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 Talking 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.

Churchill Downs, Race 10, $275,000 Blame Stakes, post time 5:27 p.m. ET

A high-quality 10-horse field of older horses has been assembled for the Grade 3 Blame Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on the main track. There are many strong contenders in the field including 2024 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve hero #4 Mystik Dan, but the one to beat is #7 Most Wanted, a horse that has never been worse than second in seven lifetime races to date. Most Wanted has been knocking on the door at or above this level in his three most recent outings including two runner-up efforts in Grade 2 outings at Churchill Downs in last fall’s Clark Stakes Presented by Norton Healthcare and this spring’s Alysheba Stakes Presented by Sentient Jet where he lost to Fierceness by just 1 ½ lengths. Most Wanted will go to the front again in this race for trainer Brad Cox and should lead the field all the way. #6 Hall of Fame finished third behind Most Wanted last time in the Alysheba and is another top contender in this race based on his current streak of four straight triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures including a 106 he earned when second two races ago in the Grade 3 New Orleans Classic Stakes Presented by Relyne GI by Hagyard at Fair Grounds at this 1 1/8-mile distance. #9 Post Time might very well boast the strongest résumé of any horse in this race based on his win in the 2024 Carter Stakes and his second-place finish in last fall’s Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. He has rarely been asked to go beyond his seven-furlong to one-mile wheelhouse but has already flashed the ability to do so including when third in last year’s Grade 1 Whitney Stakes (earning a career-high 105 Beyer Speed Figure) and when posting a 13 ¼-length win last time out at Laurel Park in his return prep race at 1 1/16 miles off a five-month layoff. The 1 1/8-mile distance makes him an X-factor, but his ability makes him one of this race’s top challengers.

The Play: Bet on #7 Most Wanted (7-2) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta boxes with #6 Hall of Fame (8-1) and #9 Post Time (3-1). Also, bet Most Wanted and Post Time in a late Daily Double with Lush Lips and Totally Justified from the Regret Stakes (see below).

Churchill Downs, Race 11, $275,000 Regret Stakes, post time 5:58 p.m. ET

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Three-year-old filly turf horses take center stage in Saturday’s finale at Churchill Downs as they contest the Grade 3 Regret Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on the grass. The race drew an evenly matched 11-horse field and the horse to beat is #7 Lush Lips, who finally escapes the company of divisional leader Nitrogen after settling for second behind that one in her last two races, back-to-back graded stakes. She attempted to come from off the pace when second last time in Churchill’s Grade 2 Edgewood Stakes Presented by Accenture, but don’t let that running line fool you – Lush Lips is a speedster who does her best positioned on the lead. When you examine the rest of the field, she looks like she should flat-out be able to control this race on the front end and lead from start to finish. There will be several horses in this field fighting for places in the exacta and trifecta. #8 Fionn is the top contender after winning three turf races in a row this winter at Fair Grounds for trainer Brad Cox. She finished a late-running third in Keeneland’s Appalachian Stakes Presented by Japan Racing Association behind the aforementioned Nitrogen last time out. #6 Totally Justified needed a race off a five-month break last time when she finished fifth in the Appalachian, but she’ll be ready here for her second start off the layoff at 10-1 odds on the morning line. That makes her dangerous based on the talent she showed as a 2-year-old when winning Saratoga’s P.G. Johnson Stakes and finishing second by a nose in Keeneland’s Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes Presented by Keeneland Sales. This race’s favored #5 Classic Q looks like an underlay at 5-2 on the morning line so we’ll bet against her. She failed to hit the board in two stakes outings this winter at Gulfstream Park and looks questionable at this 1 1/8-mile distance.

The Play: Bet on #7 Lush Lips (3-1) to win and play her in exacta and trifecta boxes with #6 Totally Justified (10-1) and #8 Fionn (4-1).