ITM Telegraph — Mandatory Mondays, Week Two: The First One Was a Hit | Monday, July 20, 2026

In The Money Telegraph

Monday, July 20, 2026 · By ITM Staff

Mandatory Mondays are back for week two after a hit debut — PTF and JK have the card, a familiar byline returns to ITM, and we recap a Saturday for the ages.

Mandatory Mondays, Week Two: The First One Was a Hit

Gulfstream’s Mandatory Mondays are back for a second week, and PTF and JK make the case on today’s show that the opener was a genuine success — a lot of money bet, a lot of players engaged, and a welcome return of the Monday racing day that summer horseplayers used to circle. The numbers back the vibe: last week’s debut delivered a mandatory Rainbow 6 that paid multiple winning tickets of $48,609, and Gulfstream reports its new $3 Players Late Pick 3 and $5 Late Double have been well-received. Today the multi-track Summer Sweep Pick 5, which debuted Saturday at $710.10, joins a Monday card for the first time.

PTF and JK go race by race through the Monday card and the new player-friendly menu — and they, like Pinder below, keep landing on Jayhawk as the one to beat in the finale.

▶  Watch PTF & JK’s Gulfstream Monday preview →

Welcome Back, John Pinder — Playing the Summer Sweep

We’re also thrilled to welcome back our friend and longtime correspondent John Pinder, who returns to ITM with a play on that Summer Sweep Pick 5. Pinder plays the sequence as a whole — Gulfstream’s Race 6, Parx Races 7 and 8, and Gulfstream Races 8 and 9 — ranking his runners by likeliest winner. His top numbers are Paris Surprise in the opener, Play the Gray at Parx, Ximena in the Parx leg, and Brother Brad back at Gulfstream. The clever part comes in the finale: he deliberately leaves out Jayhawk — the one to beat, going for four straight — on the theory that everyone else will use him, and leans on Battle of Dover and Quizler to make the payoff jump. It all fits on a $1 base ticket for $32.

Read Pinder’s full Summer Sweep card →

The Weekend That Was

In case you were away from a screen: Baby Vino authored one of the biggest upsets in Haskell history, splashing home at roughly 28-1 to edge Preakness winner Napoleon Solo, while even-money favorite Further Ado faded to fifth. It was the first Grade 1 for the local colt and for rider Jorge Vargas Jr., and it comes with a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The rest of a huge Saturday: Knightsbridge romped the Monmouth Cup by double digits for Bill Mott and Flavien Prat, Program Trading took the United Nations and Grayosh the Matchmaker for Chad Brown, and at Saratoga, Brown made history in the Diana — Kathynmarissa led home a 1-2-3 sweep to give the trainer his fifth consecutive running of the race. Cy Fair took the Coronation Cup at the Spa, and out west, Journalism looked right at home winning the San Diego at Del Mar.

Next Stop: The Road to the Travers

With the Haskell run, the 3-year-old picture now points to Saratoga and the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 29. Dual classic winner Golden Tempo, sidelined for the Haskell with a minor issue, has been working at Keeneland toward a Travers prep, and Baby Vino’s connections have left the door open to the Mid-Summer Derby as well. It anchors one of the deepest days on the calendar, with the Jerkens, Ballerina, Forego, and Personal Ensign all sharing the card.

Playing Today: Presque Isle

It’s Lady Erie Stakes Day over the Erie tapeta, and Chance Rains has the full card. The $100,000 feature (Race 7, 6:12 p.m. ET) drew a field of 10, with the locals taking on some shippers: Chance leans on Smooch Up, unbeaten on this surface for the red-hot Ron Potts–Antonio Gallardo combination, over the class-dropping, Godolphin-bred Quiet Street, who ships in with Junior Alvarado up. A good midweek card while Saratoga and Del Mar catch their breath. Read →

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