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, America's Best Racing). 

This week’s Big-Race Showdown races are: the $500,000 Champagne Stakes Saturday at Aqueduct, the $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes Presented by DK Horse Saturday at Santa Anita Park, the $650,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity Saturday at Keeneland Race Course, and the $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes Saturday at Keeneland. The Champagne, American Pharoah, and Breeders’ Futurity are all Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series races offering the winner an expenses-paid spot in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Oct. 31 at Del Mar. The Coolmore Turf Mile is a qualifying race for the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF.

Racing from Belmont at the Big A, including the Champagne Stakes, will air on “America’s Day at the Races” with Saturday’s action available on FS1. The American Pharoah Stakes, Breeders’ Futurity, and Coolmore Turf Mile will be televised on CNBC Saturday during a two-hour program from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. ET.