qualifier.
Top 4 finishers earn entry into the In the Money HorsePlayers Tour Playoffs.
*NEWSLETTER EXCLUSIVE*
Saratoga Pick 6 (Races 5-10)
Race 5 (Contest Event #2)
The lack of pace here makes me want to upgrade true frontrunner #2 MADELINE’S PROMISE. No guarantee she’ll see out the trip so backups required I think. #4 LOW KEY didn’t appreciate the deep end of the pool last time, and while this isn’t exactly the shallow end, it’s a lot easier. Perhaps Jose Ortiz can get a tune out of her, to mix a metaphor.
Race 6 (Not in contest)
#2 SIGNATORY MAN should show good speed from the rail given how he was bet sprinting first out. Big danger to lead them on a merry chase.
Both halves of the entry have claims. #1 BRITISH INVASION (with that blood shouldn’t it be Irish Invasion?) has a great pedigree being by Lope De Vega and Honoree’s dam has an awesome 7-3-2-1 mark with first-time starters.
Race 7 - G3 Coronation Cup (Contest Event #5)
This is a race where I believe faves will dominate so even though it’s not sexy at all, I’m tempted to go with #1 MAKE HASTE. My turf sprint handicapping improved immeasurably when I switched to JK’s “keep it simple” approach – look for the best speed and the best overall final numbers and don’t get cute. Make Haste looks best early and overall. If you’re allergic to faves or just want another idea, you can tell a tale about #5 SPIRITED BOSS. If you look at those synth sprints and add in some improvement for age, she fits. There’s also a chance on her blood she’s going to be at her best turf sprinting, something she’s never properly done.
Race 8 (Contest Event #7)
#8 WORLD FAIR is pretty exposed, like most of these, but he has a figure pattern I really like as he’s run much faster early in his recent races and yet his final numbers have held pretty steady. That portends further improvement. He looks the best speed and is drawn outside. #3 MUNSON gets some consideration form me as well. Ultimately, his absence of any speed makes him tricky to key as a disproportionate amount of races at this level flow to the front. But he’s comparatively unexposed and is racing at a new low level as a first-time gelding. That combination of attributes makes him backable.
Race 9 (Contest Event #9)
There’s a giant fav to deal with here but the fact that it’s two turns on the turf and that there’s a lot of speed make me want to try something else in contests. #5 SLAPINTHEFACE was up in the vanguard last time but I think the blinkers coming off and his previous runs make me think he’ll settle nicely just off the speed. Perhaps Many can work out a perfect stalk-and-pounce trip at a price? #4 BARON OF SEALAND is just a guess but could get a decent trip under Saez for the four post and has grass influences on both sides.
Race 10 (Contest Event #10)
#1 PAPIAMENTO didn’t have the easiest run around CD off the bench, and he had license to need that race anyway. His best ever run came over this course and distance and I love the rail draw. He could easily outrun his odds. I don’t typically love closing sprinters on the stretchout but #7 FOND FAREWELL makes plenty of appeal. For one thing, I think he probably has a lot more speed than he showed on debut when breaking poorly, based on the money he caught. His late pace there is an indicator of ability. Trainer Will Walden does a great job and these bloodlines should be OK at this distance, Bonus points for the Elliot Smith hunch play.
Inthemoneypodcast.com - Monmouth Park Full Card Analysis – Friday, 7/11/25 – By Eric Solomon
ITM’s Eric Solomon provides race-by-race analysis of the Friday card at Monmouth Park, which has Races 4 & 6 featured in this week’s contest.
Inthemoneypodcast.com - The Do’s and Don’ts When Handicapping Del Mar Trainers (By Dean Keppler)
ITM’s Dean Keppler offers a preview of the 2025 meeting at Del Mar, which will have contest races in the coming weeks on the ITM Horseplayers Tour.
Breeders’ Cup - Horseplayers Tour Leaderboard
View the winners from each week in the ITM Horseplayers Tour contest.
And the Contest Winner Was… - Episode 4 – Jeff Bussan
This week, John Gaspar sits down with 10x NHC qualifier and 7x BCBC qualifier Jeff Bussan. Jeff captured a BCBC seat this past weekend while playing in the Xpressbet July 5th Live Money tournament that featured Saratoga.
HorsePlayers - Winning Starts Here
HorsePlayers, a partnership between the Breeders' Cup and National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), is the Official Online Qualifying Site of the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) and the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC). The site is powered by HorseTourneys, a leading online contest site.
Players with an existing HorseTourneys account do not need to create a new account on HorsePlayers. Simply login with your HorseTourneys information on HorsePlayers and you will have access to your account. Similarly, if you sign up on HorsePlayers you’ll be able to use your HorsePlayers account to play on the HorseTourneys website.
