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). Roberto Rodriguez leads all experts with 20 winners from 51 contest races year-to-date; Darwin Vizcaya and Jessica Paquette are tied for second with 18 winners. Jessica Paquette owns the best exacta total with $780.02, more than $140 better than Mike Somich's total of $639.14. Ashley Mailloux is the leader among the experts in trifecta earnings with $466.64.

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Get a $250 sign up bonus when you bet the 2025 Breeders’ Cup World Championshipswith 1/ST BET! Use the promo code ABR250 to get started and let our experts guide you with their Big-Race Showdown selections, plus, you can always take advantage of 1/ST BET’s other promotions at 1st.com/bet/promotions. No matter what horse you pick, your best bet is with 1/ST BET.

This week’s Big-Race Showdown races are: the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance on Friday at 7:45 p.m. ET, the $2 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Saturday at 5:01 p.m. ET, and the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Saturday at 6:25 p.m. ET. 

NBC Sports will, as usual, provide in-depth coverage of the Breeders’ Cup, and FanDuel TV will do the same. NBC’s Peacock streaming service and FanDuel TV will present live broadcasts of every one of 14 Breeders’ Cup races scheduled for Friday, Oct. 31, and Saturday, Nov. 1. FanDuel TV’s coverage is branded the “Breeders’ Cup Player’s Show” and starts at 12:30 p.m. ET Friday and 11 a.m. ET Saturday. The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile will be shown on USA Network during a broadcast from 4-8 p.m. ET. Friday. Both the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Breeders’ Cup Classic will be broadcast nationwide on NBC during a program from 3:30 p.m. to  7 p.m. Saturday.