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 $1.75 million Light and Wonder Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint Stakes, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and Your In” race for the $1 million Prevagen Turf Sprint; and the $2 million AGS Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational Stakes, a qualifying race for the $5 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf. Both races will be held on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Kentucky Downs.

NBC Sports will be onsite in small-town Franklin, Ky., to present two hours of live coverage at Kentucky Downs Saturday, focusing on several lucrative stakes races including two Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” preps, the Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint Stakes and the Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational Stakes. Those races will be broadcast nationwide on NBC during a show from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. ET.