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).

At the midpoint of the Big-Race Showdown season, John Piassek and Edison Hatter share the lead in terms of picking winners with eight winners each from 23 contest races. Darwin Vizcaya leads the panel of 10 experts by exacta earnings with $435.30 and trifecta earrings with $946, double his nearest competitor in both categories.

This week’s Big-Race Showdown race are: the $1 million NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes for 3-year-olds at Monmouth Park on Saturday and the $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course for 3-year-old fillies.

The Haskell will be televised nationally on NBC and streamed on Peacock as part of that network’s “Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In” TV schedule. NBC Sports’ award-winning team will be at the Jersey Shore to capture all of the excitement of Haskell day during a program airing from 5 p.m.-6 p.m. ET. The CCA Oaks will be broadcast live on FOX as part of a two-hour “Saratoga Saturday” show from 5 p.m.-7 p.m.