Welcome to Noel Michaels’ Weekend Winners, the place to go for weekend best bets and spot plays from veteran handicapper and tournament-play pioneer Noel Michaels. Check back every week for a couple of highlighted selections designed to help you cash a few bets and make some money.

Noel's selections have been featured just about everywhere horse racing picks can be found, including in print in the Daily Racing Form, The HorsePlayer Magazine and American Turf Monthly, online at DRF.com, Twinspires.com and USRacing.com, from the paddock on-track at Arlington International Racecourse, and on the air on HRTV, TVG, NYC OTB Extra, NYRA's SatuTalking Horses, and on broadcast TV on WAVE-3 Louisville, ABC KOLO-8 in Reno, Nevada, and channel 72 Long Island Cablevision.

Six Beginner Betting Tools

1. Start simple with an easy guide for how to bet on horse racing.
2. Not sure what that word means? Horse racing terminology is a language of its own. Allow us translate for you
3. What the heck is a speed figure? This beginner’s guide to speed figures has everything you need to know.
4. Betting on horse racing can be intimidating. Team ABR put together some Dos and Don’ts for the new fan getting started betting on racing.
5. We all make mistakes when it comes to betting on horse racing, here are eight lessons learned from experience.
6. Figure out how much each bet will cost in advance with our Gambling Calculator, presented by NYRA Bets.

Saturday, Dec. 14

There are several good races for 2-year-olds on this weekend’s schedule. Many of the headlines will go to the Los Alamitos Futurity and the Remington Park Springboard Mile, but did you know that it is Aqueduct that will actually be hosting this weekend’s two richest races? New York’s 10-race 2024 Stallion Stakes Series for state-breds culminates this Saturday with the $500,000 Great White Way division for colts and geldings and the $500,000 Fifth Avenue Division for fillies. These two feature races have both drawn big fields and shape up as interesting handicapping puzzles and thus will be the focus for this weekend’s winners. Best of luck this weekend and enjoy Saturday’s racing and wagering from the Big A.

Aqueduct, Race 8, $500,000 New York Stallion Series Great White Way Division, post time 3:06 p.m. ET

The Great White Way Division has drawn a 10-horse field of New York-breds set to race seven furlongs for a purse of a half-million dollars. Many of the horses in the field have been successful at sprint distances to this point in their young careers and the seven furlongs will pose the biggest question mark for most of them on Saturday. One horse that has no question marks in terms of the distance is #2 Sacrosanct for trainer Brad Cox, who comes into this spot with a perfect 3-for-3 record that already includes a win going a mile last time out in the $200,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes on New York Showcase Day. His lone career outing to date at seven furlongs resulted in the best race of his career, a 12-length romp on this track in the $125,000 Bertram F. Bongard Stakes when he was geared down in the stretch. The price might be low on Sacrosanct, but he’ll be extremely tough to beat. The other horse in the field that has shown a bunch of ability is #5 Bold Fortune for trainer George Weaver, who posted a 10 ½-length maiden win at Aqueduct and exits a 7 ¾-length win in the $165,000 New York Breeders’ Futurity at Finger Lakes going six furlongs. With Sacrosanct exiting a win at a mile, that means these two horses will meet at the in-between distance of seven furlongs which will add to the drama on Saturday. Yes, these two horses will be the favorites and yes, this may be a chalky exacta but if you focus strictly on these two horses and bet enough on it, you will still be able to turn a profit.

The Play: Bet on #2 Sacrosanct (9-5) to win and play him in an exacta box with #5 Bold Fortune (5-2).

Aqueduct, Race 9, $500,000 New York Stallion Series Fifth Avenue Division, post time 3:35 p.m. ET

Boston's Phinest winning at Aqueduct. (Coglianese photos)

The more wide-open of the two half-million-dollar races at Aqueduct on Saturday will be the Fifth Avenue Division for 2-year-old fillies, which has drawn a 12-horse field set to go seven furlongs. The race features a very live favorite, #7 Boston’s Phinest, from trainer Chad Brown. She exits a runner-up finish in last month’s $200,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes where she was beaten only by With the Angels, an undefeated rival who has since come back to win again in Aqueduct’s $100,000 Key Cents Stakes. If Boston’s Phinest is well-bet in the Fifth Avenue Division, as expected, then perhaps you can make your money in the exotics, and this is a 12-horse field after all, so there will be plenty to choose from at bargain prices. Many of the horses in this field have made their mark at six furlongs and may have trouble with this added distance, so let’s look for the best seven-furlong prospects in the bunch. #10 Princess Mischief is the horse in the race with the best chance at an upset. She sprang to life last time when stretched to 6 ½ furlongs for the first time with a closing five-length maiden win at Aqueduct and she can take advantage of some tiring leaders in this spot. #4 Idyll Gossip also will have a chance at an even bigger price. She is the only two-time winner in the field after winning the modest Stonecoldfox Stakes with a strong late rally at six furlongs last time that indicated she’ll benefit from today’s seven-furlong trip with New York’s sneakiest longshot rider Romero Maragh aboard.

The Play: Bet #7 Boston’s Phinest (3-1) to win and play her in exacta and trifecta boxes with #4 Idyll Gossip (20-1) and #10 Princess Mischief (10-1).