For the seventh 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 2023 Triple Crown and then continuing through the 2023 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 playercorrectly selects the most winners.

Your players for the 2023 Big Race Showdown season are Edison Hatter (In the Money Media Analyst, Meadowlands On-Air Host), Ashley Mailloux (freelance racing analyst), Jessica Paquette (Racecaller for Parx Racing, Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation), John Piassek (Communications Manager, Maryland Horse Breeders Association),  Roberto Rodriguez (El Potro Roberto, DRF en Espanol), Mike Somich (The Magic Mike Show, Somo Bombs Handicapper – The Racing Dudes), Naomi Tukker (Eclipse Award-winning Sports Broadcaster, World Horse Racing Producer),  Darwin Vizcaya (Handicapper and Host, La Trifecta from America’s Best Racing), Rowan Ward (Chartcaller at Hawthorne Race Track and a Freelance Writer), and Brian Zipse (Senior Writer for Horse Racing Nation and Host of HorseCenter).

This week’s Big Race Showdown races are three qualifying races each offering 200 Derby points scheduled for Saturday, April 8. Aqueduct hosts the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino in New York, the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes will be run at Keeneland in Kentucky, and out west, the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby will be held at Santa Anita Park in California.

The Blue Grass and Santa Anita Derby will be broadcast live on NBC Saturday afternoon as part of NBC Sports’ “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series. The show, also streamed on Peacock, runs from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET and will be hosted by Ahmad Fareed with analysis from Randy Moss and Jerry Bailey, Kentucky Derby points updates from Steve Kornacki, and on-site reporting from Britney Eurton at Santa Anita and Kenny Rice at Keeneland. The Wood Memorial will be shown nationwide on FOX Saturday during a half-hour program from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. that’s part of NYRA’s “America’s Day at the Races” broadcast.