Welcome to Noel Michaels’ Weekend Winners, the place to go for weekend finest bets and spot performs from veteran handicapper and tournament-play pioneer Noel Michaels. Verify again each week for a few highlighted picks designed that can assist you money just a few bets and make some cash. Noel’s picks have been featured nearly in every single place horse racing picks could be discovered, together with in print within the Day by 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 Further, 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 an simple information for the best way to guess on horse racing.
- Undecided what that phrase means? Horse racing terminology is a language of its personal. Permit us translate for you
- What the heck is a pace determine? This newbie’s information to hurry figures has every thing it’s worthwhile to know.
- Betting on horse racing could 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 realized from expertise.
- Work out how a lot every guess will price upfront with our Playing Calculator, offered by NYRA Bets.
Saturday, July 26
The third weekend of the 2025 Saratoga summer season season is headlined by the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes Introduced by Mohegan Solar, which attracted Sovereignty, the winner of two-thirds of this spring’s Triple Crown. The winner and different high 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 Introduced 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 Introduced 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 area of 3-year-old fillies plus one main-track-only entrant. It’s a captivating 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, through which she beat a pair of Chad Brown trainees who’re each entered again on this spot – #4 Lavender Catastrophe and #10 Play With Hearth. Each of these Brown horses are official contenders once more at this time, however they’ll face the identical downside that they had final time when Basic Q received out entrance to a transparent lead, managed the tempo, and led from begin to end. Trying round this area, there as soon as once more seems to be a scarcity of tempo to place strain 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 potential, particularly if longshots like #6 Princess Angle and #9 Good Lengthy Cry go as much as press the tempo. Lavender Catastrophe additionally might do among the soiled work, which can give Play With Hearth her finest probability to show the tables on Basic Q. Other than the favorites, there seems to be a really reside longshot within the area, #1 Reining Flowers. She might be making her third begin of the 12 months and nonetheless has not but had an opportunity to point out her finest 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 wonderful at Saratoga final summer season 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, reveals continued religion in her and retains the mount at 15-1 on the morning line.
The Play: Guess 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 Hearth (4-1).
Saratoga Race Course, Race 10, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes offered by Mohegan Solar, put up 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 area of 3-year-olds, led by Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve and Belmont Stakes Introduced 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 area that embrace exhausting hitters like #2 Sandman and #4 Hill Street, Sovereignty has already proven he’s proficient sufficient to flash a little bit of tactical pace if he must, identical to he did when he raced a lot nearer to the tempo than normal final time and gained the Belmont Stakes. The power to be nearer to the tempo is essential on this race, as a result of the Jim Dandy area has an entire lack of tempo entered aside 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 pace, and that provides him an opportunity on the upset, or not less than an opportunity to carry on for a spot within the exacta. Go forward and field it. That means you’ll actually receives a commission if Mo Plex manages to come back out on high.
The Play: Guess on #5 Sovereignty (2-5) to win and play him in an exacta field with #3 Mo Plex.
