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, April 4

Opening weekend of the Keeneland spring meet is headlined by the running of the Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, but that feature race is far from being the only game in town on Saturday at Keeneland (my picks for the Blue Grass Stakes and Saturday’s other major Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve prep races can be found in this week’s Big-Race Showdown). Keeneland will offer several other great races on the Saturday wagering menu, so for this weekend’s winners let’s shine a light on a couple of the day’s sensational undercard stakes. Best of luck and enjoy the races.

Keeneland, Race 9, $650,000 Resolute Racing Madison Stakes, post time 5:16 p.m. ET

The Grade 1 Madison Stakes for fillies and mares going seven furlongs has drawn a field of eight starters, and you can make a case for just about any of them to win or at least hit the board. Seriously talented fillies such as #3 Clicquot, #4 Ragtime, and #7 Praying will be making their season debuts coming off winter layoffs and may not be able to show up with their “A” game, so let’s concentrate on the horses with more recent races in their past performances. #1 Eclatant seems nicely set up for success in this spot based on her return from a layoff last time in a big win at 6 ½ furlongs at Gulfstream Park with a 104 Beyer Speed Figure. She’s never much cared for Churchill Downs but she won her only past outing at Keeneland and is already a graded stakes winner at this seven-furlong distance. Irad Ortiz Jr. picks up the mount for trainer Brad Cox, and Ortiz will have this horse in a perfect spot not far off the pace keeping out of a tussle against the speed horses while also getting the jump on the late runners. Meanwhile, #5 Grand Job and #6 R Disaster both come back off successful 2026 debut outings where they won stakes at Gulfstream. Grand Job scored a clear seven-furlong victory in the Grade 2 Inside Information Stakes Presented by MyRacehorse and R Disaster posted a decisive victory in the 6 ½-furlong, Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie Stakes. Grand Job overcame a battle for the lead and proved she doesn’t need a clear lead in order to win when racking up a 100 Beyer Speed Figure. R Disaster is on a long streak of remarkable consistency during which she has not once finished out of the exacta so far in her 14-race career.

The Play: Bet on #1 Eclatant (4-1) to win and box her in exactas and trifectas along with #5 Grand Job (2-1) and #6 R Disaster (3-1).

Keeneland, Race 10, $400,000 Valvoline Global Shakertown Stakes, post time 5:49 p.m. ET

My Boy Prince (Eclipse Sportswire)

The Grade 2 Shakertown Stakes has drawn a full field of turf sprinters set to dash 5 ½ furlongs. You know you have a good betting race when you have 12 runners and even the morning-line favorite, in this case #8 Litigation, is listed at 4-1 odds on the morning line. Litigation comes off back-to-back turf sprint stakes wins from off the pace at Gulfstream Park is an obvious contender, however, other horses also will have legitimate chances to win while offering better odds. One of those horses will be #2 My Boy Prince, who lost a photo finish to Litigation two races ago in a five-furlong turf sprint at Gulfstream that he probably would have won if it were run at today’s 5 ½-furlong distance. He improved in his second start of the season last time when knocking off favored #10 Rezasrolex in a Tampa Bay Downs turf stakes at five furlongs, and he should be even better here at this better distance. My Boy Prince finished second at the Grade 1 level twice in 2025 in the Jaipur Stakes and in the Rogers Woodbine Mile and is now on his way to sealing the deal in this even more suitable spot. Finally, you also have to like the chances of #4 Yellow Card to hit the board in this race at solid 10-1 odds on the morning line. He’s arriving in good form coming off a win at Santa Anita Park and will be flying late with a chance to get up in time for a spot the trifecta at least.

The Play: Bet on #2 My Boy Prince (6-1) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta boxes along with #4 Yellow Card (10-1) and #8 Litigation (4-1).