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 rolls out a stakes-filled program this Saturday with the featured Grade 3 $300,000 Blame Stakes leading the way on an excellent day of racing and wagering. For this weekend’s winners, let’s focus on Churchill’s late daily double starting with the Blame Stakes and concluding with the Arlington Stakes in the day’s finale. If we cash some tickets and finish strong late in the day at Churchill Downs, we should enjoy a winning day this Saturday. Best of luck!

Saturday, May 30

Churchill Downs, Race 10, $300,000 Blame Stakes, post time 5:28 p.m. ET

The Grade 3 Blame Stakes has drawn an eight-horse field set to run 1 1/8 miles on the main track. The big name in the race is #3 Hit Show, a 6-year-old with 12 career wins and lifetime earnings approaching $9.5 million. The 2025 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline winner failed in his Dubai repeat attempt last time out but was still in top form when last seen stateside with a win to begin this season in the Grade 3 Mineshaft Stakes Presented by Hagyard at Fair Grounds. Hit Show was second by a half a length to this year’s Dubai World Cup winner Magnitude at Churchill Downs last fall, and he reunites with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. for the first time since the pair won last fall’s Grade 3 Hagyard Fayette Stakes at this distance at Keeneland. Based on his best efforts, Hit Show is no doubt the horse to beat. If Hit Show goes off favored, you can still bump up the value of your exactas in this race with the help of #7 Liberal Arts who has a chance in this spot at 20-1 odds on the morning line. Liberal Arts has done his best career running at Churchill Downs including a victory in last year’s $196,000 Knicks Go Stakes. He was sidelined for nearly a year after that Knicks Go win, but he’s currently on the comeback trail now in his second race off the layoff after competing against the best older horses in the country last time in an unwinnable spot in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap. His chances will be much better in this race as a live overlay on the tote board. The final piece of the trifecta puzzle should be #2 Hall of Fame, another horse on the comeback trail in his second start back from a long layoff who landed in an impossible spot last time out, losing the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford at seven furlongs behind runaway monster winner T O Elvis. Hall of Fame gets a much-needed stretchout here and he fits well vs. this bunch based on his streak of four straight outings with 100-plus Beyer Speed Figures in similar races last year.

The Play: Bet on #3 Hit Show (3-1) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta boxes along with #2 Hall of Fame (6-1), and #7 Liberal Arts (20-1). Start the late daily double using Hit Show with the top pick(s) in race 11.

Churchill Downs, Race 11, $275,000 Arlington Stakes, post time 5:59 p.m. ET

The Grade 3 Arlington Stakes in the last race has drawn a competitive field of 11 horses ready to race 1 1/16 miles on the turf. There’s plenty of contenders in this field but the morning-line oddsmaker probably got it right by making #3 Lagynos the favorite and horse to beat. He comes in with three straight stakes wins this year including the $349,000 Opening Verse Stakes on this course last time out. His speed figures are fast and consistent and it’s hard to poke holes in him from a class, distance, or pace perspective with regular rider Jose Ortiz aboard. The horses with the best chances to beat Lagynos both must navigate from outside post positions. #10 Brilliant Berti is a true Churchill grass horse for the course with five wins and a second in six lifetime outings on this turf course. #9 Quatrocento has the speed to lead and came within a neck of holding off Lagynos last time before getting caught by a neck before the wire.

The Play: Bet on #3 Lagynos (5-2) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta boxes along with #9 Quatrocento (7-2) and #10 Brilliant Berti (9-2).