MediaWelcome to Noel Michaels’ Weekend Winners, the place to go for the best weekend bets and spot plays from experienced handicapper and tournament pioneer Noel Michaels. Come back every week for some highlighted selections designed to help you cash in a few bets and make some money. Noel’s selections can be seen virtually everywhere horse racing is 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 at the Arlington International Racecourse track, and on the air on HRTV, TVG, NYC OTB Extra, NYRA’s Talking Horses and on television on WAVE-3. Louisville, ABC KOLO-8 in Reno, Nevada, and channel 72 Long Island Cablevision.
Six gambling tools for beginners
- Start simple with a simple guide to horse racing betting.
- Not sure what that word means? Horse racing terminology is a language in itself. Let us translate for you
- What the heck is a speed rating? This beginner’s guide to speed figures has everything you need to know.
- Betting on horse racing can be intimidating. Team ABR has put together a number of Do’s and Don’ts for the new fan who is starting to bet on racing.
- We all make mistakes when it comes to horse racing betting, here are eight lessons learned from experience.
- Find out in advance how much each bet will cost with our betting calculator, presented by NYRA Bets.
Saturday is the final day of the 2025 Keeneland fall season and the meet ends with a bang with a great 10-race card, highlighted by a pair of high-stakes races that produced very competitive fields. For this weekend’s winners, we’ll look at Keeneland’s two closing races on Saturday, including the Grade 3 Bryan Station Stakes and the Grade 3 Hagyard Fayette Stakes. Let’s pick these winners and finish strong on Saturday in Keeneland! Good luck.
Keeneland, Race 8, $600,000 Bryan Station Stakes, post time 4:44 PM ET
The Grade 3 Bryan Station Stakes has drawn a field full of 3-year-old grass horses going a mile on the grass for a major purse of $600,000. This race is a bit of a mystery as many of the main contenders have been drawn well outside the posts, potentially opening the race for a horse from a better post to win. However, if you’re not afraid to bet on a horse way out in a Keeneland Turf Mile Race, the choice is #12 Salamis for trainer Chad Brown on the back of his solid win last time out in the $150,000 Gio Ponti Stakes at Belmont at the Big A. He’s showing a steady progression of race-to-race improvement going back four starts and that’s a great pattern to see in an improving 3-year-old at this time of year. Another horse that has gotten better throughout the year (also marked on the outside) is #11 Plensa for trainer Rusty Arnold. He is coming off a victory in the nearly $2 million Gun Runner Stakes at Kentucky Downs at this distance where he defeated #9 Playfulwho claimed victory in the Grade 2 Secretariat Stakes at Colonial Downs. A repeat of that effort makes him a legitimate threat in this race regardless of outpost. Several horses in this field are exiting the Grade 1 Ainsworth Franklin Simpson Stakes at Kentucky Downs over 6 ½ furlongs, and the horse with the best odds among the top contenders in today’s race will be runner-up Franklin Simpson. #2 Golden afternoonwho put in a very solid performance with a positive turnaround in form compared to his other recent races. Jose Ortiz is back for the mount and Golden Afternoon is probably even better at this mile distance than at 6 ½ furlongs, based on his second-place finish at Keeneland a year ago in the Grade 2 Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes.
The play: Bet #12 Salamis (6-1) to win and play him in exacta and trifecta boxes #2 Golden Afternoon (12-1) And #11 Plensa (5-1).
Keeneland, Race 9, $350,000 Hagyard Fayette Stakes, post time 5:16 PM ET
The Fayette came out exceptionally strong this year with some very high-profile entrants in this Class 3 race, covering 1 1/8 miles on the main circuit. That will be the most talked-about horse of all #11 Hit showwho was this year’s winner of the $12 million Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline. He has since also added a win in the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s Stakes. Hit Show won this race last year, is 2-for-2 at Keeneland and has a great chance to repeat with Irad Ortiz Jr. on board. #10 Gosger is competing against older horses for the first time in his career, but he also has a chance to win if he can bounce back from his flop last time out in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby. Before that last race, he gave journalism a run for its money in both the Preakness Stakes and the Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes and was a winner here at Keeneland this spring in the Grade 3 Stonestreet Lexington Stakes, where he defeated #3 Bracket Breakeramong others. Finally, you’ll also want to include the exactas and trifectas #6 Rattle and roll whose form looks clouded this year by losses in some extremely tough spots. Nevertheless, he has the ability to win at this track and against this level of competition. Rattle and Roll won the Grade 2 Clark Stakes Presented by Norton Healthcare at Churchill Downs last fall and owns two victories at Keeneland, including in the 2023 Ben Ali Stakes. This will be his second start since returning from the Middle East and he hopes to be back to his old self.
The play: Bet on #11 Hit Show (6-1) to win and play him in an exacta and trifecta box #6 Rattle and roll (12-1) And #11 Gosger (9-2).
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