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.

Sunday, Feb. 23

This weekend’s biggest day of racing and wagering is on Sunday instead of Saturday with Oaklawn Park moving its Rebel Stakes day program to Feb. 23. Sunday’s 12-race card at Oaklawn will be headlined by three graded stakes races including two races featured in this column, the Grade 2 Razorback Handicap and the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes.

Oaklawn Park, Race 10, $500,000 Razorback Handicap, 5:45 p.m. ET

The Grade 2 Razorback has drawn a full field of 14 horses ready to compete going 1 1/16 miles for a half-million dollar purse. The high weight in this handicap is #3 First Mission who can definitely contend in this race based his best efforts, which include a five-length win in his only prior outing at Oaklawn Park in last year’s Grade 3 Essex Handicap. Still, First Mission lost two in a row when last seen on the racetrack last summer and he is vulnerable in today’s spot in his first race back from a six-month layoff. Instead of going for First Mission, there is no shortage of live contenders in this race who are listed at very good odds on the morning line, so let’s side with some of them. #6 Full Screen exits a somewhat disappointing effort last time on a muddy track in the Tinsel Stakes but was never better than he was two races ago when he stalked and won with a strong speed figure here at Oaklawn at this 1 1/16-mile distance. At 15-1 morning-line odds, he is worth a chance at a rebound here in the Razorback. Trainer Steve Asmussen worked the flyover Derby circuit heavily last year with #7 Dimatic in a 2024 campaign that included placings in the $300,000 Texas Derby and the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby before the horse finally got a big win under his belt in November’s $300,000 Zia Park Derby. A change in tactics last time battling for the lead at a mile did not work out for him, but he could rebound today at 20-1 if he returns to the stalking tactics that work best for him. Finally, the new kid on the block in the Razorback is #8 Baddest Good Boy, who will need to step up in class and face some highly seasoned veterans, which won’t be easy. He has shown a ton of ability when winning both starts to date, however, and his route speed figure on this track last time indicates that he fits vs. this competition.

The Play: Bet on #6 Full Screen (15-1) to win and play him in exacta boxes with #7 Dimatic (20-1) and #8 Baddest Good Boy (9-2).

Oaklawn Park, Race 11, $1.25 million Rebel Stakes, 6:23 p.m. ET

The Rebel Stakes is a $1.25-million dollar Grade 2 race on the road to the 2025 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, so it should come as no surprise that the race has drawn a full field of 14 horses ready to compete at 1 1/16 miles for a whole lot of Derby qualifying points as well as that giant purse. Seldom does a horse make such a strong positive impression in a defeat as #3 Sandman did last time when he finished second, beaten by only one length, in Oaklawn’s Grade 3 Southwest Stakes after breaking in the air and seeming to lose any chance at the start when he began behind the rest of the field. Sandman shows a solid improvement pattern throughout his recent starts which is great to see for a 3-year-old at this time of year, and he certainly passed the eyeball test with his big effort in the Southwest Stakes. No doubt about it, however, he will need to get off to a better beginning to beat this field and all attention will be on the start. #1 Coal Battle comes in off of three straight stakes victories, including wins in the $300,000 Remington Springboard Mile Stakes and Oaklawn’s $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes which have strongly, and deservedly, have raised his profile as a Derby contender. He beat #11 Speed King in the Springboard Mile and then was flattered when that rival came back to win the Southwest Stakes. The other interesting challenger in this race that shouldn’t be ignored is #5 Madaket Road, who ships to Oaklawn for trainer Bob Baffert. Baffert has had a terrific record over the course of many years when he brings horses in for Oaklawn’s 3-year-old stakes races, but Madaket Road is mostly regarded as his fourth- or fifth-string Derby contender so far this season. Does he know something we don’t?

The Play: Bet #3 Sandman (4-1) to win and box him in exactas and trifectas with #1 Coal Battle (10-1) and #5 Madaket Road (5-1).