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.

Your players for the 2026 Big Race Showdown season are Thomas Kearney (Track Announcer, Shenandoah Downs), Ashley Mailloux (Freelance Racing Analyst), NoelMichaels (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 $500,000 Jaipur Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-olds and older; the $1 million Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap, one of the most important one-mile dirt races in North America for 3-year-olds and older; and the 158^th running of the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, the final jewel of U.S. Thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown. All three races will be hosted by Saratoga Race Course on its Saturday, June 6, card.

National TV coverage of the Triple Crown shifts from NBC to FOX Sports for Belmont week, and the network will be on-site at Saratoga for all five days of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, with shows airing on FOX, FS1, and FS2. On Belmont Stakes Saturday, FOX Sports will have nine hours and 45 minutes of total coverage, including 4 ½ hours nationwide on FOX that includes all three Big-Race Showdown races and concludes with the third jewel of the Triple Crown held at a 7:04 p.m. ET.