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.

If it’s December, it’s time for making gift purchases and charitable donations, reconnecting with family and friends, holding Seasonal Affective Disorder at bay, and perhaps most important of all for horseplayers, keeping tabs on contenders for the following spring’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve.