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 $1.5 million Longines Kentucky Oaks, the marquee dirt race for 3-year-old fillies on Friday, May 2, at Churchill Downs; and the $5 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, the first jewel of U.S. Thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown on Saturday, May 3, at Churchill. 

NBC Sports holds exclusive broadcast rights to the Kentucky Derby and will showcase the race to millions of viewers worldwide as the finale of 12 ½ hours of coverage spread across two days. The final five hours May 3 will be broadcast nationwide on NBC and streamed on Peacock, with post time for the Kentucky Derby set for 6:47 p.m. ET. NBC Sports will also cover undercard races during this five-hour bloc from 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and before that the network will provide coverage from noon to 2:30 on USA Network and streaming on Peacock as well.

On May 2, NBC Sports offers five hours of coverage from Churchill on USA Network and streaming on Peacock from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET, culminating in the 151^st Longines Kentucky Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, which has a scheduled post time of 5:51 p.m. ET.