For the 10th 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 2026 Triple Crown and then continuing through the 2026 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland. 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.

Last year, Roberto Rodriguez led all experts with 21 winners (39%) from 54 contest races, including correctly selecting Sovereignty to win the 2025 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve. Parx Racing racecaller Jessica Paquette finished second with 20 winners (37%) from 54 races, and she was the leading expert by exacta earnings with $780.02. Ashley Mailloux was the leader among the expert panel by trifecta earnings with $466.64.

Your players for the 2026 Big Race Showdown season are Thomas Kearney (Track Announcer, Shenandoah Downs), Ashley Mailloux (Freelance Racing Analyst), Noel Michaels (Racing Analyst, Tournament Handicapper), Jessica Paquette (Racecaller for Parx Racing, Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation), John Piassek (Assistant Racing Secretary, Yonkers Raceway),  Roberto Rodriguez (El Potro Roberto, DRF en Espanol), Darwin Vizcaya (Handicapper and Host), and Rowan Ward (Chartcaller at Hawthorne Race Track and a Freelance writer).

This week’s Big-Race Showdown races are: the $300,000 Gotham Stakes Saturday at Aqueduct, a one-mile race with a scheduled post time of 5:18 p.m. ET; the $425,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes at 1 1/16 miles, slated for 6:11 p.m. ET Saturday at Gulfstream Park; and Sunday's $1 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, scheduled for 6:23 p.m. ET. All three races are part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying system and award points to the top-five finishers on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale.

The Gotham Stakes from Aqueduct on Saturday will be televised live on FOX Business during an “America’s Day at the Races” program. The Fountain of Youth Stakes will be broadcast on NBCSN and streamed on Peacock as part of NBC Sports’ 1/ST Racing Tour series. The show airs from 5 to 6:30 p.m. ET. The Fountain of Youth will also be shown live on FanDuel TV. The “America’s Day at the Races” Sunday show on FS2 is highlighted by the Rebel Stakes.