For the eighth 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 2024 Triple Crown and then continuing through the 2024 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 2024 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 (Communications Manager, Maryland Horse Breeders Association),  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, DRF).

This week’s Big-Race Showdown races are: the $500,000 Champagne Stakes Saturday at Aqueduct, a “Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and You’re In” race for the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile presented by TAA; the $600,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity Saturday at Keeneland Race Course, a qualifying race for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile; and the $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes Saturday at Keeneland, a Challenge Series race for the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF.

The Champagne Stakes from Belmont at the Big A can be viewed live on “America’s Day at the Races,” a NYRA-produced program airs on FOX Sports networks. The Champagne will be televised on FS2.

Saturday action from Keeneland, including the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity and Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes, will be shown live on the “Road to the Breeders’ Cup” telecast on NBC from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. All of the Breeders’ Cup preps from Keeneland will also air on FanDuel TV.