Celebrating its tenth consecutive year, America’s Best Racing is once again gathering elite horse racing handicappers to deliver their three favorite selections for major weekend races. This contest runs throughout the lead-up to the 2026 Triple Crown and extends all the way to the 2026 Breeders’ Cup World Championships hosted at Keeneland. We refer to this weekly clash of experts as the “Big-Race Showdown.”
We will publish the participants’ selections in this space, maintaining an active bankroll tally to monitor their performance throughout the season. These bankrolls are calculated assuming a $2 exacta box and a $2 trifecta box wager on each handicapper’s top three choices. Additionally, we will monitor which analyst manages to pinpoint the highest number of outright winners.
The roster of competitors for the 2026 Big-Race Showdown campaign includes Thomas Kearney (Shenandoah Downs Track Announcer), Ashley Mailloux (independent racing analyst), NoelMichaels (handicapping tournament veteran and analyst), Jessica Paquette (Parx Racing announcer representing the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation), John Piassek (Yonkers Raceway’s Assistant Racing Secretary), Roberto Rodriguez of El Potro Roberto and DRF en Español, Darwin Vizcaya (racing host and analyst), and Rowan Ward (Hawthorne Race Track chartcaller and independent writer).
Featured events for this week’s Big-Race Showdown include: the $500,000 bet365 Summer Stakes, which serves as a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Brown Advisory Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf; and the $1 million Woodbine Mile, offering a guaranteed starting spot in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF. Both of these premier contests take place this Saturday at Woodbine.
You can catch the live broadcast of the entire Woodbine card on FanDuel TV. Saturday’s racing schedule at the Canadian venue is packed with major stakes, including the $750,000 E. P. Taylor Stakes and the $500,000 Johnnie Walker Natalma Stakes, which act as qualifiers for the $2 million Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf and the $1 million John Deere Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, respectively.
