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.

Belmont at the Big A, Race 7, $81,000 allowance, post time 4:10 p.m. ET

The six-furlong turf sprint for New York-bred fillies and mares has drawn a full field and will offer horseplayers an interesting handicapping puzzle to put together. The horse to beat is #8 Perugia, who exits an impressive maiden win where she returned from an eight-month layoff to graduate by four lengths. What made it so notable was that Perugia broke poorly when not handling the rail post draw, was used early to rush up to the lead, and then never looked back to extend her margin of victory in the late stages despite the earlier effort. That win came in an off-the-turf race, but this horse started her career on the grass and wastes no time getting back on that surface for this race, so you know trainer Linda Rice thinks she’s even better on the turf than she is on the dirt. The main competition in this race should come from #4 Turriga, who has finished in the exacta in five of her 12 lifetime starts including three of her last four races. She led from start to finish to win a turf sprint on this course last fall and exits a runner-up finish on this course in an allowance race last month in a return to top form. Finally, the underdog in this field with the best chance looks like #1 I’m Kidding. I’m Kidding has never raced on turf but exits a dynamite 7 ¼-length win in an off-the-turf race last time that is difficult to ignore. I’m Kidding is part of the two-pronged #1 entry along with #1a Quick Power Nap on the also-eligible list, and she’s also a threat to win this race if able to draw in.

The Play: Bet on #8 Perugia (4-1) to win and play her in exacta and trifecta boxes with #4 Turriga (7-2) and the entry of #1 I’m Kidding and #1a Quick Power Nap (8-1).

Belmont at the Big A, Race 10, $150,000 Paradise Creek Stakes, post time 5:45 p.m. ET

Click image to buy shirt.

Saturday’s feature race is the Paradise Creek Stakes for 3-year-old turf sprinters with a field of nine ready to go six furlongs for a purse of $150,000. The top three contenders in this race seem pretty clear-cut so it’ll just be a matter of what order they end up finishing. I recommend putting your money on #5 Clock Tower, who invades from out of town for turf sprint master trainer Wesley Ward. This race represents a cutback in distance for Clock Tower, who has been racing mostly at one mile or 1 1/16 miles, and that might be a concern for a lot of barns but not for Ward who wouldn’t be shipping in for a turf sprint with a horse incapable of handling it. Clock Tower gets some welcome class relief after facing graded stakes company four races in a row and gets distance relief after tiring going longer last time out. His best effort in a front-running win in the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes last fall at Del Mar points him out as the horse to beat vs. this field for Ward, who has started the Belmont at the Big A meet with four wins from his first four starters. The other ace turf trainer in this race is New York-based Christophe Clement who has #9 Pivotal Moment ready to face stakes competition for the first time after crushing maidens last time at Gulfstream Park with a closing win in a five-furlong turf sprint. Most of those Gulfstream turf sprints are won by horses racing on or close to the pace, so when you see a horse like this who tallied his first win in come-from-behind fashion for one of the best turf sprint trainers in the game, you should take notice when he gets an additional furlong and goes to a turf course like Aqueduct’s that is much more conducive to rallying winners. The third of the three major contenders in this race is #7 Supersonic Blue, who ships in from the West Coast after two straight legit turf sprint start-to-finish wins.

The Play: Bet on #5 Clock Tower (4-1) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta boxes with #7 Supersonic Blue (2-1) and #10 Pivotal Moment (2-1).