For the sixth 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 2022 Triple Crown and then continuing through the 2022 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 2022 Big Race Showdown season are Edison Hatter (In the Money Media Analyst, Meadowlands On-Air Host), Spencer Luginbuhl (Redboard Rewind Podcast from In the Money Media, The Daily Gallop), Ashley Mailloux (Project Lead, 1/ST Racing), Jessica Paquette (Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, analyst for Colonial Downs and Sam Houston Race Park), John Piassek (Handicapper and Writer, America’s Best Racing), Louis Rabaut (Handicapper and Host, Horse Racing Happy Hour), Roberto Rodriguez (El Potro Roberto, DRF en Espanol), Mike Somich (The Magic Mike Show, Somo Bombs Handicapper – The Racing Dudes), Naomi Tukker (Maryland Jockey Club Racing Analyst),  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: the Champagne Stakes, a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Seriesa prep for the TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance; and the Awesome Again Stakes, which offers a bid to the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. Both races are on Saturday, Oct. 1. 

NBC Sports will show both the Champagne Stakes and the Miss Grillo Stakes (a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf) nationally on NBC as well as on its Peacock livestreaming service, airing from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET. Santa Anita’s Breeders’ Cup preps will be shown live on FanDuel TV as part of its international package that will also televise races from Gulfstream Park, Woodbine, Pimlico, and many other tracks.