Welcome to Noel Michaels’ Weekend Winners, the place to go for weekend greatest bets and spot performs from veteran handicapper and tournament-play pioneer Noel Michaels. Verify again each week for a few highlighted alternatives designed that can assist you money a number of bets and make some cash. Noel’s alternatives have been featured nearly all over the place horse racing picks may be discovered, together with in print within the Every day Racing Kind, The HorsePlayer Journal and American Turf Month-to-month, on-line at DRF.com, Twinspires.com and USRacing.com, from the paddock on-track at Arlington Worldwide Racecourse, and on the air on HRTV, TVG, NYC OTB Additional, NYRA’s Speaking Horses, and on broadcast TV on WAVE-3 Louisville, ABC KOLO-8 in Reno, Nevada, and channel 72 Lengthy Island Cablevision.
Six Newbie Betting Instruments
Begin easy with a straightforward information for the best way to wager on horse racing.
Unsure what that phrase means? Horse racing terminology is a language of its personal. Enable us translate for you
What the heck is a velocity determine? This newbie’s information to hurry figures has every little thing it’s essential know.
Betting on horse racing may be intimidating. Group ABR put collectively some Dos and Don’ts for the brand new fan getting began betting on racing.
All of us make errors in relation to betting on horse racing, listed below are eight classes discovered from expertise.
Determine how a lot every wager will value upfront with our Playing Calculator, offered by NYRA Bets.
Saturday, July 26
The third weekend of the 2025 Saratoga summer time season is headlined by the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes Offered by Mohegan Solar, which attracted Sovereignty, the winner of two-thirds of this spring’s Triple Crown. The winner and different prime finishers within the race are anticipated to advance to subsequent month’s DraftKings Travers Stakes in what would be the most anticipated race of the meet. Saturday’s different Spa function is the Grade 3 Lake George Stakes Offered by Surfside for 3-year-old fillies on the turf. For this weekend’s winners, let’s deal with making some cash on these two Saturday stakes at Saratoga. Better of luck.
Saratoga Race Course, Race 9, $175,000 Lake George Stakes Offered by Surfside, 5:04 p.m. ET
The Grade 3 Lake George Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the turf has drawn a 10-horse discipline of 3-year-old fillies plus one main-track-only entrant. It’s an enchanting race as a result of the fillies entered come from varied stakes races at a number of totally different tracks and this race will give them an opportunity to see how they stack up towards one another. #5 Basic Q exits a win in Saratoga’s $150,000 Wild Applause Stakes, by which she beat a pair of Chad Brown trainees who’re each entered again on this spot – #4 Lavender Catastrophe and #10 Play With Fireplace. Each of these Brown horses are reputable contenders once more in the present day, however they’ll face the identical downside that they had final time when Basic Q bought out entrance to a transparent lead, managed the tempo, and led from begin to end. Wanting round this discipline, there as soon as once more seems to be an absence of tempo to place stress on Basic Q. Below these circumstances, Basic Q actually looms a menace to repeat. The one query for Basic Q right here would be the added distance of 1 1/16 miles versus one mile final time. Will that open the door for an upset? It’s attainable, particularly if longshots like #6 Princess Perspective and #9 Good Lengthy Cry go as much as press the tempo. Lavender Catastrophe additionally might do a number of the soiled work, which is able to give Play With Fireplace her greatest probability to show the tables on Basic Q. Apart from the favorites, there seems to be a really reside longshot within the discipline, #1 Reining Flowers. She can be making her third begin of the yr and nonetheless has not but had an opportunity to point out her greatest stuff but in her two prior outings as a 3-year-old, first in an off-the-turf race after which final time on a really yielding turf course at Penn Nationwide. She appeared glorious at Saratoga final summer time when she broke her maiden on the Spa after which ran an in depth third with a troubled journey within the P.G. Johnson Stakes. John Velazquez, who has ridden this horse everywhere in the map, exhibits continued religion in her and retains the mount at 15-1 on the morning line.
The Play: Wager on #1 Reining Flowers (15-1) to win and play her in exacta and trifecta bins with #5 Basic Q (2-1) and #10 Play With Fireplace (4-1).
Saratoga Race Course, Race 10, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes offered by Mohegan Solar, submit time 5:41 p.m. ET
The race everyone seems to be ready for this weekend is the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes, which has drawn a brief however choose five-horse discipline of 3-year-olds, led by Kentucky Derby Offered by Woodford Reserve and Belmont Stakes Offered by NYRA Bets winner #5 Sovereignty. He’s the horse to beat at 2-5 odds. In contrast to the opposite late runners on this discipline that embody laborious hitters like #2 Sandman and #4 Hill Street, Sovereignty has already proven he’s proficient sufficient to flash a little bit of tactical velocity if he must, similar to he did when he raced a lot nearer to the tempo than regular final time and gained the Belmont Stakes. The power to be nearer to the tempo is necessary on this race, as a result of the Jim Dandy discipline has an entire lack of tempo entered apart from #3 Mo Plex, who gained this spring’s seven-furlong Bay Shore Stakes main from begin to end and exits a win within the Grade 3 Ohio Derby final month. Mo Plex has a tactical benefit because the lone velocity, and that provides him an opportunity on the upset, or a minimum of an opportunity to carry on for a spot within the exacta. Go forward and field it. That method you’ll actually receives a commission if Mo Plex manages to come back out on prime.
The Play: Wager on #5 Sovereignty (2-5) to win and play him in an exacta field with #3 Mo Plex.
