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.

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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, July 15

The Saratoga racing season is finally here, and the meet has wasted no time shifting into high gear with three stakes races on opening Saturday’s 11-race program. The feature race is the first Grade 1 event of the meet, the $500,000 Diana Stakes which drew a field of five fillies and mares and goes as Race 4. A little later on the card is when our plays kick in, starting with a highly bettable New York-bred allowance in Race 5, and then in Race 9, which is the Grade 3 Kelso Stakes. The Kelso has drawn an eight-horse field of accomplished turf horses sporting the quality you would expect to find in a Saratoga graded stakes. Enjoy opening weekend at The Spa, and best of luck.

Saratoga Race Course, Race 5, $95,000 allowance, post time 3:18 p.m. ET

This state-bred allowance going six furlongs on the main track has drawn a field of nine with eight betting interests including several legitimate wagering options. It’s an evenly matched field, too, with five of the eight horses listed at odds between 5-2 and 5-1 on the morning line. The horse to beat will be #2 Always Charming. This gelding suffered his first loss of 2023 in June when he finished second after missing the break, starting slowest to break behind the field. He was then rushed up to a midpack position and got the lead in the stretch before tiring in the final furlong of a seven-furlong race. That loss ended Always Charming’s impressive two-race winning streak, but he’ll be ready to get back into the winner’s circle in this race as long as he gets a decent start, cutting back at six furlongs. The morning-line favorite in the race, #8 Mariachi, is a strong contender as well. Mariachi battled back and forth for the lead and never got a breather up front on a demanding pace last time out, his first start back from a six-month layoff, eventually finishing third and just a nose out of second and while overall beaten less than a length. He should be ready to go faster and further Saturday in his second start off the layoff.

The Play: Bet to win on #2 Always Charming (4-1), and play him in exacta boxes along with #8 Mariachi (5-2).

Saratoga Race Course, Race 9, $175,000 Kelso Stakes, post time 5:45 p.m. ET

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Saratoga will host three graded stakes races on opening Saturday, and perhaps the best betting race of the trio is the Grade 3 Kelso, which will feature an eight-horse field loaded with contenders going one mile on the turf. The big name in the field, and deservedly so, is #8 Casa Creed, a multiple Grade 1 winner including two wins in Belmont Park’s Jaipur Stakes to go along with his win in last season’s Fourstardave Handicap right here at Saratoga at this identical one-mile inner turf trip. Casa Creed just missed in two starts so far this season which both came against tougher fields including a length loss last time in this year’s Jaipur against Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint champion Caravel. Veteran likes this course and should be tough to beat down at this uncharacteristically low level. One horse who might get overlooked on the tote board – but shouldn’t be – is #7 Anaconda, who got off to a bad start vs. a tough field in the Grade 3 Poker Stakes last time, and then was loaded the whole way but blocked and never got clear all the way to the wire to settle for an unlucky fourth when beaten by only three quarters of a length. With a better start and a better trip, Anaconda could definitely surprise in this race, at least nabbing second. In this field you will also find #5 Big Everest, who comes in on a four-race winning steak dating all the way back to last September, and #2 Annapolis, a potential Saratoga horse for the course who owns two wins and a second in three prior career outings on the Spa turf. What a race.

The Play:  Bet the contender with the best chance at paying the best price and go for #7 Anaconda (6-1) to win. Bet an exacta box using Anaconda and #8 Casa Creed (5-2). Finally, hedge a bit in the trifectas and bet both Anaconda and Casa Creed on top in trifecta keys over Anaconda, Casa Creed, #2 Annapolis (8-5), and #5 Big Everest (5-1).