ITM Telegraph — Haskell Day, and Four Contests Land at Once | Saturday, July 18, 2026

In The Money Telegraph

Saturday, July 18, 2026 · By ITM Staff

Haskell Day is here, Del Mar is rolling, and four different contests are up for grabs before the day is out. This is the biggest betting Saturday of the summer — here’s your map.

Four Contests, One Saturday

If you’re chasing a seat, today is the day to swing. Four contests we’ve been tracking all week come to a head:

The LRF Cares Horseplayer Contest. The one we’ve been pushing hardest — a $250 Pick & Pray on HorsePlayers.com over all of Del Mar’s card, awarding one 2027 NHC seat for every 40 entries (two guaranteed), with every dollar going to Thoroughbred aftercare. Let’s fill it up. Enter →

The ITM Tour BCBC Qualifier. Yesterday’s all–Del Mar feeder sent its top finishers through to today’s qualifier on HorsePlayers.com — win it and you’ve booked a $10,000 seat in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. Play →

The $1,000 Haskell Handicapping Challenge. Live at Monmouth today over the Haskell Day card, with seven-plus BCBC seats, two NHC seats, and cash on the line. Details →

The NYRA Bets contests. A $300 game with a $2,500 seeded prize pool, plus an $80 feeder to the $1,000 Jim Dandy Challenge (a seat for every 25 entries) — both close before Saratoga’s third race. See the games →

Haskell Day at Monmouth

The signature day of the New Jersey season, and the second half of the 3-year-old campaign in earnest. The $1 million Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell — a mile and an eighth, and a “Win and You’re In” to the Breeders’ Cup Classic — goes as Race 12, with NBC live from 5 to 6 p.m. ET. First post for the 14-race card is noon.

Eric Solomon has the whole program, and in the Haskell he lands on Further Ado (#2) as the one to beat over Preakness winner Napoleon Solo, with local hope Baby Vino (#3) his choice to spice up the verticals. It’s a stakes-stacked card around it: the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup (Race 4), the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher (Race 6), the Grade 3 Matchmaker (Race 7), the Wolf Hill (Race 9), the Regret (Race 10), and the Grade 2 United Nations (Race 11, 5:09 p.m. ET). Monmouth is guaranteeing a $400,000 All-Stakes Pick 4 from Race 9 and a $300,000 Pick 5 from Race 10 — though keep an eye on the sky, as Solomon notes storms are in the afternoon forecast. Read the full card →

PTF on Sky Sports Racing. If you’re watching in the UK and Ireland, PTF has the horse-by-horse guides to both American Grade 1s on Sky Sports Racing. He lands on Further Ado in the Haskell as well — the horse he thinks may be a bit better than the bare form suggests. Read PTF’s Haskell guide →

Del Mar: The LRF Cares Card — With a Pick 6 Carryover

The LRF Cares contest plays over Del Mar’s card, and there’s extra reason to dig in today: the sequence features a Pick 6 carryover, which sweetens an already deep afternoon by the sea. Two Grade 2 co-features headline — the San Diego Handicap (Race 8), where Journalism tops the bill, and the San Clemente Handicap (Race 9).

PTF and Nick Tammaro go through the whole card race by race — best bets, live longshots, how to attack the carryover, and why the LRF Cares contest is worth your entry. Listen →

And at the Spa: the Diana

Saratoga’s Grade 1 Diana (Race 5, 7:46 p.m. ET) is a Chad Brown showcase — he saddles four of the seven — but in his guide for Sky Sports Racing, PTF is trying to buck the trend, siding with the Newmarket shipper #2 Cathedral to handle Saratoga and go off a better price than she ought to. The Grade 3 Coronation Cup (Race 8) rounds out the stakes on a busy Spa card. Read PTF’s Diana guide →

Also Today: Colonial Downs

One more card worth a look down in New Kent: Colonial’s nine-race Saturday is headlined by the Maggie L. Walker Stakes for older fillies and mares sprinting on the dirt. Note the card has been moved up an hour to an 11:30 a.m. ET first post because of the heat. Michael Domabyl has it, with spot plays on Wisconsin Gal (Race 3), Pure Bliss (Race 5), and Antisocial (Race 7). Read →

Around the Sport

Keppler called it. Del Mar’s opening day belonged to Proletariat, who went wire-to-wire to take the Oceanside for trainer Jeff Mullins at 6-1 — exactly the “serious win candidate” Dean Keppler had flagged in Friday’s card. Secured Freedom rallied for second past 2-1 favorite Mr. A. P., who was returning off a layoff of nearly nine months.

Back on the coast. FanDuel TV returns to Del Mar this meet with enhanced on-site coverage of every race, every day — a welcome sight for players following the seaside meet from home.

More all weekend at inthemoneypodcast.com, with daily previews on the ITM YouTube channel and premium tips on ITM Plus.