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. Verify again each week for a few highlighted alternatives designed that can assist you money a couple of bets and make some cash. Noel’s alternatives have been featured nearly in all places horse racing picks will be discovered, together with in print within the Each day Racing Type, 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 Additional, NYRA’s Speaking 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 straightforward information for the right way to guess on horse racing.
- Unsure what that phrase means? Horse racing terminology is a language of its personal. Enable us translate for you
- What the heck is a pace determine? This newbie’s information to hurry figures has all the things it’s essential to know.
- Betting on horse racing will be intimidating. Staff ABR put collectively some Dos and Don’ts for the brand new fan getting began betting on racing.
- All of us make errors in terms of betting on horse racing, listed below are eight classes realized from expertise.
- Work out how a lot every guess will price prematurely with our Playing Calculator, introduced by NYRA Bets.
Saturday, Dec. 20
Saturday is Truthful Grounds’ “Highway to the Derby Kickoff Day” with the $100,000 Gun Runner Stakes being the following official prep race on the Kentucky Derby Offered by Woodford Reserve path. The Gun Runner Stakes is the characteristic race amongst 4 stakes races on the 12-race Truthful Grounds program on Saturday. For this weekend’s winners, let’s take a crack at two of the stakes races on the Truthful Grounds program together with the Gun Runner Stakes and the turf characteristic on the cardboard, the $100,000 Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes. If we will decide the winners of those two glorious Saturday races, we will likely be effectively on our method to a profitable day on the Truthful Grounds. Better of luck.
Truthful Grounds, Race 9, $100,000 Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes, publish time 5:45 p.m. ET
The Buddy Diliberto Memorial has drawn a top quality discipline of 9 older horses set to race 1 1/16 miles on the grass and it’s an incredible race as a result of you may make a case for seven or eight of the entrants. One of many longest pictures on the board on this discipline is #8 Idratherbeblessed, who looms a reliable contender at 12-1 odds on the morning line. He obtained a comeback prep race below his belt final break day almost a five-month break and can have an opportunity to return to finest type on this second race off the layoff. He’s already a Grade 2 winner on this turf course from final season when he gained the Muniz Memorial Basic Stakes Offered by Horse Racing Nation again in March, and his losses this previous April and Might got here when he stretched out too far to 1 ½ miles. Idratherbeblessed will present pace and might go name the way in which at this higher 1 1/16-mile distance for coach Chris Hartman. Hartman is off to a quick begin at this meet with 4 wins along with his first eight starters. #2 Kupuna didn’t even seem like a turf horse till his final race when he switched to the grass off the declare by coach Norm Casse. He exploded to attain a quick turf mile win at Churchill Downs with a powerful pace determine, and whereas this race will likely be a more durable spot, you definitely have to love what you noticed final time. Lastly, when you like Idratherbeblessed, you additionally ought to embrace #9 Gigante in your exacta and trifecta tickets. Gigante and Idratherbeblessed squared off on three events right here at Truthful Grounds final season and Gigante gained two of these races together with this identical stakes race a 12 months in the past.
The Play: Guess on #8 Idratherbeblessed (12-1) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta containers together with #2 Kupuna (7-2), and #9 Gigante (3-1).
Truthful Grounds, Race 11, $100,000 Gun Runner Stakes, publish time 6:45 p.m. ET
The Gun Runner Stakes drew a discipline of eight soon-to-be 3-year-olds able to run 1 1/16 miles for Kentucky Derby qualifying factors and a handbag of $100,000. It’s one other good betting race with a aggressive discipline and when you ask 5 completely different individuals for his or her picks you would possibly get 5 completely different solutions. Let’s chime into the dialogue with a decide on #2 Chip Honcho for coach Steve Asmussen, who additionally educated this race’s namesake Gun Runner. Chip Honcho ran a strong profession debut effort for second going seven furlongs at Keeneland behind the speedy Dr. Kapur, who got here again to complete sixth in final month’s Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Membership Stakes at Churchill Downs. Chip Honcho stretched out final time and obtained the win at a mile within the slop with a gate-to-wire efficiency after setting utterly reliable fractions. He looms a menace to go all the way in which on this race round two turns with the same sort of effort. The massive X-factor right here is #5 Crown the Buckeye, an Ohio-bred obvious monster based mostly on his back-to-back state-bred stakes wins in his final two races by a mixed margin of 16 ½ lengths. He gained simply on the distance final time with a stalking journey and appears quick sufficient to beat this discipline regardless of the very fact this will likely be his first outing in opposition to open firm. Mike Maker trains and Jareth Loveberry, who gained aboard the horse final time, has the mount. #3 Liberty Nationwide is the morning-line favourite based mostly on an enormous Churchill Downs maiden win final day trip. He was soundly crushed by Chip Honcho when the pair met two races in the past at Keeneland, however Liberty Nationwide flashed sufficient capability when stretched out to this route distance to at the least deserve a spot in exactas and trifectas.
The Play: Guess on #2 Chip Honcho (9-2) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta containers together with #3 Liberty Nationwide (7-2), and #5 Crown the Buckeye (5-1).
