Reigning juvenile champion Essential Quality will begin his journey to qualify for the Kentucky Derby when he leaves the starting gate on Saturday in the 2021 Southwest Stakes. He's the 3-2 favorite in the latest 2021 Southwest Stakes odds. Post time for the $750,000 race is 5:58 p.m. ET.

Before you make any 2021 Southwest picks, you NEED to see what racing insider Bob Weir has to say.

Based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Weir has been handicapping and following horse racing since reading Andy Beyer's landmark handicapping book "Picking Winners" in the late 1980s. Weir is highly invested in the Beyer Speed Figure, a number assigned to every race run by a horse that measures how fast the horse ran. He uses the figure as the backbone of his handicapping. In fact, thanks to his proficiency with speed figures and top-tier handicapping, he landed one of just eight spots on Beyer's figure-making team in 2017, a position he holds to this day.

Weir's methodology has produced multiple five-figure days. In 2014, he hit a $60,000 Pick 6 at Del Mar. The following year, he nailed a $31,000 Pick 6 at Gulfstream Park. In 2016 and 2017, Weir qualified for the prestigious National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas!

Last year, his first for SportsLine, Weir was on fire. In June, Weir hit a $2 superfecta in the Ogden Phipps Stakes that paid a whopping $1,039. He crushed the exacta and trifecta in the Forego Stakes in August for $1,134.50. He hit the late Pick 4 at Belmont Park on June 18, June 19, June 25, July 2 and July 5, with the June 25 score returning a whopping $2,159.50. And just three weeks ago, he nailed the exacta in the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. Anyone who has followed Weir is way up.

Now, he has handicapped the 2021 Southwest Stakes field, made his picks and constructed his bets. 

One shocker: Weir's top pick is not Essential Quality, even though he is the 3-2 morning-line favorite. "I doubt he's fully cranked for this first race of the year," Weir told SportsLine.

Instead, Weir's top pick is a horse who "appears to be training well" leading up to Saturday's race. He also is high on a double-digit long shot who "could track along in a perfect spot" and SPICE UP your exotics! Weir is including these horses in his trifectas and superfectas, and so should you. You ABSOLUTELY need to see which horses they are before locking in any picks.

Who wins the 2021 Southwest Stakes? And which double-digit long shot is a MUST-BACK? ... Join SportsLine right now to get the top 2021 Southwest Stakes picks and bets, all from the racing insider who nailed the Sam F. Davis Stakes!