For the ninth year in a row, America’s Best Racing is challenging some of the brightest minds in horse betting to come up with their top three picks for key races every weekend leading up to the 2025 Triple Crown and then continuing through the 2025 Breeders’ Cup World Championships. The handicappers face off in what we like to call the “Big-Race Showdown.”

The players’ picks will be posted here and a running bankroll will be kept to track their success all year long. Bankrolls will be tabulated on the basis of $2 exacta and $2 trifecta box bets of each player’s top three selections. We will also be keeping track of which player correctly selects the most winners.

Your players for the 2025 Big Race Showdown season are Edison Hatter (In The Money Media Podcast Host & Track Announcer), Thomas Kearney (Track Announcer, Shenandoah Downs), Ashley Mailloux (freelance racing analyst), Jessica Paquette (Racecaller for Parx Racing, Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation), John Piassek (Assistant Racing Secretary, Yonkers Raceway),  Roberto Rodriguez (El Potro Roberto, DRF en Espanol), Mike Somich (VSiN Host; The Magic Mike Show – The Racing Dudes), Darwin Vizcaya (Handicapper and Host), Rowan Ward (Chartcaller at Hawthorne Race Track and a Freelance writer), and Alexa Zepp (Handicapper, DRF). 

This week’s Big-Race Showdown races are: the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino at 6:10 p.m. ET Saturday at Aqueduct; the $500,000 Santa Anita Derby at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday at Santa Anita Park; and the rescheduled (due to inclement weather forecasts) $1.25 million Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at 5:52 p.m. ET on Tuesday at Keeneland Race Course. 

The Santa Anita Derby will be broadcast live on CNBC and streamed on Peacock during a one-hour “Road to the Kentucky Derby” show hosted by NBC Sports’ Kentucky Derby team. The show airs from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET. The Wood Memorial will anchor a Saturday afternoon/evening edition of “America’s Day at the Races” produced by NYRA. The Blue Grass Stakes and all races from Keeneland will be shown live on FanDuel TV as part of that network’s comprehensive coverage of the picturesque Kentucky track’s Spring Meet.