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.

The road to the 2026 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve winds through Gulfstream Park this Saturday with the running of the $275,000 Holy Bull Stakes. The Holy Bull is the featured event on a 12-race program that also includes four other $175,000 stakes races. For this weekend’s winners, let’s focus on the two graded stakes races on the card, the Grade 3 Holy Bull and the Grade 3 Forward Gal Stakes. If we can pick the winners of these two races, we’ll be well on our way to a great day this Saturday at Gulfstream Park. Best of luck.

Saturday, Jan. 31

Gulfstream Park, Race 10, $175,000 Forward Gal Stakes, post time 4:45 p.m. ET

The Grade 3 Forward Gal Stakes has drawn a field of eight 3-year-old fillies set to go seven furlongs, and it’s surprising to see that #4 Mythical is not the morning-line favorite in the race based on her record of five wins in six career outings. Mythical is already 3-for-3 at Gulfstream Park with big, impressive wins ranging from 4 ½ furlongs to 1 1/16 miles including a 12 ¾-length win at seven furlongs two outings ago. She’s a Florida bred but already owns a graded stakes win against open company at Saratoga last summer. Plus, she doesn’t need the lead in order to win. The actual morning-line favorite in the race is #6 On Time Girl who also should be the “speed of the speeds” and is able to get to the front end in this race. We’ll see how much pressure she gets from horses like #8 Imperatrice and see if she can go all the way. Perhaps she can, but an in-the-money finish behind Mythical seems more likely. Finally, the horse that has a chance to make you some money that you want to have on your exacta and trifecta tickets is #2 Tessellate, who is listed at 6-1 in the odds for leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Tessellate has been red-hot in her last two races with back-to-back open-lengths stakes wins at Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs. Her speed figures don’t yet stand out, but her connections and her up-close stalking running style make her very dangerous at decent odds.

The Play: Bet on #4 Mythical (5-2) to win and play her in exacta and trifecta boxes along with #2 Tessellate (6-1) and #6 On Time Girl (9-5).

Gulfstream Park, Race 12, $275,000 Holy Bull Stakes, post time 5:45 p.m. ET

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The Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes has drawn a field of nine hopefuls, of which seven are expected to run. The field is set to compete at 1 1/16 miles, and the top finishers in the race will earn Kentucky Derby qualifying points. #1 Incredibolt makes his 3-year-old debut after showing strong improvement as a 2-year-old as the distances went further in each of his races. His last outing was a victory at this same distance at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3 Street Sense Stakes, which he won from off the pace by 1 ¾ lengths. Many of the horses in the Holy Bull are talented but unproven at a route, and Incredibolt appears to be better than the other horses in this race that have already stretched out in distance. He’ll sit comfortably off the pace, and he’ll be positioned to pounce when the others in the race get leg weary. #5 Cannoneer is one of the horses in the race that is unproven going two turns, but we expect him to do well in this 1 1/16-mile assignment for top-notch connections like trainer Brad Cox and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. despite lack of experience. He could have a tactical advantage as the best of the speed horses, and he might be able get loose on the front-end based on his blazing wire-to-wire Churchill Downs maiden win at seven furlongs last time out. The morning-line favorite in the Holy Bull is #7 Nearly for trainer Todd Pletcher. He already owns two wins including a seven-furlong allowance optional claiming race, and his best-in-the-field 97 Beyer Speed Figure and connections with John Velazquez aboard paint a picture of a horse that seems capable of handling this added distance.

The Play: Bet on #1 Incredibolt (9-2) to win and play him in chalky trifecta boxes along with #5 Cannoneer (2-1) and #7 Nearly (9-5).