Welcome to Noel Michaels’ Weekend Winners, the place to go for weekend finest bets and spot performs from veteran handicapper and tournament-play pioneer Noel Michaels. Examine again each week for a few highlighted choices designed that can assist you money a number of bets and make some cash.
Noel’s choices have been featured nearly in all places horse racing picks will be discovered, together with in print within the Each day Racing Kind, The HorsePlayer Journal and American Turf Month-to-month, on-line at DRF.com, Twinspires.com and USRacing.com, from the paddock on-track at Arlington Worldwide Racecourse, and on the air on HRTV, TVG, NYC OTB Further, NYRA’s SatuTalking Horses, and on broadcast TV on WAVE-3 Louisville, ABC KOLO-8 in Reno, Nevada, and channel 72 Lengthy Island Cablevision.
Six Newbie Betting Instruments
- Begin easy with an simple information for how one can guess on horse racing.
- Unsure what that phrase means? Horse racing terminology is a language of its personal. Permit us translate for you
- What the heck is a pace determine? This newbie’s information to hurry figures has all the things you want to know.
- Betting on horse racing will be intimidating. Workforce ABR put collectively some Dos and Don’ts for the brand new fan getting began betting on racing.
- All of us make errors in the case of betting on horse racing, listed below are eight classes discovered from expertise.
- Determine how a lot every guess will value prematurely with our Playing Calculator, introduced by NYRA Bets.
Saturday, Jan. 4
The primary Saturday of the yr actually will get issues began in 2025 with newly turned 3-year-olds hoping to take first steps on the highway to the Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve. The motion will happen at two completely different racetracks, with Aqueduct internet hosting the Jerome Stakes and Oaklawn Park kicking off its profitable 3-year-old highway to the Derby collection with the Smarty Jones Stakes on Saturday. For this weekend’s weblog, let’s delve into these two stakes races and attempt to choose a few of our first winners of the brand new yr. Better of luck.
Aqueduct, Race 8, $150,000 Jerome Stakes, 3:39 p.m. ET
A discipline of eight 3-year-olds are set to go to publish for the Jerome Stakes going one mile round one flip at Aqueduct. Essentially the most completed horse within the race and in addition the second alternative on the morning line is #7 Studlydoright, who already owns three wins from his 2-year-old marketing campaign together with two stakes win. Studlydoright exits a fourth-place end within the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes in a race at 1 1/8 miles round two turns however now cuts again to a mile which is the space of his career-best outing two races in the past when he gained the $145,000 Nashua Stakes proper right here at Aqueduct. The one factor doubtlessly standing in the best way of a Studlydoright win in his race could be a rival getting clear on the entrance finish and wiring the sphere, and the horse with the flexibility to do this looms as #6 Cyclone State, who enters the Jermone off back-to-back spectacular front-running wins at Aqueduct going a mile. This race represents a category hike for Cyclone State up towards stakes competitors for the primary time, however this pace figures throughout his current successful streak recommend he belongs versus this discipline. Studlydoright and the remainder of this discipline will probably be hoping that one other horse within the race runs with Cyclone State early, and candidates to do this embrace #2 Mansetti and, #5 Georgia Magic. Of that duo, the upper potential to make a dent on this race goes to Mansetti, an x-factor who has but to ever race on grime however now stretches out off a speedy dash stakes win on Woodbine’s all-weather floor and will make waves if he can enhance on this floor.
The Play: Wager on #7 Studlydoright (5-2) to win and play him in an exacta field with #6 Cyclone State (7-2). For trifecta packing containers, add #2 Mansetti (10-1) onto your tickets together with the these two.
Oaklawn Park, Race 9, $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes, 5:22 p.m. ET
The Smarty Jones Stakes has drawn a discipline of eight sophomores set to race 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park for a handbag of $250,000. The race options a number of horses with numerous potential, however probably the most completed of the group as of at the moment is #8 Coal Battle and he’s the horse to beat. Coal Battle is undefeated in three profession races on the grime and has gone 2-for-2 in stakes races since switching from turf to grime with wins within the $100,000 Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs adopted by the $300,000 Springboard Mile Stakes at Remington Park. He’ll be coming from off the tempo and may get a ample set-up for his late run at this added distance. The remainder of the highest contenders on this discipline all seem to have some pace together with #1 Kale’s Angel, #5 Mo High quality, and #6 Scorching Property. The latter took benefit of a lazy tempo final time to go wire-to-wire in his profession debut. Of that trio, Kale’s Angel appears to have probably the most upside popping out of a stakes win with an enormous pace determine at this observe final day out. Evidently the connections thought Kale’s Angel was strictly a turf horse based mostly on his 4 straight turf races to start his profession, nevertheless, he unleashed a career-best effort in his grime debut successful the 5 ½-furlong Creation Stakes right here a month in the past over Innovator, a horse that his since gained however is most well-known for ending inside a head of Bob Baffert’s highly-touted maiden winner Barnes at Churchill Downs. Lastly, if you’re trying to boost your exotics with a sneaky contender at a worth, attempt together with #3 Optical in your exotics. Optical suffered a mishap in Keeneland’s Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity three races in the past however has been good in all of his different three grime routes to date, together with a Churchill Downs allowance win final time over McAfee, who will race as one of many favorites in at the moment’s Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct
The Play: Wager #9 Coal Battle (9-2) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta packing containers with #1 Kale’s Angel (2-1) and #3 Optical (12-1).
