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.

Saturday, Aug. 23

The Saratoga summer season reaches its pinnacle this Saturday as the track hosts DraftKings Travers Stakes day, a 14-race program that includes six important stakes races topped by the running of the $1.25 million Travers Stakes. Sovereignty tops a five-horse field as the heavy favorite in the featured race, but the Travers is far from being the only game in town this weekend at the Spa because the undercard is loaded with amazing races. For Weekend Winners this Saturday, let’s take a deep dive into a couple of the top races on the Travers undercard including the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes and the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Ballerina Stakes. These are tough races for handicappers, but picking the winners would certainly be a great way to build the bankroll you’ll need to bet big on the big race. Best of luck and enjoy Travers day at Saratoga.

Saratoga, Race 10, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes, 4:22 p.m. ET

The Grade 1 Jerkens Memorial drew an eight-horse field of 3-year-olds hoping to come out on top at the distance of seven furlongs. This is a remarkably challenging betting race because you can make a legit case for all eight horses in the race to win, let alone finish in the money. In a race that drew plenty of recognizable names, the horse to beat should turn out to be new kid on the block, #5 Verifire, an up-and-comer who enters this race with a perfect 3-for-3 record for high-percentage trainer Brad Cox. Most recently, Verifire successfully stepped up against stakes company at this distance to win the $239,000 Maxfield Stakes June 29 at Churchill Downs, beating a pair of these same horses, including #6 Smoken Wicked, who returned to win Saratoga’s Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes July 25. Verifire has plenty of early speed and is very likely to sit an ideal, up-close stalking trip off a hot pace. Trainer Bob Baffert ships cross-country with a pair of challengers in this race and he should never be ignored with a talent like #3 Barnes, who should be included in all exactas and trifectas. Barnes was on the Triple Crown trail earlier this year after a win in Santa Anita’s seven-furlong Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes and a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 DK Horse San Felipe Stakes, in which he finished ahead of next-out Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino winner Rodriguez when behind only Preakness Stakes winner Journalism. Barnes gets what looks like a beneficial cutback in distance and will be tough to beat if ready in return from a 4 ½-month layoff. The morning-line favorite in the Jerkens is #1 Patch Adams, another Cox entrant who enters the race in exceptionally good sprint form, including a win last time in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes Presented by Mohegan Sun.

The Play: Bet on #5 Verifire (4-1) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta boxes with #1 Patch Adams (3-1) and #2 Barnes (9-2).

Saratoga, Race 11, $500,000 Resorts World Casino Ballerina Stakes, 4:59 p.m. ET

Claret Beret winning a stakes at Gulfstream Park in 2025. (Coglianese Photos/Ryan Thompson)

The Grade 1 Ballerina has attracted a field of nine fillies and mares set to go seven furlongs and is a wide-open race loaded with contenders. Many of the big names here suffer from inconsistency, so let’s take a shot against the favorites with some live mid-priced contenders. #5 Claret Beret has run two strong races since joining the barn of trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., including a 19 ¾-length win at Gulfstream Park and a close second in the Grade 2 Chicago Stakes going seven furlongs at Churchill Downs. She picks up jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. and has been too good since joining her current barn to ignore at 6-1 odds on the morning line. Another challenger in danger of slipping through the cracks on the tote board is #4 Halina’s Forte, who is 10-1 on the morning-line odds despite out-closing favored #7 Scylla last time to win Saratoga’s Grade 2 Honorable Miss Stakes. If you are going to use Halina’s Forte, another horse you must also put in your exactas and trifectas is #8 My Mane Squeeze, a New York-bred who scored two head-to-head wins over Halina’s Forte in 2024. My Mane Squeeze lost to Claret Beret in the Chicago Stakes two races ago but returned to post this field’s top last-race Beyer Speed Figure (100) in a 6 ¼-length win in the $150,000 Johnstone Stakes at this track and distance.

The Play: Bet on #5 Claret Beret (6-1) to win and play her in exacta and trifecta boxes with #4 Halina’s Forte (10-1) and #8 My Mane Squeeze (5-1).