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). We begin the second half of the season Saturday with a pair of stakes races at Churchill Downs. Roberto Rodriguez leads the panel of 10 with nine winners from 23 contest races, three more than his closest competitor. Darwin Vizcaya has $466.60 in exacta earnings to pace the experts, while Noel Michaels $677.48 in trifecta earnings is $187 more than John Piassek in second.

This week’s Big-Race Showdown races are: the $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Fleur de Lis Stakes, a “Win and You’re In” Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series qualifier for the  (Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff) Saturday at Churchill Downs; the $2 million Stephen Foster Stakes, a “Win and You’re In” race for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic that drew a stellar field led by reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty.