In The Money Telegraph
Monday, September 21, 2026 · By ITM Staff
The Tour Enters Its Final Stretch
The In the Money HorsePlayers Tour has run every Friday since June, and now it’s down to the wire. Just two weekly feeders remain in the regular season — this Friday, September 26, and the finale on Friday, October 2, which happens to fall on Keeneland’s Fall opening day. Each is the same $20 Pick & Pray at HorsePlayers.com, and each week’s top four entries punch a ticket to the year-end Playoffs. After that, the door closes.
And the Playoffs are a genuine gauntlet. All 72 qualifying entries head to the First Round on October 9, where the field is cut to the top 36. The Second Round on October 16 trims that to 10, and the survivors meet at the Final Table on October 23, where one player walks away with a $10,000 seat in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. Best of all, the Tour’s proceeds go to Breeders’ Cup Charities — so every entry does a little good on its way to the big prize.
And It’s Paying Off — Right Now
If you need proof the format works, look no further than this past weekend, when Tour players kept turning $20 feeders into real Breeders’ Cup hardware. Togo Travalia, one of the Tour’s most prolific qualifiers this season, followed a runner-up finish in the ITM contest by going out and winning a BCBC seat of his own on Saturday. Chris Cupples — a familiar voice from ITM’s own contest coverage — won Friday’s Tour feeder and then reeled in a seat through TwinSpires the very next day.
Jill Matzat added another qualifier-to-contender story of her own, advancing through the ITM Tour before running second for a partial entry. It’s the same pattern again and again: a small Friday buy-in, a good day’s handicapping, and suddenly a shot at the sport’s richest handicapping stage. With two feeders left, there’s still time to write your own — play along at HorsePlayers.com.
Monday’s Card
Presque Isle Downs. Chance Rains has an eight-race Monday card, first post 3:30 p.m. ET. Rains’ card →
ITM Plus
The Home Stretch to Keeneland
The Tour’s final feeders, the playoffs, and Keeneland’s Fall meet all land over the next few weeks — with the Breeders’ Cup at the end of the road. ITM Plus members get daily written selections, the members’ bet share, exclusive shows, and full coverage the rest of the way.
More all week at inthemoneypodcast.com and on the ITM YouTube channel, with premium coverage on ITM Plus.
