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 $600,000 Alabama Stakes Presented by Keeneland Sales for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course; the $1 million Pacific Classic Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile dirt race for 3-year-olds and older on Saturday at Del Mar; and the $300,000 Del Mar Mile Stakes, a one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and older Saturday at Del Mar. The Pacific Classic is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series race offering the winner a fees-paid berth to the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

The Alabama will be televised nationwide on FOX from 6-7 p.m. ET as part of NYRA’s “Saratoga Live” series that spans the entirety of the Saratoga meet.  The 36^th Pacific Classic and the Del Mar Mile both will be televised live on both FanDuel TV and on FS1 as part of an “America’s Day at the Races” show from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. ET.