For the fifth 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 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 2021 Breeders' Cup season are Ashley Mailloux (Project Lead, 1/ST Racing), Roberto Rodriguez (El Potro Roberto, DRF en Espanol), Nicolle Neulist (Chartcaller at Hawthorne Race Track and Arlington Park and a Freelance Writer), Louis Rabaut (Handicapper and Host, Horse Racing Happy Hour), Mike Somich (The Magic Mike Show, Somo Bombs Handicapper – The Racing Dudes), John Piassek (Handicapper and Writer, America’s Best Racing), Darwin Vizcaya (Handicapper and Host, La Trifecta from America’s Best Racing), Brian Zipse (Senior Writer for Horse Racing Nation and Host of HorseCenter), Naomi Tukker (Maryland Jockey Club Racing Analyst), Spencer Luginbuhl (Redboard Rewind Podcast from In the Money Media, The Daily Gallop), Edison Hatter (In the Money Media Analyst, Meadowlands On-Air Host), and Mike Gandolfo (Handicapper and Host, Horse Racing Happy Hour).

To kick off the 2021 series, this week the panel handicaps the Stephen Foster Stakes and Fleur de Lis Stakes at Churchill Downs. The Foster and the Fleur de Lis offer automatic berths to the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic and Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff as part of the “Win and You're In” Challenge Series. Both stakes as well as the rest of Churchill’s Saturday June 26 card will be showcased on the NYRA-produced “America’s Day at the Races” show airing on FS2.