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.
Author: News
National Horseplayers Championship Grand Prize Raised to $1 Million for 2027
Lexington, KY (May 28, 2026): On the heels of arguably the most exciting National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) in the 27-year history of the event, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced that the winner of the 2027 NHC will receive a cash prize of $1,000,000 along with a coveted Eclipse Award symbolically recognizing the important contribution all horseplayers make to the sport.
A Classy Champion: 1989 Belmont Stakes Winner Easy Goer
If you look through racing history closely enough, you’ll find horses that had the misfortune of racing at the wrong time. It’s the hand that fate dealt talented horses like Sham and Alydar, who became supporting characters to Triple Crown champions Secretariat and Affirmed. Then there’s Easy Goer.
2026 Belmont Stakes Cheat Sheet
The 158th Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets June 6 will once again carry a special designation in the Triple Crown history books, as for the third consecutive year it will be held at historic Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York while Belmont Park puts finishing touches on a m
