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 Keeneland fall meet continues to roll on with another great day of racing and wagering in the bluegrass this Saturday. The 10-race program contains two graded stakes races, and for this weekend’s winners, let’s take a closer look at the stakes held late on Keeneland’s Saturday card and ensure we go home with some money in our pockets. Best of luck and enjoy the races.

Saturday, Oct. 17

Keeneland, Race 7, $350,000 Perryville Stakes, post time 4:12 p.m. ET

The Grade 3 Perryville Stakes has drawn a 12-horse field of 3-year-old sprinters ready to go seven furlongs on the main track. Even though divisional leader Englishman is not in the race, his presence is still felt in this field as several of the horses have Englishman in their company lines including favored #12 Deep Flame, who earned a huge 110 Beyer Speed Figure when second to Englishman last time out in Saratoga’s Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes when he benefitted from racing up close to a moderate pace. He won the Grade 3 Maxfield Stakes this summer at Churchill Downs by 5 ¾ lengths, so you definitely want him in your wagers even if his 7-5 morning line odds will be too low for a decent-value win bet. Two more Perryville contenders with Englishman in their past performances are #1 Solitude Dude and #11 Obliteration, and they are two more horses you want to have in your wagers at more generous odds of 6-1 and 9-2, respectively. Solitude Dude didn’t threaten Englishman when they met in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes Presented by Mohegan Sun but otherwise has racked up wins in this year’s Swale Stakes and Bay Shore Stakes, both at seven furlongs, and was second by a head with a 103 Beyer in Saratoga’s Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at 6 ½ furlongs. Obliteration finished third to Englishman, a nose out of second, in the Woody Stephens at Saratoga and then finished third behind Solitude Dude in the Amsterdam. Both horses will benefit from getting away from Englishman in this spot as well as other tough guys in the division such as Amsterdam winner Local Knowledge and Woody Stephens runner-up Crude Velocity who are not present this Saturday. Obliteration will be further off the pace and would be helped by a hot fractions while Solitude Dude should be in a more cozy spot right off the lead. Jose Ortiz, who had ridden Obliteration before, takes the mount here on Solitude Dude, so he gets our win bet.

The Play: Bet on #1 Solitude Dude (6-1) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta boxes along with #11 Obliteration (9-2) and #12 Deep Flame (7-5).

Keeneland, Race 9, $400,000 Lexus Raven Run Stakes, post time 5:16 p.m. ET

Percy's Bar (Eclipse Sportswire)

The Grade 2 Raven Run for 3-year-old fillies has also drawn a full field of 12 hopefuls ready to run seven furlongs, and it’s also a heckuva race. The favorite is #9 Mashallah who deserves that designation based on her marvelous 4-for-4 record in sprints where she has been unbeaten and unchallenged, including a five-length win last time in Saratoga’s Grade 3 Prioress Stakes over some of these same horses. Perhaps the horses that have already lost to Mashallah can’t beat her, but there very well might be some other horses in this field who can, and their odds will be loaded with value. The list of challengers is led by two or three main contenders including #8 Conceit who is 4-1 on the morning line and riding high on a three-race winning streak including back-to-back stakes wins at seven furlongs including in the $200,000 Audubon Oaks Presented by OG Cappers at Ellis Park and in the Grade 3 Dogwood Stakes Presented by Resolute Racing at Churchill Downs where the Beyer Speed Figures exceeded those earned by Mashallah in her last two races. If you like Conceit and you have a big wagering budget, you can also add #7 A Fine Chardonnay into your trifectas. She is 2-for-2 at Keeneland and just missed to Conceit by less than a length in the Audubon Oaks. Finally, the most realistic upsetter in the race is #6 Percy’s Bar, a Grade 1 winner who finished second behind Explora in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Test Stakes Presented by Ticketmaster in her only recent dirt sprint race but somehow is listed at 6-1 odds on the morning line. Those odds represent excellent value, especially considering that her Grade 1 win as well as a Grade 1 stakes she finished first in but was disqualified were at Keeneland.

The Play: Bet on #6 Percy’s Bar (6-1) to win and play her in exacta and trifecta boxes along with #8 Conceit (4-1) and #9 Mashallah (8-5). Add a trifecta with Percy’s Bar atop the trio of #7 A Fine Chardonnay, Conceit, and Mashallah.